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<ul><li><keyword id="1640900" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-grocery">Online grocery</keyword> segment will grow by 55% to reach 1.2% of the market by 2023, said a report by RedSeer and <keyword id="964794" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="BigBasket">BigBasket</keyword>. </li><li>Today online grocery startups account for 40% of total e-commerce funding in India. </li><li>Startups in the online grocery sector have raised $665.70 million in funding in 2019 so far.</li></ul>The Indian online grocery segment is growing fast and how. Currently the online food and grocery retail holds a miniscule part of online retail with only 0.2% penetration. But it is predicted to grow by 55% to reach 1.2% of the market by 2023, said a report by RedSeer and BigBasket. The market size of this segment will also expand to $10.5 billion, the report predicts. The customers’ trust on online shopping along with the growing presence of e-grocery players will drive this growth in the sector, added the report. “The online grocery segment has been one of the fastest-growing e-commerce verticals in India and will continue to flourish in both metro and non-metro cities in the years to come,” said Hari Menon, Co-Founder and CEO, bigbasket. Online grocery vs E-commerce in India As Indians are used to visiting the kirana store in the next lane, online grocery has been growing slowly since onset in 2010. In the past few years however it picked up speed. As the number of e-commerce users grew it had a slow but steady effect on online grocery purchases. From a barely any presence in 2010, today online grocery startups account for 40% of total e-commerce funding in India. 
 
 
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 So, what led to this growth? “The online grocery space in India has accelerated due to the increasing penetration of internet in millions of households across the country, rise in smartphone usage, enhanced customer comfort and trust in e-tailing and a better value for money for customers in online vs offline stores. Besides, availability of value for money products, better savings vs offline stores and cashback led by subscription-based programmes further ensure affordable pricing and scheduled delivery to make this space exciting,” said Albinder Dhindsa, Co-founder, <keyword id="2466939" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Grofers">Grofers</keyword>. Startups in the online grocery sector have raised $665.7 million in funding in 2019 so far, with Bigbasket turning a unicorn. Grofers, a soonicorn (soon to turn unicorn) made a comeback with a $200 million funding led by Softbank. Here are the top 20 funded startups in the e-grocery segment. 
 
 
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 Tier 2 &amp; 3 cities to lead the next phase of e-grocery Online grocery’s dream to reach $10.5 billion by 2023 will not be fuelled solely by urban growth. A big share of this will come from Tier 2 and 3 cities. Grofers co-founder Dhindsa believes that the next big thing in e-grocery is increasing penetration of e-commerce in tier-2 markets and amongst lower SECs (socio-economic classification) in metros. “E-grocery will bring more shoppers into e-commerce as a whole and already 15% of our new users every month are first time online shoppers. Growing disposable income of the consumers in Tier II markets and the adoption of 4G has already laid a strong foundation for the next wave of growth for e-commerce,” he said.

Online grocery may become a $10 billion industry by 2023 but even then only one in 100 Indians will be buying

<ul><li>After a couple of dull years and a few failures, online grocery in India is back with a bang. </li><li>SoftBank has put in fresh funds in Grofers while Reliance Industries Limited is reportedly looking to buy a majority stake in Grab. </li><li>Swiggy had recently announced its foray into online grocery delivery with Swiggy stores. </li></ul> There was a time when the online grocery vertical had become the hot favourite with major players trying their luck in the game. But soon with failures piling up one over the other, exits were announced. Come 2019 and it seems like it’s going to be the year hyperlocal grocery delivery again. Sector leader BigBasket may become the first unicorn – clock a valuation of $1 billion – of 2019, and food delivery startup Swiggy threw in its hat into groceries with Swiggy Stores. Swiggy, which raised a whopping $1 billion in funding in December, has already piloted the operations in Gurugram and has tied up with <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/swiggy-takes-on-bigbasket-grofers-to-deliver-groceries-from-local-stores-119021201294_1.html">3,500</a> local stores. However, these startups will be battling the deep pockets of Mukesh Ambani and the Japanese Softbank. Reliance Industries Limited is <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/ril-in-talks-for-majority-stake-in-startup-grab/articleshow/68192744.cms">reportedly</a> in talks to buy a majority stake in Grab, a hyperlocal delivery startup for groceries, medicines and food based out of Mumbai. Grofers has raised <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/grofers-raises-fresh-funds-from-existing-investor-softbank-as-e-grocers-valuation-hits-425m/68203728">fresh funds</a> from SoftBank Vision Fund (the Japanese firm had earlier too invested in the e-grocery company) which takes its valuation to $425 million. This excitement was missing in the space the last few years. E-grocery startup PepperTap had to shut its operations in 2016. In a blog on <a href="https://yourstory.com/2016/04/peppertap-journey-navneet-singh">YourStory</a>, Navneet Singh, founder of PepperTap, wrote about the problem they faced. “The integration of our app with our partner stores was not great. In the race to pepper the whole country with PepperTap, we had brought too many stores online far too quickly,” he wrote. Another unicorn startup Paytm too had explored the e-grocery space with Paytm Zip, only to shut shop in 2015. So, even with clear failures in the past, what makes today’s unicorns still find their way into the space? A simple answer - the demand still exists. Grocery stores aren’t called convenience stores for nothing. For today’s millennial who is busy with work to order groceries on a tap is an easy, convenient way out. A report on the online grocery space in India by Red Seer consulting states, “Inspite of all these disruptions and changes, one thing that did not change was the massive potential for online grocery- as indicated by India’s USD 500+ Bn grocery market out of which a mere 0.2% is online (~USD 1.2 bn overall and ~USD 1 Bn considering only hyperlocal grocery).” The proof that it still works is seen in BigBasket’s <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/bigbaskets-wholesale-unit-revenue-up-35/articleshow/67358734.cms">revenue</a> report. In the year 2017-18, BigBasket saw its revenue grow by 35% while losses dropped by 53%. In FY19, the company expects the revenue to grow by <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/companies/bigbasket-chief-hari-menon-expects-75-revenue-jump-in-fy19-to-rs-3500-crore-3183251.html">75%</a>. Grofers which had posted a net loss of <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/grofers-narrows-loss-to-rs-258-cr-as-sales-double-in-fy2018/68105608">₹268 crore</a> in FY 17, managed to post a loss of ₹258 crore in FY18. The company has also added <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/grofers-eyes-rs-2500-crore-revenue-in-fy19-adds-2-5-lakh-new-customers-in-january-3453911.html">2.5 lakh</a> new customers in January, while also aiming for a revenue of over ₹2500 crore. And with big backers like Mukesh Ambani and Softbank entering the fray, the competition, too, will be intense. The battle for dominance may mean more discounts and cashbacks for consumers. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/swiggy-in-talks-to-acquire-ubereats-india-operations/articleshow/68110377.cms">Swiggy wants more on its plate, in talks to acquire Ubereats India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/for-indian-startups-2018-has-been-a-year-of-bouncing-back-as-venture-capital-funding-doubles/articleshow/67286540.cms">For Indian startups, 2018 has been a year of bouncing back as venture capital funding doubles</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/these-are-the-25-most-sought-after-startups-in-india-report/articleshow/65866420.cms">These are the 25 most sought after startups in India: Report</a>

Online grocers are back in business in India with billions more to burn – and that may be good for consumers

This is truly a country of contradictions. On one hand, you have small petty shops upgrading themselves to do roaring business. On the other, you see eCommerce spreading its wings to fly into newer horizons. Yes, the malls are booming in some cities, while falling flat on their face in a few towns. <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="economy">Economy</keyword> is as vibrant as India’s festivals. And, eCommerce only provides testimony to this factor. 
 
Indians are busy breathing life into the eCommerce ventures in their country, encouraging the growth of new economy that’s powered by the Internet. These days, Indians prefer Internet for shopping clothes, gifts or furniture; but also to procure simpler things such as groceries. 
Whether it is the increased penetration of the Internet, or the efficient supply chain management followed by eCommerce companies, more and more people have been switching over to Internet than going to the nearby grocer’s shop. 
 This observation was made by US Department of Agriculture (<keyword id="134457" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="USDA">USDA</keyword>), which said India was among the fastest growing eCommerce countries in the domestic market. The number of online food and grocery retail outlets had increased from 14 in the year 2013 to 44 in 2014, with few months to go till the end of the year. 
 
Online retailers are truly competing with kiryana stores and small supermarket setups to provide quick home delivery facilities, along with credit to neighbourhood consumers. These are a few aspects that had held the bond of kiryana stores and consumers who would buy groceries from them since generations. However, there is something that the online stores will have to take a leaf out of the book of kiryana store owners – that is to set up a fool-proof credit system, and also to overcome delivery challenges. 
 
The growth has a particular pattern and age group too. Mostly the young professionals who are pressed for time are the ones who are availing this facility, helping the segment grow manifold. Understandably so, the growth of this segment is high in cities such as Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Trivandrum, Coimbatore and others where the floating population is high. 
 
Earlier when the idea of eCommerce was being discussed, prompting people to think about the days when they could literally buy everything over the net, the major contemplation in India was about the ‘touch and feel’ practice that was hard to change in an Indian consumer. 
 
But, clearly as things are going, the typical Indian consumer has also changed his preferences over the years when eCommerce gained ground. Today, USDA has noted that the Indian buyer doesn’t necessarily have to ‘inspect’ the things that he/she is buying. The bias of having to ‘see’ before buying as slowly replaced into faith on the automated purchases made through the Internet. Owing to measures such as cash on delivery and cash back policies – though the latter is still a hassle in some companies – Indian consumer is propelling the market in a new direction. 
 
The number of online retail store is expected to rise in the future owing to the increased user base of smartphones and mobiles. Last year alone saw the number of internet users accessing it through phone jumped from 120 million to 213 million. 'Shopping on the go' is no longer a strange experience. 
 
While one may well count on wide range of selection of goods, and convenient options such as cash on delivery and credit card payments as drivers of this new trend, the factor of changing urban landscape also needs to be taken into account. 
 
Increased chaos in urban spaces, crowded shopping areas, shortage of parking space and doing groceries demanding lots of time commitment – all have equally contributed to the growth of this sector. It remains to be seen whether this growth would sustain in the future or wither away with time. 
 
Image: Indiatimes

Indian Cities Taking Cyber-Highway For Grocery Shopping

New Delhi, May 26 () Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has launched an online extension of its grocery business under JioMart brand across 200 cities. The service is being offered in all leading metros (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata), and even in smaller towns like Mysuru, Bhatinda and Dehradun. JioMart is now delivering in more than 200 cities, Damodar Mall, the chief executive officer of Reliance Retail's grocery business said in a tweet. JioMart last month started a pilot project serving users in three neighbourhoods surrounding Mumbai. Credit Suisse said, "The national roll-out provides customers with a useful alternative to existing players (BigBasket, Grofers) as online grocery orders have spiked, given the fewer store visits". D-Mart, it said, mentioned that April revenues are down 45 per cent year-on-year as nearly 50 per cent of the stores are shut or have very restricted hours of operation. Therefore, online orders should help offset some of the lower sales in physical stores. CLSA said as of now, the website will only use Reliance's offline grocery supply chain as its backbone and deliver to homes. "Success at its ongoing beta tests in Navi Mumbai, which also encompasses mom and pop stores and uses WhatsApp as a platform to order, will be later extended to pan-India," it said. Users can order from a full suite of grocery items by visiting the JioMart website. Products include fruits and vegetables, dairy and baked goods, staples, snacks and branded foods, beverages, and personal and home care. Reliance's private labels also featured prominently. "While it does not commit on a delivery timeline when ordering (due to the lockdown), it aims to deliver orders within a two-day timeframe," CLSA said. Eventually, like other online retailers, it is possible that Reliance integrates its entire retail offerings, including fashion, lifestyle and consumer electronics, onto one super e-commerce platform and mobile app. "This, along with a pan-India extension of partnerships with mom &amp; pop stores after a successful beta test and ramp-up of this new commerce venture is crucial in Reliance's grand plan of converting Jio's 400 million-plus subscribers into customers for its eCommerce and other offerings," CLSA said. Recent partnerships with Facebook-owned WhatsApp for JioMart will only help in increasing monetisation opportunities by increasing the convenience and reach of consumers. The grocery platform was previously piloting deliveries only in select areas of Mumbai. "JioMart has seen a 4x rise in online orders from a low base. With its pan India presence JioMart now directly competes with Amazon and Flipkart in eCommerce," Bernstein said in a separate report. Grocery is 70 per cent of the Indian retail market, 90 per cent-plus unorganised, driven by Kirana stores/small retailers. "Organised penetration is less than 10 per cent while online penetration for grocery is less than 1 per cent," it said. Facebook has made a bigger push into e-commerce with the launch of Shops. "The idea is to bring millions of small businesses online. This will allow free online storefronts for small businesses and retailers and expand Facebook presence across Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger," Bernstein said. "Facebook shops will be complimentary to WhatsApp business use to sign and onboard Kirana stores for JioMart (grocery app of Reliance Retail)." Credit Suisse said JioMart currently fulfills the order by own entity and kiranas likely to be on-boarded subsequently. "The platform lists all the major grocery categories like fruits and vegetables, staples, dairy and bakery, snacks, beverages, personal care, home care and baby care. "In terms of pricing, Reliance has extended the Smart promise of 'minimum 5 per cent off on MRP' to all products on JioMart. The discount is higher on its private label brands, and is competitive to branded products," it said. Reliance Retail had been piloting the initiative in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan among select population group. It was serving these customers through both Kirana stores and their own warehouses. It also set up Smart Points, which were acting as delivery points in neighbourhood. However, orders post the national launch are being serviced by Reliance Smart and Fresh stores, Sahakari Bhandar stores (owned by Reliance retail), and is not yet fully leveraging kirana network (as on-boarding of Kirana stores is still ongoing), Credit Suisse said. "Just prior to the national launch, Reliance Retail tapped the WhatsApp customer base in the three pilot regions to source orders. In our view, it was just a test phase of integration. The orders were available only for pick-up from nearby Kirana store, whose details were sent to the customer via WhatsApp. However, the national launch, so far, does not have integration with WhatsApp," it said. The brokerage said it placed an order on JioMart but the delivered order value was 55 per cent of the booked order value, due to inventory limitation in the nearby Sahakari Bhandar store. ANZ BAL

Reliance launches JioMart across 200 cities; analysts say co eyeing spike in online grocery orders

<ul><li>From <keyword id="2709620" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="grocery-delivery">grocery delivery</keyword> to moving houses, the technology for pickup and drop services is significantly rising in the country. </li><li>There are over 1,000 logistics tech startups so far. </li><li>Here are the five <keyword id="8352712" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="logistics-apps">logistics apps</keyword> for your daily deliverables.</li></ul>The demand of easy access to facilities has given way to several logistics startups in India. Millennials now use apps for everything right from grocery ordering to moving houses, to pickup and drop services. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, the logistics industry is expected to hit $215 billion by next year. There are over 1,000 logistics tech startups so far. Here are the five apps that are must-haves. <keyword id="3275685" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="dunzo">Dunzo</keyword> Dunzo allows users to to order groceries and pet supplies from 1,500 stores nearby. The services are available across five cities — Bengaluru, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. The app supplies everything from salt packets to late night deliveries. It does not have any ‘minimum order’ restrictions and lets the user track the order in real-time. <keyword id="964794" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="BigBasket">Bigbasket</keyword> Bigbasket is a <keyword id="62452" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="grocery-shopping">grocery shopping</keyword> app that delivers raw materials, organic products and fresh fruits and vegetables online. It allows users to pay via digital payment methods like net banking and e-wallets, thereby saving the hassle of cash payments for household essentials. Milkbasket Milkbasket grocery app will ease your morning hustle. The app delivers organic products including milk, eggs and bread, among others. The app provides free delivery everyday in the morning at 7 am. It also lets the user order till midnight. The services allow to choose from over 40 varieties of milk — including organic products and brands like Mother Dairy, Amul, Nestle. Grofers Grofers is an online grocery store delivering across 21 cities in India — including Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore. The app delivers products from brands like Patanjali, Ashirwad, Saffola and Fortune among others. The online store provides a range of baby care products, diapers and beauty products. Swiggy Food delivery platform Swiggy provides its user an option to buy grocery products via 'Swiggy Store.' The apps also allows instant pickup and delivery services to its customers with 'Swiggy Go'

​These five apps will save your time spent on milk and grocery runs

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Daniel Rehn/Flickr</div></div></div>The ingredients for tonight's dinner may soon be coming to an app near you.<a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/3526866-general-mills-gis-ceo-kendall-powell-on-q1-2016-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single">In a quarterly earnings</a> call Tuesday, General Mills Senior Vice President of Sales Shawn O'Grady said that online food buying is taking off."E-commerce is the fastest growing food channel and our customers are testing a wide range of business and distribution models," said O'GradyCurrently, online sales make up about 1 to 2% of total sales, he said, but in the next five years it should quadruple."If you said what does it look like out four or five years ahead, all the projections I've seen are in the 5% to 6% range. So it's going to be a high growth area," said O'Grady.CEO Kendall Powell said that the US is actually lagging behind other markets in online sales, and the growth could be even higher."We have only to look at other markets where we do business like the UK and France where, for some of our categories our online sales are approaching 10%," said Powell. "So it's pretty clear that we're going to move in that direction very rapidly in the US."In order to hit that level of sales, says O'Grady, General Mills' major partners Amazon and WalMart.com need to offer an easier way for people to shop online."The piece that will really shift the U.S. landscape on e-commerce is one that moves from being single item search to being full basket, online search, which it has in the places Ken mentioned in Europe and other parts of the world," said O'Grady. "And you can see that coming and so that's why we expect the growth projections to materialize."With Amazon testing quick turnaround on orders and Google testing a food delivery service, the distribution piece of the puzzle may soon fall into place.For now, both O'Grady and Powell said they were setting General Mills up for success by investing heavily in the online space.General Mills is the maker of such brands as YoPlait yogurt, Cheerios cereal, and Häagen-Dazs ice cream. The company did $4.21 billion in sales in the most recent quarter, a 1% decrease from the quarter before. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/global-market-meltdown-stocks-oil-2015-8">RED EVERYWHERE: It's a global market meltdown</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="F3NTU1dzpxuF4acJ9B_9g5mwKWDZ5O4E" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The American grocery store is moving online

New Delhi, Jan 6 () Amazon India on Monday said it has entered into long-term business agreements with Future Group for expanding the reach of the latter's retail stores and consumer brands through its online marketplace.
 The development comes after Amazon had agreed to buy 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons Ltd that in turn holds stake in Future Retail Ltd (FRL) last year.
 "FRL and Amazon India signed two agreements focusing on key categories - grocery and general merchandise, and fashion and footwear," according to a statement released Monday.
 Amazon India will also become the authorised online sales channel for FRL stores, and FRL will ensure participation of its relevant stores and programmes on the Amazon India marketplace, it added.
 Besides, Future Consumer Ltd (FCL) has also inked a long-term agreement with Amazon Retail India Pvt Ltd (ARIPL) for distribution of Future Consumer's portfolio of brands online. Some of FCL brands include Tasty Treat, Voom, Dreamery, Karmiq, Mother Earth, Kara, CleanMate and others.
 As part of the partnership, FRL will augment existing store-infrastructure at its retail outlets for facilitating seamless packaging and pickup of products ordered online. FRL and Amazon India have already launched this service across 22 stores. Both companies plan on rolling this out across the entire FRL store chain based on agreed timelines.
 "FRL will leverage its existing infrastructure, strong product knowledge and extensive brand portfolio resulting in higher store productivity and improved margins," as per the statement.
 Currently, FRL attracts over 350 million footfalls across its retail network, and Amazon India's marketplace will enable FRL to reach a wider customer base.
 Also, FRL will list on the Amazon Prime Now programme, allowing customers to get food, grocery and general merchandise delivery within two hours in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
 FRL plans to soon list stores like Big Bazaar, and Foodhall in more cites on the Amazon India marketplace.
 "In order to drive efficiencies, the two organisations will work closely through a dedicated team, and will explore synergies in distribution, customer acquisition, and marketing initiatives. This creates an enviable collaboration bringing together the best of consumer insights and geographical reach from the online and offline world," the statement said.
 Kishore Biyani, Chairman and Managing Director of FRL, said "this arrangement will allow us to build upon each other's strengths in the physical and digital space so that customers benefit from the best services, products, assortment and price".
 "FRL's national footprint of stores offering thousands of products across fashion, appliances, home, kitchen and grocery will now be available to millions of customers shopping on Amazon.in, in hours across over 25 cities," Amazon India Senior Vice President and Country Head Amit Agarwal said.
 On the FCL-ARIPL partnership, Future Consumer Ltd Managing Director Ashni Biyani said the collaboration will expand the reach of its brands to new sets of customers on Amazon India's online marketplace.
 "We will be working closely with Amazon to develop marketing and promotion initiatives and look forward to using Amazon's technical expertise and resources to increase the reach of our brands. Our distinct portfolio of brands catering to aspirational categories will be an excellent addition to Amazon's offerings. Hence, we believe this is a win-win agreement," Ashni Biyani added.
 FCL brands are currently available across multiple channels including general trade, digital platforms and modern retail apart from over 1,700 stores across Future Group's retail chains including Big Bazaar, EasyDay, Heritage Fresh, Nilgiris, WH Smith and among others.
 "Currently, Future Consumer has a largely offline presence. Through this agreement, Future Consumer will build an online channel and offer Future Consumer's brands to millions of Amazon's customers," the company said. SR SID ANS

Amazon India inks long-term deals with Future Retail, FCL

<ul><li>According to RoC filings, <keyword id="964794" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="BigBasket">Bigbasket</keyword> has raised $150 million at a reported valuation of $2.3 billion. </li><li>The funding was led by Bigbasket’s earlier investor Alibaba and was joined by new investor Mirae Asset. </li><li>This will give Bigbasket more power to take on new entrants like Swiggy in the Indian online grocery space. </li></ul>Grocery <keyword id="138263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> Bigbasket is the latest entrant into India’s fast-growing unicorn club. Bigbasket has <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/bigbasket-joins-unicorn-club-with-150-mn-funding-valuation-jumps-two-fold-119032801319_1.html">closed</a> its Series F round of funding with an investment of $150 million, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). With this round, Bigbasket’s valuation has more than doubled to reach a <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/bigbasket-joins-unicorn-club-with-150-mn-funding-valuation-jumps-two-fold-119032801319_1.html">reported </a>$2.3 billion. The latest round of funding was led by the startup’s existing investor Alibaba while South Korean firm Mirae Asset joined its group of investors. With growing competition in the space, Bigbasket has been fast looking at ways of expansion. In a recent <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/bigbasket-aims-to-double-revenue-growth-to-rs-7000-crore-in-fy20-3590891.html">interview</a>, Hari Menon, co-founder and CEO of Bigbasket said that the company is looking at doubling its revenue to ₹70 billion in FY20. The <keyword id="7475397" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-grocery">Indian grocery</keyword> sector has seen a lot of action lately. Foodtech unicorn Swiggy recently joined the grocery sector with <keyword id="7317638" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Swiggy-Stores">Swiggy Stores</keyword> and has already piloted the operations in Gurugram with over <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/swiggy-takes-on-bigbasket-grofers-to-deliver-groceries-from-local-stores-119021201294_1.html">3,500</a> local stores. But it’s not just startups that are interested in the grocery sector. Reliance industries-controlled Reliance Industrial Investment and Holdings Ltd (RIIHL) has <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/reliance-industries-subsidiary-inks-pacts-to-acquire-grab-a-grub-and-c-square-info-solutions/68245460">reportedly</a> picked up stake in Mumbai-based hyperlocal delivery startup Grab. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/swiggy-and-bigbasket-will-battle-softbank-and-mukesh-ambani-in-online-grocery/articleshow/68204293.cms">Online grocers are back in business in India with billions more to burn – and that may be good for consumers</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milkbasket-strengthens-to-take-on-rivals-swiggy-and-bigbasket-acquires-veggie-india/articleshow/68590658.cms">Four years into the business, Milkbasket has acquired one-year-old startup Veggie India</a>

Indian grocery startup Bigbasket enters the unicorn club with a reported $2.3 billion valuation

Believe it or not, <keyword id="1640900" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-grocery">online grocery</keyword> shopping is a fad. In a country where department stores are still booming and people working with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/government-defines-the-word-start-up/articleshow/51089062.cms">MNC</a>s considering grocery shopping as their dose of weekend fun, online grocery isn’t something that Indians are really very serious about, unlike cab aggregators and movie ticket booking apps. 
 
Indians are jugaad-friendly. In a market crowded with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/government-defines-the-word-start-up/articleshow/51089062.cms">online grocery apps</a>, people tend to download apps, get their first order at maximum discount by using coupons and then simply uninstall the app from the device. They would install other apps for their next use. Unlike cab aggregation, app based grocery shopping is never a necessity to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/government-defines-the-word-start-up/articleshow/51089062.cms">urban Indians</a>. In each lane and bylane of any Indian city and suburb there is a grocery store selling the basic needs of bread, rice, pulses, milk and eggs. 
 
The online boom of grocery shopping started in the US some 15 years back and faded out by early 2000. One of the giants in the market Webvan that started in San Francisco met the same fate as their expenses got out of limit. 
 In last few months, there have been numerous deaths of online grocery providers. <keyword id="2809732" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PepperTap">Peppertap</keyword> that raised USD 51 Million shut down after one and a half year of operation citing similar reason. 
 
Prem Kumar, Founder and CEO, SnapBizz has a point to make. “The consumer behaviour in the grocery online space is fairly different from other consumer goods spaces. The driving forces are merchandise and convenience, while the pillars are technology, merchandise and fulfilment.” 
 
“Since the grocery industry runs on a tight value chain, establishing unit metrics and profitability becomes a challenge,” Kumar said. 
There are two basic models in online grocery- a full service model and hyper local model. Full service models are the ones where they control the end to end value chain and deliver a good customer experience. The hyper local model depends on getting goods from local retailer and delivering it. The unit metrics does not stack up in this model. 
 
“The retailer has to pay 5 to 6%, when he hardly makes 8 to 10 % margin. In spite of doing this, the online grocers do not deliver the same customer experience as delivered by the retailer. Hence, the business model may look attractive in the beginning, but unable to sustain and fold,” Kumar added. 
 
We analyse what could have gone wrong with the online grocery start ups and here are the probable reasons. 
 
Marketing siphons a lot of money <keyword id="2057213" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Big-Basket">Big Basket</keyword> has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/government-defines-the-word-start-up/articleshow/51089062.cms">Shah Rukh Khan</a> as the brand ambassador. Then other online grocery brands like <keyword id="2466939" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Grofers">Grofers</keyword> and ZopNow invest heavily on marketing, right from digital advertisements to billboards. This is again a hug expense. Firstly marginal profit and then monstrous expenses take a toll on the profit. 
 
Many retailers walk with the cherry of the cake 
Well, if Grofers or Big Basket is giving some benefit to the end consumers, often the small retailers start ordering milk, bread and cold drinks as these are the products where they make nominal profit. So as a result, the retailers re-re-selling the products. 
 
Marginal profits 
It’s a known fact in India that groceries aren’t profitable like gadgets. Selling 5 kg of sugar may give the retailer Rs 100 profit. It’s that tough. And then delivering the product at doorstep would result in more expenses. Before shutting down Peppertap, CEO Navneet Singh admitted that they were operating in negative margins per delivery, confirms a report by business website. 
 
Users look for better offers 
Many users tend to buy through apps only when they get <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/government-defines-the-word-start-up/articleshow/51089062.cms">discounts</a>. This isn’t something that the buyers are to be blamed for. Indian market has always been price sensitive and this ought to happen. 
 
Price sensitivity 
Indian consumers are quite money minded and sensitive to prices. It’s not they are misers but they love savings, When you buy at department stores you get to scrutinize various brands, quality and of course the prices. But online grocers don’t give the user the luxury to select. 
 
Inventory mismanagement 
 
 
While Big Basket is spending a lot in inventory and Grofers is letting you choose stores. Having an inventory is always the best option provided you have that much cash in hand. What happens when a customer refuses orders? Sellers aren’t taking it back. If you have an inventory and if the item isn’t perishable, you can still keep it in stock for next order. 
 
Last mile glitch 
The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/government-defines-the-word-start-up/articleshow/51089062.cms">warehouse</a> is super responsive and the pick up is superfast, but then the delivery guys slip and the whole smoothness are hampered. Generally the delivery guys get Rs 300 per day for working from 9 in the morning till 10 at night. No work results in no pay. You don’t really expect a 10 inch wide smile at 9PM carrying your 10 Kg of monthly grocery item. 
 
Moreover unlike Gurgaon, Greater Noida where the real estate boom has given rise to skyscrapers, it’s not everywhere in India where an address is easy to locate and deliver. Naturally the delivery get delayed. 
 
Arsh Singh, COO at Tookan suggests that routing optimization, real-time tracking, keeping customer notified make the grocery delivery management a lot better.

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