ShopClues goes offline to reach 1 lakh sellers by 2018-end

Online marketplace ShopClues has launched e-commerce enablement initiatives like mobile point-of-sale system, QR code-enabled digital payments and business credit card as part of its offline strategy to on-board close to 1 lakh merchants by 2018-end. The business credit card offering is being developed in association with RBL Bank.

These offerings, targetted mainly at small and medium enterprises (SMEs), will be called Saarthi, and are also open to merchants outside the ShopClues network to help them create an online presence and provide digital payment options for their physical business.

"We have utilised the mobile PoS developed by Momoe (a company acquired by ShopClues in July 2016) and customised it for a standard retail merchant. The Reach PoS has multiple payment options including wallets, credit and debit cards, netbanking and others. In case the merchant does not have a smartphone, we provide them with a QR code through which customers can pay," said Ganesh Balakrishnan, associate vice-president of merchant services at ShopClues.

ShopClues has also developed a co-branded credit card for ease of accessing capital for business transactions. ShopClues has rolled out these services, which will be chargeable, across 15 cities targetting the SME base in Kanpur, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kanchipuram, Thirupur and other locations.