Magazines can offer subscriptions on ONDC

Indian magazines can sell subscriptions on the government’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) by setting up their own seller app or using existing seller apps of the network, a top ONDC executive said.

"Magazines are nothing but catalogues. Association of Indian Magazines as a collective can either set up a seller application or make the catalogue visible through an existing seller app, which is a low-cost decision," T Koshy, chief executive of ONDC, said.

He was speaking at the 13th edition of Indian Magazine Congress.

Once the catalogue is visible on ONDC's buyer apps readers can buy a subscription through ONDC too.

"Many people will buy your subscription. Today only your agents or website will sell subscriptions. Tomorrow buyer apps on ONDC like Paytm can sell your subscriptions. You can even use this to enhance your quality or relevance of classifieds," he said.

Magazines can also become a buying application themselves on ONDC.

In another two months, in June or July, ONDC will offer advertising-as-a-service too, he said.

In India the penetration of e-commerce is less than 10 per cent on the buyer side and two per cent on the seller side.

Koshy also met with the postmaster general and said that India Post is almost ready with their integration with ONDC as a logistics service provider.

Meanwhile, Jagran New Media (JNM) and ONDC are collaborating to launch Khojle.com, marking it as the first tie-up between a publisher and an e-commerce network in India. This partnership aims to leverage JNM's reach in the Hindi heartland to create a unique marketplace catering to audiences in tier 1 and tier 2 cities.

"Each of the buying applications have an incentive to promote magazine subscriptions as they want to increase transactions on their site. Each of them will become your marketing agent," Koshy explained.

If a seller app is created by an association, it may not even charge commission from its members, he said.

Anant Nath, president of Association of Indian Magazines said one needs to figure out how their presence can gain prominence on various buyer apps and how a fleet of morning delivery boys for magazines can add to this process.

Currently, ONDC has 4.5 lakh merchants and saw 7.5 million transactions in April.