SOCIALLY YOURS

Social commerce platforms have enabled your friendly neighbourhood store to go digital, creating a ground-level differentiator

- ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

LOKHO KESAMAI OF NAGALAND never thought his traditional recipe-based pickles would travel beyond the north-eastern states. He has been selling stuff like Pork Chunk Pickle, Dried Wild Apple, Chicken Chunk Pickle, and Dried Gooseberry, among other things, for the past seven years but has mostly catered to the seven sister states.

"Now, I am getting orders from places like Mumbai and Delhi also. Although the bulk of the orders is still from the neighbouring states, there is a slow and steady rise in demand from other states," says the 32-year-old founder of Hornbill Food Marketing.

Kesamai did not open offices in the 'mainland's he refers to the states beyond the Northeast nor did he appoint sales or marketing staff anywhere. All he did was register as a seller on NE Origins, a Sikkim-based social commerce platform.

Kesamai is part of a growing tribe of business people or entrepreneurs-known simply as sellers in the social commerce arena-who have taken their businesses digital in the past couple of years to overcome the challenge of connecting with customers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Simply put, social commerce refers to commerce or trade is done with a built-in element of tech-enabled social interaction. The interaction could be in the form of chats or even audio or video calls between the seller and the potential buyer. At times, the interaction could also be in the form of pre-recorded videos to ensure that the buyer can have a real-life shopping experience.