The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Monday has launched its city-location based portal, e-lala, an e-commerce portal to promote business-to-business and trader-to-customer transactions within a city, to give a platform to brick-and-mortar retailers.
A pilot of the portal was launched in Nagpur on November 5.
E-lala will enable small businesses, including artisans, to display their products online through virtual stores. This city-based portal with involvement of only local traders will promote unique products of each city and consumers can post enquiries.
MasterCard and HDFC Bank have partnered with the portal to provide digital payment solutions.
The portal allows only those merchants who have a physical presence through brick and mortar stores to become sellers. Each seller on the portal will have his own inbuilt Web site and a payment gateway is embodied in the portal to facilitate online payments. Consumers can make payments online or at the physical stores.
“We launched a pilot on November 5 in Nagpur. We are aiming to have 50,000 sellers on the portal across 100 towns by March 2016.” He said with nearly 5.77 crore small traders in the country, the portal will serve as an interface between traders and consumers, ” Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, CAIT, was quoted as saying.
In every city a technical team will be stationed to supervise the business and trade associations across the country will be an integral part. “Local trade associations of different cities will be roped in a structured manner to promote e-lala portal among their members and the public,” Khandelwal added.
Also Read: E-lala is not a portal, but an ‘Encyclopedia’ for consumers: CAIT
e-lala will also have a speciality corner promoting city-wise unique products. Along with traders, the portal will also assist the requirements of the consumers. If a consumer is unable to find a product, he/ she can leave a query at the port to which response will be given in 24 hours. There will also be an artisans’ corner for artisans and entrepreneurs to display their products.
The portal was proposed at the national governing council meeting of CAIT, held on June 8. The body has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of its national president BC Bhartia to implement this plan.
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