Gupshup has introduced India’s inaugural Conversational Buyer App on the ONDC network, revolutionizing how users discover, browse, and purchase products through a WhatsApp-based conversational interface. This innovative approach eliminates the necessity for additional mobile applications.
The conversation cloud company intends to extend this capability to enterprise customers, enabling them to integrate conversational commerce seamlessly into their existing chatbot frameworks.
Emphasizing WhatsApp’s extensive usage across diverse demographics, CEO Beerud Sheth highlighted the app’s potential, stating, “Gupshup’s Buyer App on ONDC democratizes access to a vast commerce network nationwide, accessible in any language with simplicity and speed. This promises to significantly revolutionize digital commerce at scale across India.”
With over 650 million Indians actively engaged on social media and messaging platforms, the app targets the 65% of users frustrated by app downloads and the 40% who abandon purchases when prompted to install new apps.
Currently in beta, the app offers limited capabilities for ordering food and beverages via WhatsApp and plans to expand support to additional conversational channels such as Google RCS and Voice.
Launched in 2023 by the Indian government’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) aims to foster an inclusive e-commerce ecosystem. Since its inception, ONDC has facilitated over 49.79 million transactions, particularly in transportation services and the food and beverage sectors.
