A n e-commerce platform was launched on August 15 whereby NGOs can sell their products and bag the entire sale proceeds without paying any commission to the site.
“Usually, any concern selling through an e-commerce site has been the hefty commission charged by them, amounting sometimes up to 40 per cent of the proceeds. This puts tremendous pressure on NGOs that are out to help others without seeking profits for themselves. This site will provide them a digital marketing platform and remit the entire proceeds to them too,” said Abdul Gafur, whose brainchild NGO Mart is.
The site ngomrt.com is being developed by Martian Corporation, an IT company based in Eco Space, and Rotary Club of Bidhannagar is the launching partner.
Gafur, a resident of New Town’s Sunrise Greens, is a member of the club, and a soft launch of the site was made at IPHE hall in CK Block a few weeks ago.
“The Rotary network is the largest NGO in the world, and we shall promote this site,” said president of the club, Sutapa Mukherjee. “We shall also help enlist genuine NGOs for the venture.”
How NGOs can join
The first eligibility for registering on NGO Mart is that the NGO needs to be registered on the central government’s NGO Darpan portal. The site ngodarpan.gov.in is a centralised database for NGOs and voluntary organisations across India. “This database has over three lakh registered NGOs and we shall use this as a hallmark,” explained secretary of the club S. Mukherjee. “Interested NGOs can apply on ngomrt.com itself. The administrators will run further checks before giving them access.”
Bottles for sale on the site
Thereafter, the NGOs can upload pictures and descriptions of the products they make, write about the beneficiaries who make them, levy prices, and wait for orders to pour in.
The alpha version, that has got launched, is available through a computer (not phone yet) and has products listed under categories of home and living, clothes, handicrafts, gifts and stationery, health and wellness, eco-friendly products, food and beverages, and festive collection.
“Our institute teaches vocations to specially-abled people who make pen stands, jewellery etc,” said Urmi De, secretary of Srijan Sabha in Mahisbathan. This is one of the first two NGOs to be listed on the site. “But when it comes to marketing, we have to request our own friends and families to buy them. We aren’t tech-savvy and had never thought of selling online. But a marketplace on the internet will open doors now.”
Gandhi Seva Sangha, another NGO in Sreebhumi, has been registered. “We support cancer-stricken patients by selling bags made by slum dwellers. But why limit our reach? If we can buy a product from a remote village in Rajasthan today, why can’t someone from that remote village buy a bag made by us?” said a member of the group.
AI tools to help
The site has been developed by Martian Corporation, an IT company based in Eco Space.
A screenshot of the e-commerce portal
“We have made the site easy to use for customers and at the same time communicated to them the emotional stories of the NGOs,” said Abid Hossain Biswas, CEO of Martian Corporation. “The NGOs will be able to see their sales trends, weekly orders, and AI tools will help analyse reports and give suggestions.”
For instance, AI will scan the internet for other similar products and suggest an average price for an NGO to sell at; it can analyse past sales and advice which items to focus on in future; it can even study past trends and suggest how much inventory to stock before the festive season. “We can rope in more NGOs to do ancillary work,” said Hossain Biswas. “If one NGO makes pickle, for instance, another can focus simply on packaging it.”