Dukaan – a Made in India app is a brainchild of a young man named Suumit Shah from the village situated in Satara district in Maharashtra that has led the way and helped small businesses find some semblance of normalcy. Such has been the impact of this app that it has witnessed 4.3 million downloads in just six months.
Dukaan has enabled local stores to become digital and use social media channels to sell their products or services using their smartphone. All a ‘dukandaar’ needs to do is download the app and then register their business. This process takes less than 30 seconds literally. Each seller gets a custom store link where they can showcase all their products or services and the link of the store can be shared with customers using WhatsApp or any other social media platforms for direct orders.
“Dukaan has stepped in to fill the vacuum that has always been felt by India’s small and medium entrepreneurs. The app has understood the shortcomings and the inhibitions that people have faced with technology and hence, this solution has benefitted them,” says, Suumit, CEO Dukaan.
The app allows offline stores to sell their products and services online through WhatsApp. Not only this, the shopkeepers can make catalogues of the products on your phone and then share it with the potential customer. It caters to a wide range of businesses – ranging from grocery shops to restaurants, from fruits and vegetable stores to electronics shops and jewelry and furniture stores.
This ease of doing business has yielded dividends. Dukaan has over 3 million stores created online, there are over 5 million products that have been listed across 40 different categories of businesses. Not only this, it has managed to branch to over 1200 cities that are covered by the app. So far, more than 9 lakh orders have been received. At a time, when small businesses needed any support to stay afloat, this app has created a massive impact. The app has seen 4.3 million downloads in these six months.
The USP of Dukaan is simplicity and ease of getting listed and offering products or services. Unlike most digital initiatives, Dukaan provides an alternative and a very familiar avenue to people to not only be visible but also sell their products online.