METRO Cash & Carry India partners with ePayLater to digitize kiranas with Digital Shop app

METRO Cash and Carry, India’s leading organized wholesaler and food specialist, today, announced an exclusive partnership with Fintech start-up ePayLater to digitize and transform kiranas with a more affordable and sustainable solution. As part of its next phase of kirana digitization program, METRO in association with ePayLater has co-created a mobile application - ‘Digital Shop’– that enables kirana owners to use their existing smartphones to digitize their business operation instantly without any additional investment on a device.

‘Digital Shop’ by ePayLater and METRO will digitally empower small retailers and kiranas by upgrading their traditional methodologies and leverage the power of technology by modernizing their business.

“Downloading this app, kiranas can digitally track their daily and monthly sales; manage their inventory; place orders with METRO, offer digital payment options to customers using their smartphone. The ‘Digital Shop’ offers kiranas zero transaction fee; a universal QR code to accept payments from all apps; and no cap on daily and monthly transactions. In addition, kiranas can extend credit to their customers using the ‘Digital Shop’ app and also get access to interest-free business credit with a few clicks on the app. This would help kirana free up working capital, thereby making business more profitable,” the company said in a statement.

The app will also provide analytics to kirana owners such as inventory consumption patterns and the fast and slow- moving products that will optimize kirana’s product mix and eventually help in improving their revenues and margins. The kiranas will be able to engage with customers digitally and create customized offers, provide loyal customers with an instant credit of up to Rs 25,000 for purchases, and grow their revenue by offering additional services like utility and bill payments, amongst others.

Commenting on the strategic alliance, Arvind Mediratta, MD & CEO, METRO Cash & Carry India, said, “The kiranas are the backbone of India’s consumption story and crucial in generating employment opportunities and value creation for the economy. Through the Digital Shop app, we aim to transform the traditional kiranas into omni-channel stores. Whether it’s easy credit solution for business; a complete digital experience; data analytics to grow business; or a competitively priced product portfolio offering; we bring it all together in a single app at no extra cost.”

He further added, “The Digital Shop initiative is aligned with Government of India’s impetus to digitize small retailers and shopkeepers, and through this strategic initiative with ePayLater we aim to help facilitate a more level-playing field for these small and independent businesses for their continued success in the competitive retail landscape.”

The Digital Shop app initiative complements METRO’s existing Smart kirana program aimed at digitizing and transforming traditional closed format stores into open and modern format for them to compete and thrive in the competitive environment. Under the Smart kirana programme, METRO has so far modernized operations of over 500 kiranas across the country. However, the latest initiative combines new-age technologies, data science and years of exhaustive experience of wholesale retail into a simple-to-use digital offering.

Speaking about the partnership, Akshat Saxena, Co-founder, ePayLater, said, “With METRO Cash & Carry, we are trying to co-create various methodologies by leveraging technology and analytics that the kiranas and SMEs can use to run their businesses more efficiently and profitably. We found a synergy in METRO and our approach to empower the small and independent kirana businesses as we believe that they fuel a culture of entrepreneurship in the country. We are enthused to amplify the program significantly over the next couple of months across geographies in India.”

Since its entry in India in 2003, METRO has built strong brand equity amongst small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and has provided them a platform to grow their business significantly through its extensive network of 27 METRO wholesale stores across the country. Today, METRO anchors a customer base of 3 million business customers, catering to over 5000 suppliers, and has created over 14,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country.

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