What is ONDC? How Can It Boost Your Online Sales?

With over 1.6 crore orders in March, the Indian government-backed digital commerce platform ONDC is increasingly gaining popularity. But one question remains prevalent among small businesses: What is ONDC?

In this article, let’s explore what ONDC is, how it works, how it differs from traditional eCommerce, and how it is transforming the Indian eCommerce landscape.

What is ONDC?

ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is a government-backed digital initiative that aims to create an interoperable, community-led marketplace for the entire country. Unlike Amazon, Flipkart, or Zomato, where sellers must join a single platform to reach buyers, ONDC allows businesses to list products and services on an open network that is accessible through multiple buyer apps.

This means a small seller in Delhi, a farmer in Maharashtra, or a D2C brand in Bangalore can all showcase their products or services on ONDC and reach customers anywhere across India without being tied to a single platform’s rules or commission structures.

How Does ONDC India Operate?

The easiest way to understand ONDC in India is to think of it as a digital public infrastructure, similar to UPI for payments. Just as UPI connects multiple banks and apps to create a seamless payment ecosystem, ONDC connects buyers, sellers, logistics providers, and payment systems under one open framework.

Here’s how it works in practice:

• Seller Onboarding: Sellers don’t need to register separately with different platforms. They can join ONDC through any compatible Seller App and instantly make their catalogue visible across multiple buyer apps.
• Buyer Access: Buyers can open any Buyer App connected to the ONDC India network to browse products, compare prices, and place orders.
• Interoperability: Whether it’s food delivery on ONDC, retail shopping, or booking mobility services, the same seller listings are visible across the ecosystem.
• Delivery & Payments: An ONDC delivery partner handles logistics while payments are made securely through integrated gateways.

The key difference? Unlike traditional platforms that act as gatekeepers, the ONDC platform simply provides the network infrastructure where sellers and buyers interact more directly, with transparency and flexibility.

ONDC vs Traditional E-commerce

Here’s a quick comparison of how the ONDC platform stands apart from traditional eCommerce platforms:

This difference is game-changing for sellers who have long struggled with opaque fees, a lack of data, and dependence on a single platform.

Key Benefits of ONDC for Sellers in 2025

For Indian sellers, ONDC isn’t just a new marketplace. It’s a paradigm shift in how eCommerce works. Here are the most impactful benefits:

1. Lower Commission Fees

   Traditional platforms often charge anywhere between 20 to 30% commission. ONDC, being a not-for-profit network, ensures lower and more transparent fees. For restaurants using ONDC food delivery apps, this means keeping more revenue per order instead of paying huge cuts to middlemen.

2. Wider Market Reach

   By joining ONDC once, sellers instantly make their products or services visible across all ONDC buyer apps. This eliminates the need to maintain separate accounts across Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, and other platforms.

3. Ownership of Customer Data

   Lack of access to customer data is often the biggest frustration for small business owners and local shopkeepers. ONDC changes this by allowing sellers to own their buyer interaction data, which can help them create better targeted campaigns, improve their service, and build brand loyalty.

4. Interoperability Across Platforms

   ONDC ensures a level playing field. This means that a small kirana store in Jaipur has the same visibility as a large D2C brand in Mumbai, since listings are interoperable across platforms.

5. Increased Control & Flexibility

   Sellers are no longer tied down to one platform’s pricing rules, commission models, or algorithms. They have more control over their catalogues, pricing, and delivery partnerships.

6. Simplified Operations

   With a single ONDC delivery partner network and integrated buyer apps, sellers can streamline logistics, inventory management, and payments.

7. Transparency & Trust

   Both buyers and sellers benefit from transparent pricing, ratings portable across apps, and reduced reliance on “platform monopoly” practices.

8. Access to New Opportunities

   ONDC isn’t limited to retail. From food delivery to financial services, agriculture, and transport, sellers can diversify their presence across multiple sectors.

How Does ONDC Impact Different Indian Sectors?

ONDC impacts different Indian sectors by empowering MSMEs, democratising the e-commerce landscape, empowering consumers with diverse options and competitive prices, and creating job opportunities in logistics and technology. In short, it isn’t just reshaping the retail industry, but targeting the entire business landscape in India.
Here is how it is impacting different industries in the country:

• Retail: Small retailers and kirana shops can now go digital without heavy investments, reaching customers beyond their neighbourhood.
• Food Delivery: Local restaurants benefit from ONDC food delivery apps, offering customers affordable meals and faster delivery. For sellers, it provides lower commissions.
• Financial Services: Integration with payments, credit, and lending platforms will allow small sellers to access financial products more easily.
• Mobility & Transport: Just like retail, cab services and logistics providers can plug into ONDC, ensuring fairer pricing and better access.
• Agriculture: Farmers and cooperatives can directly connect with buyers, improving margins and reducing dependency on middlemen.

How is ONDC Transforming Indian eCommerce?

If UPI changed the way India pays, ONDC is set to change the way India buys and sells. India’s eCommerce has always been dominated by a few large corporations. ONDC flips the model, making the ecosystem seller-friendly, transparent, and scalable. Instead of being dependent on one giant marketplace, sellers now have the chance to reach buyers through multiple apps at once, without paying sky-high commissions or losing control over their data.

Here’s why ONDC is said to completely reshape Indian eCommerce:

• Bigger Reach, Fewer Barriers: A customer browsing through one ONDC buyer app can still discover your products, even if you never signed up on that specific platform.
• Freedom from Monopolies: No single company controls who gets visibility. Small businesses get the same opportunity to appear in front of buyers as large players.
• Control Over Customer Data: Sellers finally get access to buyer insights, helping them personalise their offerings, design loyalty programmes, and make smarter business decisions.
• Boost for Hyperlocal Businesses: From a kirana store in Lucknow to a bakery in Kochi, ONDC empowers local sellers to go digital quickly.
• Direct Seller-to-Buyer Interaction: ONDC reduces the middlemen, making transactions faster, cheaper, and more transparent.
• Trust & Compliance: The network is designed to bring regulatory safeguards into play, which reduces the risk of fraud and builds buyer confidence.

How Will Zopping Help You Expand Your Business Using ONDC?

• With ONDC in place, sellers don’t have to worry about anything else except curating their catalogue and uploading a digital inventory in Zopping. Zopping ensures that, through ONDC, all their products reach their target audience across all buyer apps.
• Own an eCommerce website and mobile applications alongside selling on ONDC.
• The seller can also keep a track of the orders and get access to real-time buyer data with reports and analytics in Zopping, and come up with business strategies accordingly.
• Zopping also ensures hassle-free onboarding, as we will provide you with a dedicated account manager for the same and guide you through the setup process.