CHENNAI: For decades, buying liquor in Tamil Nadu meant standing in a queue at a state-run outlet and hoping the bottle you wanted was in stock, but Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) is taking a big leap into e-commerce.Beginning Thursday, customers can browse the live inventory of more than 4,000 Tasmac outlets on a new online portal, pay digitally and collect their purchase from the store of their choice.Tasmace2e.in is scheduled to go live on Thursday, confirmed Tasmac sources and is expected to curb overcharging. A customer can log into the portal only after confirming that he/she is of drinking age (21).Subsequentlty, one can search the shop within a radius of 5km to 25km or search for outlets based on its number or district.“Someone in Chennai can also order liquor at a shop in Tirunelveli and pay on the website digitally,” said Tasmac sources.“It will generate a QR code. The same can be shown at the shop to get the liquor bottles strictly for MRP. Anybody, above the age of 21, with the QR code can collect the bottles,” said Tasmac sources.Some states such as West Bengal and Odisha allow online purchase and door delivery of liquor, while some states have the self-pickup option.The Tasmac website will also allow the buyer to browse the stock available just like other e-commerce platforms and virtually pick the item for payment.The website will be available in both Tamil and English and it will show the route to the shop concerned after the purchase. The MRP list of various liquor varieties and supplier details will also be made available on the portal.This will help curtail the MRP violation and salesmen pushing sales of particular brands to buyers without divulging the actual stock.Tasmac sources said the Railtel team which developed the end-to-end computetisation software has developed this web portal as well.While Tasmac district managers were trained to raise indents based on the online sales on Tuesday, the salesmen will be trained on Wednesday, a day ahead of the launch.“The liquor stock shown on the portal would be 30 minutes old and just in case the particular liquor was sold out before placing the order, the money will be reimbursed or it can be purchased from another shop. There will be teething problems in the implementation, and they will he sorted over time,” said Tasmac sources.
