Gurugram, 3^rdMarch 2021.

Mr. Dharmendar of Dhanwapur in Gurugram, Haryana switched from being a street food hawker to kirana owner in 2019. With a wife, two sons and a daughter dependent on him, Dharmendar was then looking to set up a more permanent business with a regular source of income. He started his kirana in Dhanwapur by stocking just a few essentials.

At that time, he relied on the traditional distributor route for procuring supplies and as business began to grow, he started facing challenges -- keeping track of stock was cumbersome, placing and receiving orders was time consuming and there were frequent delays and customers complained of poor quality.

But, a visit by a representative from Flipkart Wholesale changed his fortunes completely. “The representative from Flipkart Wholesale helped me understand technology. I saw a solution to all my problems and installed the app on my phone immediately. Now I am assured of guaranteed quality and a quick delivery. I have also availed additional benefits such as easy credit and am happy as I can now devote more time to growing my business and attending to my customers. Technology has come in handy during the pandemic. I never imagined that my store requirements were just a click away,” Dharmendar says.

The COVID 19 pandemic has accelerated the use of e-commerce among millions of kiranas just like Dharmendar’s and small businesses are increasingly realising the benefits that e-commerce brings to the B2B retail ecosystem. Kiranas can easily update inventory, access new marketplaces and source supplies online.

Another kirana owner Pawan Kumar Paliwal, a B.com graduate, runs the Paliwal Kirana Store located in Mahavir Enclave near Dwarka Sector 2, and sources supplies both offline and online.

“A lot of effort is required to keep up with the changing demands of the customers who are now spending more time at home. I place my orders on the Flipkart Wholesale mobile app and avail the best offer. Earlier, I would have to deal with the middleman or go to the wholesale market myself which was time consuming. I now have more time to attend to customers and for more productive things such as spending time with my family, playing with my kids and helping them in their studies,” Paliwal says.

Bringing prosperity to kiranas like Paliwal and Dharmendar and improving their quality of life is the key goal of Flipkart Wholesale which was launched in September 2020 with the core objective of empowering kiranas and MSMEs with technology, thereby enabling them to participate in the digital economy.

Flipkart Wholesale app currently offers fashion products -- clothing, footwear and accessories -- to retailers across 23 cities. Grocery has just been launched in Gurugram and will be expanded in NCR soon. The addition of the grocery category on Flipkart Wholesale will further boost MSMEs in the country and help realise the dream of an Atmanirbhar Bharat.