From Seller Pain Points to Product Innovation: The Power of Pincode’s Hackathon

At PhonePe, our commitment to innovation and a product-first mindset drives us to continuously enhance the experiences of developers, customers and sellers. One way to foster this culture is through hackathons – dynamic events where engineers come up with high-impact solutions that improve developer experience and enhance satisfaction for PhonePe customers and sellers.

We recently organized an exclusive hackathon especially for Pincode, aiming to develop  practical solutions for sellers and consumers. This was an opportunity for developers to unleash their creativity building solutions that can revolutionize the e-commerce experience on Pincode.

Our goal extended beyond just solving problems- as employees and users of Pincode, we deeply understand customer expectations from an ecommerce platform. We recognize the issues that impact product delivery, operational excellence, and overall user experience. To build a truly seller-centric product, we also needed insights directly from the sellers- their challenges, pain points and daily hurdles.

What made this hackathon unique was that our engineers didn’t just rely on the sales teams for insights, they stepped in the field themselves. During the market visit, the engineers received first hand feedback on sellers’ experiences with  Pincode Seller Platform and the challenges  they face while fulfilling  orders everyday for Pincode’s customers.  This direct engagement allowed our engineers to see beyond the data and understand the real-world context of the problems they were solving.

Field visit experience & insights

Typically, our business team members meet with sellers to gather their feedback for product improvements. This time, the tech team had the opportunity to go a step further by engaging directly with store owners, managers, and workers to gain a fresh perspective on the product and the problem-solving approach. 

Conversations with the sellers revealed critical gaps in their daily workflows, enabling us to develop targeted solutions to address their pain points.  By integrating these newfound insights, we built new features and tools designed to make seller operations smoother and more efficient.

A significant challenge identified was the difficulty in managing and updating large catalogs with thousands of constantly changing SKUs. This often led to discrepancies between online catalogs and physical store inventories, resulting in unfulfilled orders and dissatisfied customers.

“We visited a few stores in HSR Layout, Bangalore. While observing the store’s operations, we noticed that  efficiency is at the heart of everything they did. From the tools they use (like the billing software) to the way items are brought into and arranged on the racks of the store, the employees are trained to reduce/remove any kind of cognitive load. This insight underscored the importance of developing hackathon solutions that seamlessly integrate into their workflows,operating unobtrusively to automate tasks without disrupting their established processes.” ~ Tushar Naik

One of the best aspects of the Pincode hackathon was its unique format. Instead of a typical 24-hour event, it spanned an entire week. Kicking off with market visits, the tech team engaged with local sellers to identify real-world problems before diving into a week-long coding phase to develop working solutions. This “pivot” from the traditional hackathon format allowed more time for ideation, cleaner codes and quicker production of winning hacks. The energy and creativity of the entire tech team was top-notch, making the experience great fun. Our hackathon idea ended up getting patented as well which was truly “a cherry on top. ~ Kiran Kumar

Hackathon participation and solutions to make seller life easy

Thereafter, the whole team hustled for a week and utilized all those insights to build the best for our sellers . Solutions were focused on real-time catalog updates, digitalizing the offline seller catalog in seconds, providing a platform to sellers where they can see pre and post order analytics with business numbers and impact, and  creating tools to promote products across social media with creative templates. One standout innovation was a packer-checker app designed to help sellers ship the correct SKUs, enhancing overall order accuracy.

Get ready to revolutionize the e-commerce seller experience!

Within 10 days, a few of the hackathon projects went straight from being just hacks to real tools: 

Pincode Business Plugin- This solution captures every action taken by a seller in their physical store, using data from inventory purchases, outward sales, and more.

We went further by identifying products in the store that have yet to be digitized. Managing live inventory across offline and online channels can be cumbersome. Thus, we leverage sellers’ in-store actions, such as PoS updates, sales, billing and product scans to update prices in real-time, offering an accurate view of his inventory through a single platform. This solution ensured that online orders are only placed for in-stock items, preventing customer dissatisfaction due to stockouts.

Ojjar App-  Embracing AI, this app allows store owners and staff to update their online catalogs simply by clicking photos of store shelves. In seconds, the app identifies items and updates prices, giving sellers a live view of their inventory across channels.

Transforming Sellers’ Lives: Impactful Results

Our solutions have significantly enhanced catalog quality, reduced seller cancellations, minimized incorrect shipments, and ensured accurate pricing on the Pincode App. This positive impact has attracted more stores to join our platform, prioritizing customer needs, improving delivery experiences, and boosting store ratings.

The result? Happier sellers, satisfied customers, and increased sales—creating a win-win for everyone.

Improved experience as a byproduct

The hackathon united engineers with sellers, sparking innovative e-commerce solutions. Enhanced seller experiences naturally lead to improved customer satisfaction. Higher fulfillment rates, fewer cancellations, positive feedback, and increased repeat business demonstrate that e-commerce is a two-way bridge.

The event’s success showcased the power of collaboration and customer-centric innovation at PhonePe. By bridging tech expertise with real-world insights, the team set a new standard for rapid, impactful development in digital commerce.