Digital bookkeeping startup OkCredit has silently launched OkShop, a new app that allows small shop owners to set up online stores, create product catalogues and let them share inventories and offerings on WhatsApp. The Lightspeed-backed company launched the app on August 24 and so far it has garnered over 10K downloads on the Play Store.
The company has built and introduced OkShop within a month of its rival Khatabook launching a similar app called “Dukaan by Khatabook.”
This positions the two arch-rivals head-on in a new segment apart from their core offering of bookkeeping. Both OkCredit and Khatabook have raised over $80 million each from marquee investors including B Capital. Since euphoria around bookkeeping has been subsiding, it seems like a good time for companies like Khatabook and OkCredit to diversify.
Small merchants can use OkShop to get an instant e-commerce store with WhatsApp integration. While the app is similar to Khatabook, Bikayi and Dukaan, its user interface is different. “Dukaan by Khatabook” was caught in controversy at the time of launch for alleged plagiarism of the logo and user interface of another app Dukaan.
“Dukaan” is owned and operated by Rankz Inc also has the same offering for offline stores. It had made a debut on the Play Store in June, almost two months before Dukaan by Khatabook.
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Over the past few weeks, the B2B e-commerce enablement platform has turned hot with significant interest from top-tier venture capitalists. This is because internet-enabled selling has taken top priority when users are avoiding stepping out to make purchases.
Bikayi had recently raised $2 million from Mantis Ventures, Y Combinator and others, whereas Rankz’s Dukaan in an advanced stage to raise a $6 million worth seed round from Lightspeed and Matrix. Entrackr had exclusively reported the funding talks on August 18. Importantly, another Lightspeed-backed company – Magicpin has been enabling instant digital stores for small merchants through Orderhere.io.
That’s not all. According to two Entrackr sources, social commerce major Meesho may also launch a similar app.
While Meesho’s co-founder and chief executive Vidit Atrey has denied any plan at the moment, he emphasised that Meesho business is about e-commerce enablement and the company would keep working on it. “Meesho is an e-commerce enabler before anyone else. However, enabling kirana stores isn’t on the cards yet,” said Atrey.
Even payment firms want a piece of the e-commerce enablement pie. According to sources, BharatPe has also been exploring a potential play in this space. PayU also has been tinkering within the segment with “PayUnow” since 2018. The Naspers-owned company may ramp up PayUnow since the segment is gaining ground.
At present, payment gateway Instamojo is the largest competition for these companies in the e-commerce enablement space. The Kalaari-backed firm had acquired GetMeAshop in January this year. Ever since then, it has been positioning itself as an e-commerce enabler rather than a mere payments solution.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp Business has been growing at a quick pace. It recorded over 50 million downloads in the past 12 months and is hiring for two key positions to drive usage of the business-facing app.
WhatsApp Business will be the biggest competition for all these companies in the future. The key question: will they be able to create space for themselves when WhatsApp Pay gets integrated with WhatsApp Business?
