A mobile app for small businesses – duNow – has been launched here to transform the functioning of some of the country’s 14 million neighbourhood shops.

The shops range from kirana, green grocers, quick service restaurants, home caterers to sports & fitness, stationery, pharmacy and so on.

duNow aims to bring a positive change in the neighbourhood eco system by integrating local shops, their suppliers and customers through a simple mobile application.

The app provides a cost-effective solution to the local shops to digitize and tap the increased demand of e- commerce-induced by the current COVID-19 lockdown, said a press release.

Now, in less than five minutes and a fee of Rs 20 per day, the local shops can set up their online store and do uninterrupted business 24X7, even in times of uncertainty.

This simple mobile app for small businesses would encourage the stores to digitize and tap the demand of e- commerce, duNow founder Srivathsan Krishnamurthy said in the release.

The company aims to digitise 20,000 shops in two years, the release quoted him as saying.

The key feature of the module is increased visibility and customer-reach currently confined to a radius of a few kms and also source from across geographies, bring down working capital by tracking fast-moving and slow-moving goods and stock up products accordingly.

No need for investing or installing a point of sale (PoS) machines. There is no sorting by cost, unlike e- commerce platforms, and thus no price war created between local neighbourhood shops.

The result would no doubt unlock never-before-seen synergies, increase margins as well as efficiencies for shop owners and make buyers happier.

In the long run, by adopting duNow, the neighbourhood shops can easily scale up and enjoy a level-playing field to accomplish their ambition to become big retailers – on their own terms and conditions.

“We believe data and technology can transform economies.

Our objective is to make technology available to everyone like water and electricity the most deprived being the home, micro, small and medium enterprises across all segments,” he said.

Launching a retail-specific module is another step forward in creating a more integrated economy, he added.