Paytm unveils m-com marketplace strapped with a messenger to connect and bargain with vendors

Paytm, a digital goods and services marketplace from Noida-headquartered One97 Communications Ltd, has taken the wraps off its mobile-only shopping marketplace where the mobile app comes integrated with a digital wallet for payments.

The firm said the app features more than 100,000 items from 250 merchants across men, women, kids fashion and home furnishing categories, along with mobile & DTH recharge options which are already available on the app.

The app is currently available only on iOS platform, with the Android version set to be launched next week. The mobile-only marketplace will be available to all 6 million Paytm users by the end of February, the company said in a blog post.

The firm claims that the new version will also provide an over-the-counter human shopping experience using the Plustxt messenger, which it had acquired last year. This would allow consumers to bargain with the vendor selling products through the m-com platform.

"We have thought of mobile shopping from bottom up, without any previous assumptions of consumer behaviour. Bargain is ingrained in nearly every Indian and is part of our everyday shopping. We are making something that will appeal to every Indian user in a natural way," said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, co-founder & CEO, One97 Communications.

The shopping app has been integrated with Paytm Cash Wallet, a mobile prepaid payment option through which one can add cash from his/her bank/credit card. Users can get cash back or refund from a merchant in the wallet and use it across every item sold in the marketplace.

Last year, online business directory Just Dial had also announced the launch of an online marketplace which will offer a one-stop shop for users to undertake multiple day-to-day tasks such as online booking of restaurants, cab booking and doctor's appointments. Currently it is allowing service related transactions through the platform.

Paytm will essentially compete with the apps of various online marketplace ventures, including that of Flipkart, Amazon, eBay, Snapdeal and so on. As such, it would be a play on execution while tapping on to the existing users of its recharge and bus ticketing site.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)