How DataKart powered Smart Consumer app is empowering online shoppers to make better purchase decisions

The online market place is flooded with e-commerce websites. Many websites host common products while the information on them put up by sellers are different. This creates problems for shoppers in comparing products correctly and making informed purchase decisions, besides retailers/shopping portals are not able to list products correctly. To overcome this, standardised, consistent, and trusted information is required on all products, which is clear and unambiguous, irrespective of the retail channel used by the shopper for purchase. 

DataKart, the national repository of information on retail products, developed by GS1 India, captures information on consumer products and their attributes, which is trusted, complete and up-to-date. GS1 India is a Standards organisation set up in India by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, and other apex trade bodies and institutes. 

Currently, DataKart has details on over 7.5 million retailed products from around 14,000 manufacturers, which is being shared with all the key retailers and shopping portals in the country. Through this, multiple retailers and shopping portals can access product information, populated directly by brand owners/manufacturers, without having to depend on intermediaries like distributers/sellers. With this, shoppers are assured of accurate information on products and their attributes affecting purchase decisions.

Also, since one-version of information is shared with multiple retailers and shopping portals through DataKart, it enables seamless shopping experience across channels, whether buying at stores or through shopping portals.

In an e-mail interaction with ZeeBiz.com, Ravi Mathur, CEO of GS1 India, said, “Businesses & online shoppers are greatly benefitting from ready access to accurate, up-to-date & complete information on consumer products through DataKart”.

To provide this information to shoppers directly, DataKart also feeds product data to ‘Smart Consumer’ mobile app of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, he added. With over 500 scans each day and over 40,000 active downloads, the usage of Smart Consumer mobile app is rapidly expanding across the cities of India, including tier 2 & 3 cities.

Benefits of DataKart for Consumers:

* Enables validation/authentication of information on products and its Regulatory licenses using Smart Consumer mobile app of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India.
* Enables consumers to make better-informed purchase decisions, especially when buying through online shopping portals, through the access to complete and trusted information on retail products, as it is directly provided by brand owners.
* Provides seamless shopping experience across retail channels, whether shopping offline (at retail stores) or online (at shopping portals)

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Additionally, consumers can also use the Smart Consumer app to give feedback on products directly to their manufacturers and to report complaints, if any, with the manufacturer and Regulatory bodies.