What was essential to push Grofers forward and grow one of the biggest eGrocery players in the Indian market in such a short duration of just 4 years has been the entrepreneurial spirit and the foresight that Albinder Dhindsa carries for the market.
Co-founder Dhindsa kept running the day-to-day activities and strategic moves at the helm of affairs within Grofers. From the initial concept to its inception, raising funds to set up the company – Dhindsa led in strategizing the long-term business model and setting up viable supply chains.
With a visionary like Dhindsa at its helm, Blinkit (previously Grofers) grew more than 4 times in India and recently crossed over 100 crore monthly GMV or Gross Merchandise Value. Presently, even though acquired by Zomato, Blinkit is one of the biggest players in the eGrocery industry, especially in the Next Day Delivery Model.
Albinder hails from Patiala in Punjab. He completed his Bachelor’s program at IIT Delhi and started his career as a transportation analyst at URS Corporation, where he worked for 2 years. Later, he joined Cambridge Systematics as a Senior Associate and worked for more than 3 years.
In 2010, he went to the University of Columbia, United States, to pursue his MBA. Here, Dhindsa joined UBS Investment Bank as an associate and worked for 3 months.
After completing his MBA, he returned to India and knew he wanted to work in the food domain. He entered the Indian workforce as the new Head of International Operations at Zomato. Here he gathered enough knowledge and experience to begin working on his dream project, Grofers.
As Dhindsa worked in the food delivery business, he realised that there were loopholes in the logistics sector. While brainstorming with his partner, Saurabh Kumar, he saw that most of the transactions between the local merchants and consumers were mostly unorganized.
As he met and spoke to more and more local merchants with a good customer base, he realized that they struggled to deliver quality goods in a reliable manner. That was the ‘Eureka!’ moment for Dhindsa as he dreamt of a startup that would help with daily problems. That was when the concept of Grofers was born.
According to Dhindsa, the initial purpose of Grofers was to offer on-demand pick-up and drop service from shops around the same neighborhood. The shops in question were mostly pharmacies, grocery stores, and restaurants. Their ideology was to provide customers with a one-stop solution for local everyday requirements.
After realizing that they needed to confine their business only to pharmacies and groceries (there were enough food delivery apps already in the market). They then rebranded their startup as Grofers – a super-local logistics agency.
Albinder Dhindsa – Major Challenges Faced
Towards the end of 2015, Grofers was running at a loss of INR 225 crores with a revenue of only INR 143 crores. For months, Grofers kept hitting losses, but that changed when they launched a mobile app in 2015. Sadly, the scale-up operation had gone haywire and Grofer’s suffered tremendous losses.
Again, Dhindsa identified the loophole and resolved the issue. The problem lies with a complicated and broken supply chain. To help solve this problem, the Grofers entrepreneur set up their own supply chain.
When working for Zomato, Albinder realized that there was a market gap when it came to connecting local merchants with consumers. The idea to create a one-stop solution for all local needs was born and the hyper-logistics company, Grofers, came into existence. Under his leadership, the company was named one of the top 10 start-ups by YourStory.com and was listed in the top 10 promising Gurgaon-based start-ups by IndianWeb2.com.
Grofers faced multiple issues and at one moment was running at a loss of INR 7 Crore on revenue of INR 5 crore. However, Albinder came up with the idea to have Grofer’s own warehouse and supply chain management. During the initial stage, investors did not want to join a business that did not return any profits. But Dhindsa and his partner were able to convince some investors. They started by setting up over 60,000 sq. ft. storage facilities in Gurgaon, Delhi, and Bangalore. Smaller warehouses of 20,000 sq. ft. were set up in cities like Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
With a new and improved supply system, business started booming and the average order value shot up from just INR 750 in 2016, to INR 1300.
Albinder Dhindsa – Business Model
Initially, Grofers (now Blinkit) was started as a Business 2 Business (B2B) model but later shifted to a Business 2 Customer (B2C) model. The best aspect of starting Grofers was the endless possibilities of using a hyper-local delivery network. By closing over 500 deliveries per day, Grofers soon became a formidable competitor in the market. By November 2021, the company was delivering 125,000 orders every day under the Grofers’ founder leadership.
After being in operation as an online grocery delivery service, Grofers introduced its express delivery system in India. This was done by building dark stores across multiple cities. In July 2021, the company reported a delivery of over 7000 groceries in under 15 minutes in Gurgaon. A month later after completing over 20,000 under-15-minute deliveries in over 10 cities, it introduced its 10-minute delivery program in over 12 cities. In December 2021, Grofers changed its brand name to Blinkit lining it with its vision to embrace quick-commerce.
But in 2022 in an effort to cut down their burn rate, Blinkit fired nearly 5% of their total workforce. The year before Zomate acquired a 10% stake in the company, and following multiple discussions in June 2022, Zomato acquired Blinkit for $568 million in an all-stock deal. The acquisition was completed in August 2022.
Albinder Dhindsa – Famous Quotes
“We are not too worried about competition entering the space. The space is not small. We provide customers with a service they didn’t know they needed. We will stay focused on the customer.”
“You invest in people, you don’t invest in ideas.”
“Each city is different. Every community requires customization.”
“Our motivation for starting this business was based only on convenience, but we realized soon enough that there are other reasons too why people come online to buy from us.”
FAQ
Who is the CEO of Blinkit India?
The CEO of Blinkit India is Albinder Dhindsa.
Where is Albinder Dhindsa from?
Albinder Dhindsa, the CEO of Blinkit, is originally from Patiala, Punjab, India.
Is Blinkit bigger than Zomato?
Blinkit is currently valued higher than Zomato’s food delivery business, according to Goldman Sachs, with a share price of INR 119 for Blinkit compared to INR 98 for Zomato.
What is Albinder Dhindsa’s education?
Albinder Dhindsa completed his education at IIT Delhi, where he earned his undergraduate degree before pursuing an MBA at Columbia Business School
When it comes to the Indian business arena, one simply cannot ignore Mr. Mukesh Ambani—the owner of Reliance Industries, and the wealthiest businessman in India. He has footprints in some of the most important sectors of the Indian economy such as refining, oil & gas, petrochemicals, telecom, retail, and media. Reliance’s oil refining business has been its crown jewel to date.
In September 2016, Mukesh Ambani officially launched his telecommunication venture called Jio (Joint Implementation Opportunities) and set an example by turning Jio into the largest mobile network in India and the third-largest mobile network operator in the world with over 477.94 million subscribers as of November 2024. Witnessing the growth in revenues, profits, and market share in the above-mentioned sectors, Mukesh Ambani is now all set to try his hand at e-commerce through his new venture called JioMart. So what exactly is JioMart all about?
JioMart is an online grocery store that provides 50,000+ grocery products at discounted rates at your doorstep through an express delivery system. Itfollows an on-demand model. The company will avoid the system of warehousing and partner with local retailers instead. These retailers will source the grocery products and deliver them to the customers.
JioMart began functioning in January 2020 and is available in over 200 cities and towns across India, including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Trivandrum.
JioMart’s app is available for download on Google Play Store and Apple Store.
JioMart will operate on the online-to-offline business model; it will connect with local retailers and deliver goods to customers by procuring them from the nearest store located in the customer’s vicinity. This model is unlike the warehouse model used by Grofers and Amazon Now.
The company wants to correct the unorganized retail sector and help local shopkeepers whose businesses were adversely affected due to competitive pricing and warehousing strategies of online retail stores. In addition to increased sales and margins, these shopkeepers will be equipped with point-of-sale (PoS) terminals, integrated billing applications, and GST compliance. It will also upskill them in inventory management and supply chain management.
RIL wants to establish its new venture, termed ‘Desh Ki Nayi Dukaan’, in this manner.
JioMart claims to offer the following consumer-friendly services:
Free home delivery: It will give you the benefit of delivery of commodities at your doorstep by procuring it from the nearby store, and that too free of cost, which your ‘Kirane wala bhaiya’ may not.
No minimum value: Generally, e-commerce sites set up a minimum value of a purchase to validate free delivery. For example, Grofers has a policy of free delivery on a minimum purchase of INR 500. JioMart will not expect a ‘minimum payment’ and abstain from delivery charges, even for the smallest of items ordered.
Express delivery: Express delivery means quicker delivery than ordinary services. In the e-commerce segment, it is generally within 24 hours.
No questions asked return policy: When you wish to return the goods that you ordered online, you are almost always bombarded with unnecessary questions. And most of the time, they cannot avoided. JioMart will save you this hassle.
Early bird discount of INR 3000: The platform has come up with a promotional strategy of pre-registration wherein people can save up to Rs 3000 on future shopping. Reliance Jio has started sending invites to its existing telecom service users in selected areas.
AI-Powered Inventory Management: JioMart leverages artificial intelligence to monitor inventory in real-time, ensuring better product availability and faster deliveries, eliminating the hassle of out-of-stock items.
Hyperlocal Approach: JioMart expanded beyond major cities by partnering with local kirana shops, reaching the core of India to ensure quick deliveries, no matter the location.
JioMart wasn’t an overnight expedition of Mukesh Ambani but a well-assessed move with the sole motive of capturing the highly sought-after e-commerce segment.
Mukesh Ambani already has a formidable customer base in the retail sector with Reliance Fresh which functions successfully on the brick-and-mortar model. JioMart owner Mukesh Ambani’s plan to set up an e-commerce platform goes back to 2019. His ambitious project emulates his desire to compete with global e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
Reliance acquires Grab A Grub and C-Square
Acquisition of Grab A Grub: Grab A Grub is an Indian logistics startup founded in 2013. In March 2019, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited (RIIHL) acquired it for $14.9 million to support the logistics of Jio Mart founder Mukesh Ambani’s ‘planned e-commerce venture’. Grab was chosen because it worked successfully with some mega-brands such as McDonald’s, BigBasket, Myntra, Amazon Now, and Swiggy.
Acquisition of C-Square: C-Square Info Solutions Private Limited, founded in 2002, provides software solutions for verticals like e-commerce, salesforce, retail, etc. It was acquired by RIIHL in March 2019 for $11.56 million. A strategic move by RIL, it was aimed to strengthen JioMart.
JioMart – Business Model and Revenue Model
RIL is offering local merchants an O2O (online-to-offline) marketplace through JioMart. This business model was pioneered by the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Under the O2O model, a consumer searches for the product or service online but buys it through an offline channel.
JioMart, Reliance Retail’s e-commerce platform, has tripled its number of sellers compared to 2023, as shared in its December 2024 quarter results. While groceries remain its main focus, JioMart is now working to increase its share of non-grocery items.
It connects with local retailers and delivers goods to the customers by procuring them from the nearest store located in the customer’s locality. The customer will use his or her official WhatsApp number to place the order. Post confirmation, the user will receive the bill which is to be paid in cash. When the store is ready with the order, the customer will receive a notification to pick up the order from the store.
A retailer can register with JioMart to become a seller. After registering with JioMart, retailers will receive the required support for the smooth delivery of goods to customers.
Registered grocery store owners will be able to list their inventories, take orders, create offers, and manage online sales using the app. JioMart will ensure that the sellers associated with its platform get a smooth selling experience.
How JioMart Consumers and Retailers Benefitted from the Jio-Facebook Deal
The Jio-Facebook deal, wherein Facebook invested INR 43,574 crore ($5.7 billion) in Jio platforms, made lives easier for the consumers and retailers associated with JioMart. As part of this deal, WhatsApp – Facebook’s popular messaging platform collaborated with JioMart. Owing to this collaboration, JioMart users can place their order through WhatsApp and Facebook while payments can be made using the ‘WhatsApp Pay’ feature.
JioMart services have been made available on WhatsApp from 25 April 2020 in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan. JioMart is currently operating in these three cities only. However, the only mode of payment currently available is cash.
“In the very near future, JioMart – Jio’s digital new commerce platform, and Whatsapp – will empower nearly 3 crore small Indian Kirana shops to digitally transact with every customer in their neighbourhood”- Mukesh Ambani said, CEO, Jio Mart.
Grocery delivery startups like Blinkit (formerly Grofers), Big Basket, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart have seen remarkable success in recent years, driven by significant funding and rapid revenue growth. Recognizing the market’s potential, major e-commerce players like Amazon have also entered the grocery and essentials delivery space.
With the entry of the biggest player in the Indian market, a serious threat looms over existing grocery delivery ventures. Besides being a popular brand name, JioMart has some features that lend it an upper hand over its competitors.
The company plans to deliver orders in 30 minutes as quick commerce grows popular.
Next month in December 2024, it will start 30-minute delivery in the top eight metros and later expand to 20-30 cities in phase one. Eventually, it will cover the rest of the country.
Deliveries will be managed through its 3,500+ stores. However, JioMart won’t open dark stores or compete in the 10-20 minute delivery race.
Conclusion
When Jio entered the telecom segment, it stirred a revolution and turned the tables. Big shots like Airtel and Vodafone who dominated for years were sent tumbling. A potential revolution is on the cards again because of Reliance’s JioMart. JioMart’s business model showcases its ambition to dominate India’s e-commerce space by expanding Reliance’s vast retail network, focusing on groceries, and steadily focusing on quick commerce, making it a key player in the digital commerce ecosystem.
FAQs
What is JioMart?
JioMart is Reliance Retail’s e-commerce platform offering groceries, essentials, and other products online.
What is JioMart’s business model?
RIL is offering local merchants an O2O (online-to-offline) marketplace through JioMart. This business model was pioneered by the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Under the O2O model, a consumer searches for the product or service online but buys it through an offline channel.
Who is JioMart founder?
Mukesh Ambani is the owner of JioMart.
Does JioMart charge for delivery?
JioMart charges a delivery fee for orders under INR 250, but not for orders over INR 250 or new customers’ first three orders.
When was JioMart launched in India?
Jiomart was initially soft-launched in 2019. It was fully launched in May 2020 in 200 cities in India.
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Online grocery shopping is fast gaining popularity among Indians. According to a Redseer report, India’s online grocery retail market is all set to touch $10.5 billion by 2023. A company that holds a huge share of this fast-growing market is BigBasket.
Founded in 2011 by the dot-com bubble survivors V.S. Sudhakar, Hari Menon, V.S. Ramesh, Vipul Parekh, and Abhinay Choudhari, Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd., trading as BigBasket, became a household name soon after it came into existence.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, BigBasket is currently known as one of India’s largest online grocers and offers an impressive selection of products from over 1,000 brands, delighting over 6 million satisfied customers.
In May 2021, Tata Group became the BigBasket’s owner by acquiring a majority stake of 64% in the company. Tata Sons has acquired a majority stake in BigBasket, putting the Indian conglomerate in a direct race with e-commerce players Amazon, Walmart, Flipkart, and Reliance Industries. The stake was bought by Tata Digital Limited, a unit of Tata Sons.
In this article, you can find detailed information about BigBasket, including the company’s founders, history and journey, business model, revenue, funding, acquisitions, and more.
BigBasket Company Details
Startup Name
BigBasket
Headquarter
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Industry
E-commerce, Grocery, Grocery Delivery
Founders
V.S. Sudhakar, Hari Menon, V.S. Ramesh, Vipul Parekh, Abhinay Choudhari
BigBasket is into delivering everyday cooking essentials like ghee (clarified butter), diced coconut, fragrant basmati rice, and more, amounting to a total of over 40,000 items, along with other household products ranging from bread to laundry detergents for the customers to shop from. The company gets all of them delivered to their doorsteps. The target motive of the company is to enable the ease of grocery shopping online to avoid traffic and the drudgery of supermarket visits.
To explore new opportunities, the company has also launched 3 new businesses – bb Daily, bb Instant, and bbnow.
bb Daily isa subscription-based service that allows customers to order milk and fresh groceries. With this platform, the customers have to place the order before 10 PM, and they eventually get the goods delivered between 5 AM – 7 AM the next day.
bb Instant is BigBasket’s unmanned vending machine that is mostly available in corporate offices, tech parks, and apartment buildings in Tier I cities.
bbnow, the rapid grocery delivery service by BigBasket, allows you to order daily essentials like fruits, vegetables, cooking necessities, and household items and have them delivered to your doorstep within just 15-30 minutes.
BigBasket has also launched Fresho stores, which is currently serving as the first offline retail store of BigBasket that has already been opened at Basaveshwar Nagar in Bangalore. These BigBasket stores are technology-driven, self-service stores for customers.
BigBasket – Founders and Team
BigBasket was founded by V.S. Sudhakar, Hari Menon, V.S. Ramesh, Vipul Parekh, and Abhinay Choudhari in 2011. Prior to BigBasket, the founders also founded Fabmart.com, an online platform that sold books, toys, and groceries in the year 1999. Fabmart was sold to a grocery chain in 2006.
Big Basket Founders
V.S. Sudhakar
BigBasket Co-founder V S Sudhakar was the CEO of Planetasia. He has vast experience working in the IT sector.
Hari Menon
BigBasket CEO Hari Menon comes with vast experience in diverse fields. Prior to Big Basket, Menon was the CEO of Indiaskills, the Vocational Education joint venture of Manipal Group with City & Guilds, UK. An alumnus of BITS Pilani, Hari Menon also worked as the Country Head at Planetasia, one of India’s first Internet services businesses. Hari also held top positions with IT majors like Wipro Infotech.
V.S. Ramesh
V.S. Ramesh is theHead of Logistics & Supply Chain at BigBasket. An Electronics Engineering graduate from Karnataka University, V.S. Ramesh has over 21 years of experience in the Indian Navy handling Operations and Logistics. Ramesh is an Electronics Engineer, who earlier co-founded Fabmall.
Vipul Parekh
Vipul Parekh is the Head of Finance & Marketing at BigBasket. Vipul is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore and worked witha range of companies holding key leadership positions including Wipro Limited and Trinethra Super Retail Ltd. He also worked with Peepul Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd., a leading Private Equity Fund as an Investment Director. Parekh also co-founded Fabmall before co-founding BigBasket.
Abhinay Choudhari
Abhinay Choudhari was the Head of New Initiatives at BigBasket along with being a Co-founder. Abhinay is anIIM Ahmedabad alumnus. Besides working with leading IT companies like iGATE & Infosys, Abhinay also founded Stylecountry.com, one of India’s first online fashion retail stores. Stylecountry.com had to be closed down as it did not turn out to be profitable.
Abhinay Choudhari has taken a silent exit from BigBasket on August 5, 2021. Soon after Tata acquired BigBasket in May 2021, Abhinay decided not to continue working in the same firm, which he finally managed to do in August. As a parting note to his employees, Choudhari has mentioned that he left BigBasket only to build another company from scratch due to “the start-up itch” that has been growing in him for nine years. Choudhari hinted to “solve another equally painful chore for many Indian households” in the form of a new business that he will found. Next, he will be looking forward to an online laundry business, as per reports.
TN Hari, who served as the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at BigBasket for 7 long years, has let people know that he has decided to do something different via his Linkedin handle. TN Hari, in his career with BB, which has now found a new, safe home with the Tata Group acquisition, has already spent 20 years in the Indian startup ecosystem. During these years, he boasts of wearing many different hats as an Angel Investor, Advisor to other VC Firms, Mentor at Startup Accelerators, Sounding Board to Founders, Author, and Columnist. Hari has also revealed that he has been a part of 5 startups to date, 3 out of which have already turned into unicorns. TN Hari has also been identified by Linkedin as one of the top voices of India for 3 consecutive years. Establishing the Artha School of Entrepreneurship is the new goal of this top executive of BB. The mission of Artha would be to accelerate the “journeys of the entrepreneurs in scaling their ventures and contributing to economic and social prosperity of their communities.”
RainCan, which was originally a daily essential subscription-based startup, later acquired by Big Basket in 2018, was eventually rebranded as BBDaily.
BigBasket currently boasts of being a 5000+ strong company.
BigBasket – Startup Story | How BigBasket Started?
All of this began when the BigBasket founders decided to exploit the experience they got after the massive failure of the dot com bubble. Hence, they decided to create a unique website that was never done before. All the founders of Big Basket had garnered relevant experiences in eCommerce when they created Fabmart.com.
Fabmart.com was an online platform that sold books, toys, and groceries in the year 1999. Back then, only within a few months, they realized that not just our country but the whole world was not ready to take this buzz of digitization. In the year 2006, Fabmart was merged with a brick-and-mortar grocery chain and the founders ended up selling their startup for a lump sum amount.
Then came the golden year of 2011, when the team reunited and started re-evaluating the idea of again coming up with something new and exciting. Despite all the criticism they had received back in 1999, they stood very strong on the fact that the time to do something that’d put them on the map was then. In 2011, the smartphone market was booming and anything and everything was available except groceries, of course, and that right then was their Eureka moment.
BigBasket used to fulfill its orders by purchasing products from Metro Cash and Carry stores, prior to setting up its first warehouse.
“We had people in the Metro stores, literally operating that as our warehouse” says Hari Menon, Co-founder & CEO of BigBasket.
BigBasket – Name, Tagline, and Logo
BigBasket Logo
Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd., trades as “BigBasket,” the name of which is drawn from the idea of shopping baskets, which the company extends to their customers online.
The recent tagline of the brand reflects “Har Din Sasta.”
BigBasket – Business and Revenue Model
BigBasket’s private label business is driven by lower prices and higher margins. Roughly 35% of the revenue comes from private labels. The aim here is to fill the gap in distinct categories like organic food, and high-end consumer products, to name a few. Also, the company offers a lower price point for staples and fruits and vegetables. They also provide idli/dosa batter on their online platform, which is very rare and does not have a lot of competition.
Moreover, on the B2B side, BigBasket serves its private label to about a thousand Kirana stores, huge corporates, and HoReCa (hotels, restaurants, cafes). Regarding Big Basket’s Business Model, Big Basket follows both the ‘inventory model’ and ‘the hyper-local model’.
Under the inventory model, the company buys products from leading suppliers like P&G, HUL, mills, farmers, etc., stores the products in warehouses, and supplies the same to the customers on order. In the case of perishable goods, BigBasket further has tie-ups with local farmers and suppliers from whom it procures the goods as per orders and supplies the same to the customers.
Under the ‘hyper-local model’, BigBasket has a tie-up with 2000+ grocery stores across India to deliver products within one hour from the neighborhood.
With the opening of its physical store, Fresho, BigBasket is also a step ahead in the physical grocery space, which is soon expected to be a revenue generator for the company.
BigBasket – Startup Challenges
One of the main challenges of any startup in India is getting the customers to try the service first since the resistance level is really high. This is followed by retaining these consumers despite all the other factors in the market like competitors, local vendors, and buying habits, which were there for BigBasket too.
Also, since it was one of a kind startup dealing with groceries, which was never the case before, it took a while for the consumers to place trust in a brand like BigBasket and start using its services.
Data Breach Issues
Online grocery store BigBasket faced a massive data breach in November 2020 as the company had allegedly leaked the data of over 2 crore users on the dark web. BigBasket, funded by Jack Ma-owned Alibaba Group, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, and CDC group has filed a complaint in this regard with Cyber Crime Cell in Bengaluru.
According to media reports, Cyble, a cyber intelligence firm, informed that the grocery e-commerce platform BigBasket leaked data including names, email IDs, password hashes, contact numbers, addresses, etc, on the dark web. Also, Cyble informed that a hacker had put the data on sale for over Rs 30 lakh.
Reacting to this, BigBasket said: “A few days ago, we learned about a potential data breach at Bigbasket and are evaluating the extent of the breach and authenticity of the claim in consultation with cybersecurityexperts and finding immediate ways to contain it. We have also lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Cell in Bengaluru and intend to pursue this vigorously to bring the culprits to book.”
Bengaluru-based BigBasket also ensured that the confidentiality and security of customers are their priority and it does not store any financial data (including credit card numbers) etc and is positive that this financial data is secure.
“The only customer data that we maintain are email IDs, phone numbers, order details, and addresses so these are the details that could potentially have been accessed. We have a robust information security framework that employs best-in-class resources and technologies to manage our information. We will continue to proactively engage with best-in-class information security experts to strengthen this further,” the statement by BigBasket read.
Cyble also claimed that the breach may have occurred on October 30, 2020, and it has already informed Bigbasket about it.
BigBasket has raised a total of $1.5 billion in funding over 20 rounds. The latest funding for the company was raised on December 21, 2022, when BigBasket raised $200 million from its majority stakeholder, Tata Digital. This funding round raised BigBasker’s valuation to $3.2 billion.
Here are the details of the latest funding raised by Big Basket:
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
December 21, 2022
Venture Round
$200 million
Tata Digital
June 2, 2022
Venture Round
$45 million
Supermarket Grocery Supplies
April 13, 2022
Venture Round
$121 million
Supermarket Grocery Supplies
April 15, 2020
Debt Financing
$51.8 million
Alibaba Group
April 9, 2020
Venture Round
$60 million
Alibaba Group
July 2019
Debt Financing
$14 million
Trifecta Capital
May 2019
Series F
$150 million
Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund
January 2019
Venture Round
–
Growth Story
February 2018
Series E
$300 million
Alibaba Group
October 25, 2017
Venture Round
$4.3 million
Helion Ventures Partners
October 10, 2017
Debt Financing
$838.1K
Trifecta Capital Advisors
October 1, 2017
Venture Round
$5 million
Bessemer Venture Partners
September 2017
Series E
$280 million
Alibaba Group, Paytm Mall
March 2017
Debt Financing
$6.9 million
Trifecta Capital Advisors
March 2016
Series D
$150 million
Abraaj Group
August 2015
Series C
$50 million
Bessemer Venture Partners
September 2014
Series B
$33 million
Helion Venture Partners
April 2014
Bridge Round
$3 million
Singapore-based private investor
March 2012
Series A
$10 million
Ascent Capital
BigBasket – Acquisitions
Big Basket has made 6 acquisitions to date. Their most recent acquisition was of Agrima Infotech, which the company acquired on February 19, 2022. The Tata-owned online grocery delivery platform has acquired the enterprise business segment of the Kerala-based deep tech company. This deal would allow the company to implement the unique computer vision technology platform, Psyight, at the self-checkout counters of the retail stores of BigBasket. Psyight behaves as a food recognition platform that is powered by the all-new computer vision technology to differentiate raw, cooked, and packaged food items, which will help its parent ahead.
DailyNinja was last acquired startup by BigBasket and the deal was materialized on Mar 24, 2020.
In June 2015, the company acquired ‘Delyver‘, an online platform that connects offline retailers with customers in a neighborhood. In October 2018, Big Basket acquired ‘Raincan‘ a subscription-based service provider for morning and breakfast essentials, headquartered in Pune. In October 2018, Big Basket also acquired ‘KWIK24‘ a company that manufactures and designs smart vending machines. On October 19, 2018, Big Basket announced the acquisition of the Bangalore-based startup ‘Morning Cart‘. Morning Cart is a daily essential ordering platform.
Here are the details of the Acquisitions by BigBasket:
Acquired
Date
Agrima Infotech
February 19, 2022
DailyNinja
March 24, 2020
Morning Cart
October 19, 2018
KWIK24
October 19, 2018
Raincan
October 18, 2018
Delyver
June 12, 2015
BigBasket – Growth and Revenue
Tata Digital’s acquisition of controlling stakes in BigBasket in May 2021 has played a pivotal role in fueling the company’s growth trajectory.
BBNow
BBNow marks a significant game plan for BigBasket’s growth strategy. Officially launched in Bengaluru, this quick-commerce service enables lightning-fast grocery deliveries to customers within 15–30 minutes, catering to the urgent needs of its existing customer base. With BBNow, BigBasket aims to further solidify its position in the e-grocery market and tap into the increasing demand for rapid and convenient grocery delivery services. The introduction of BBNow allows the company to compete more effectively with other quick-commerce players like Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, presenting exciting growth opportunities for BigBasket in the fast-paced and competitive market landscape.
Fresho
BigBasket launched its first physical store, “Fresho” in Bangalore, in the last week of October 2021, as confirmed via an internal company email. The mentioned store has been open to the customers of Bangalore’s Basaveshwar Nagar since October 25, 2021, according to BigBasket co-founder VS Sudhakar, who informed the same to all the employees of the company. While writing about Fresho in his email, Sudhakar described the opening of the store, which is currently operational from 8 in the morning to 9 in the night, as an “extremely key, strategic initiative.”
BigBasket User Acquisition
BigBasket’s mobile app is currently accessed by over 6 million customers across the country, being operational in 26+ cities in India.
An interesting strategy that BigBasket follows to attract customers is that the company keeps into account the varied needs and different shopping habits of its customers belonging to different cities. The amount of attention the founders paid to little details put them in a competitively better position.
The team did their planning city-wise. They increased the number of leafy greens in Mumbai, supplied a special kind of rice (called Sona Masoori) in Bangalore, and went as far as providing eight different kinds of eggplants to picky customers. All in all, the company ensured its quality was nothing short of perfection.
Timely delivery is the essence of online shopping hence the team put a focused approach to this. They devised a model of customized software that automatically guides drivers to their destinations and helps the company achieve a near-perfect on-time rate. Late deliveries earn customers a 10% discount. Missing items are refunded at a cost that is 50% of whatever the item cost is.
BigBasket Financials
Bigbasket Financials
FY23
FY24
Operating Revenue
INR 9468.5 crore
INR 10061.9 crore
Total Expenses
INR 11284.7 crore
INR 11515 crore
Profit/Loss
INR -1785 crore
INR -1415 crore
BigBasket Financials FY24
BigBasket’s operating revenue increased by about 6.3% from FY23 to FY24, growing from INR 9,468.5 crore to INR 10,061.9 crore. Total expenses rose by around 2%, from INR 11,284.7 crore in FY23 to INR 11,515 crore in FY24. The company’s losses decreased by roughly 20.7%, from INR 1,785 crore in FY23 to INR 1,415 crore in FY24.
Bigbasket
FY23
FY24
EBITDA Margin
-14.02%
-9.39%
Expense/₹ of Op Revenue
Rs 1.19
Rs 1.14
ROCE
-51.37%
-70.62%
BigBasket’s B2C arm reported revenue from operations of INR 7,434 crore in FY23, reflecting a modest 4.8% growth compared to FY22 when the company’s revenue stood at Rs 7,095 crore.
In FY23, BigBasket’s B2C arm witnessed an 89% surge in losses, reaching Rs 1,535 crore, compared to Rs 813 crore in FY22.
Total expenses for the B2C arm increased by around 13% from Rs 7,929 crore in FY22 to Rs 8,998 crore in FY23. This rise in expenses was primarily attributed to higher employee benefit expenses, finance costs, and other miscellaneous expenses. Specifically, Innovative Retail spent Rs 916 crore on employee benefits in FY23, representing a 24% increase compared to Rs 739 crore spent in FY22.
BigBasket – Partnerships
Some of the BigBasket partnerships include:
Bigbasket partnered with Uber on April 3, 2020, where Uber’s driver-partners sought an association with the former to help the company deliver everyday essentials to its customers and others during the pandemic onslaught. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and Noida were the first four cities to witness the same.
BigBasket partnered with Rajasthan Royals on September 16, 2020, who was declared as the official partner of the IPL team for the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League.
BigBasket also became a partner with the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise on October 19, 2021, to deliver food products and groceries in India.
BigBasket – Awards and Recognitions
Among the major awards and recognitions that BigBasket won are:
BigBasket is recognized as one of the ‘Top 50 India’s Best Companies To Work For – 2023’ by Great Place to Work® India.
BigBasket ranked in the ‘Top 3 Best Places to Work’ in E-commerce and ‘India’s Best Workplaces in Retail’ for the third consecutive year in 2023.
It was declared the ‘Retail and eCommerce App of the Year’ at YourStory’s AWS Mobility Awards in 2017.
Owler has conferred upon BigBasket CEO Hari Menon the Top Rated CEO Award in 2017.
The company was placed 2nd at the Global E-Commerce Award ceremony hosted by Ecommerce Europe in Barcelona.
BigBasket Co-founder Abhinay Choudhari was awarded the IIMA Alumni Young Achievers’ Award.
BigBasket – Competitors
Despite growing at an increasing rate, BigBasket faces cut-throat competition in the market. Some of the major competitors of BigBasket are:
Though these players are acquiring strong market standing with time, the company tends to stand fit and fine and win the market with its large and ever-increasing consumer base. BigBasket is now doubly strong under the management of Tata.
BigBasket – Future Plans
As per reports, BigBasket plans to raise $80-100 million in debt and equity to drive business ambitions.
BigBasket has strong plans of retaining its post as the largest grocery delivery platform in India. So, the plan is to set up warehouses in all 26 operating cities of India to bring down the delivery time to 3 hours.
Big Basket has launched Fresho stores, and opened the first of their kind in Bengaluru, thereby entering the offline retail market. According to BigBasket’s co-founder and CEO Hari Menon, the goal is to achieve Rs 12,000 crore in sales by 2026 through 800 Fresho stores spread across 10 tier-1 cities.
As part of its future plans, Tata-owned BigBasket is considering launching an initial public offering (IPO) by 2025.
FAQs
What is BigBasket?
BigBasket is an Indian online grocery delivery service founded in 2011 and headquartered in Bangalore, offering a wide range of products delivered to customers’ doorsteps.
Who is BigBasket’s owner?
BigBasket is owned by the Tata Group.
Who are BigBasket’s founders?
BigBasket was founded by V.S. Sudhakar, Hari Menon, V.S. Ramesh, Vipul Parekh, and Abhinay Choudhari.
What is bigbasket bbnow?
bbnow, the rapid grocery delivery service by BigBasket, allows you to order daily essentials like fruits, vegetables, cooking necessities, and household items and have them delivered to your doorstep within just 15–30 minutes.
What is Bigbasket Wallet?
The Bigbasket Wallet is a pre-paid credit account that is associated with your Bigbasket account. This prepaid account allows you to pay a lump sum amount once to Bigbasket and then shop multiple times without having to pay each time.
The pandemic has made us shift entirely to digital. But there are few things that we often doubt in the digital platforms. Buying fruits and groceries have always been conventional when it comes to purchasing. But with such a dreadful pandemic across the globe, people have taken the initiative to bring this grocery service in your footsteps. Well, yes! That’s right.
In India, dozens of online companies are established to facilitate grocery shopping online and delivering it to the customers with full covid-19 precautions. With such a rushing and demanding lifestyle, shopping through conventional offline methods has become very tacky. In such cases, grocery startups are founded, where you can buy anything with just a few taps on your smartphone.
Groceries play the most significant role in our lifestyle. We need food items and other household products daily. Grocery application makes it absolutely convenient so that we can buy all our grocery items any time we want, with no boundary of time. These applications facilitate purchasing and delivery of the grocery item to the customer’s house. This article would help you in knowing the best grocery startups in India, available for you any time. Let’s get started!
The largest digital supermarket in India, Big Basket is widely known for its broad range of household and grocery products. Big Basket is considered the number one online grocery application in India. It provides a product range of around 14,000 items for customers to choose from. It offers absolutely convenient payments services and express delivery within 2-3 hours. Big Basket has formerly received the honor of ‘Consumer Internet Company of the year’ by VCCircle.
Big Basket is preferred by almost everyone, ranging from working professionals to school children. It offers various discount offers to its customers. It offers free home delivery for orders above Rs 1000. Big Basket serves majorly in the top seven cities that include Mysore, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
Grofers
Grofers Website
Grofers, a very prominent digital retail store that offers multiple categories of grocery products to its customers. The company’s products range from organic stalls, beverages, snacks, vegetables, dairy products, and many more. Grofers was established in 2013 and headquartered in Gurgaon, India.
Grofers is associated with several brands such as Pepsi, Colgate, Aashirvad, Dabur, and many others. Its mobile application is available on both platforms of Android as well as iOS. Its home delivery facility is available in Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, and others, across India.
Dunzo
Dunzo Website
Dunzo is well-known for its incredible express delivery within 45 minutes. This grocery application holds a wide range of products including beauty products and vegetables.
They deliver items from your nearby grocery stores also. Its functions are accessible in Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Chennai, and Pune.
Nature’s Basket
Nature’s Basket
Nature’s Basket is one of those grocery startups that are established by the Godrej Group, in India. Godrej Group offers the best quality of grocery products from a broad range of categories.
Its product is specifically manufactured from foreign countries such as Cheese from France and Italy, Spices from Asia, organic supplies from India, and many others.
ZopNow
ZopNow is a very well-known online grocery store which offers a wide range of products for its customers. They offer biscuits, pickles, sauces, frozen foods, vegetables, sweets, and many other beauty products. Moreover, it provides kitchen and home products as well.
ZopNow is widely famous for its customer’s experiences and services. It offers a huge range of discounts and offers. Its services are available in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, and Ghaziabad.
Well, Reliance is known by everyone! And when it comes to Jio, it has brought some incredible deals for Indian. And among these, JioMart is one of the most incredible online grocery stores. Its mobile application is available on both iOS as well as Android.
JioMart functions in almost every metro city including Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Meerut, Agra, and others.
Licious
Licious Website
The very famous digital marketplace for meat and seafood is Licious. It provides absolutely fresh, packed, marinated, vacuum-sealed meat and seafood. Licious was founded in 2015, headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Licious functions on a zero inventory model and offers a subscription model for pre-fixed delivery products and dates. Its mobile application is available on both Android and iOS.
Paytm Mall
Paytm Mall is considered the fastest growing e-commerce marketplace that provides the service of grocery shopping and delivering from customers’ houses. Paytm is counted among the most prominent E-commerce platforms after Amazon and Flipkart.
Paytm Mall offers a wide range of products such as fresh vegetables, dairy products, fruits, and many others at affordable prices. Its mobile application also provides FMCG products for online sales and other grocery items.
Country Delight is counted among the top online grocery stores in India. It provides a wide range of dairy products. The company is very significant with its services and delivery.
Country Delight was founded in 2015 and established in Gurgaon, India. The company also functions with some quality management systems with quality testing at the manufacturing level, farmers level, and with accredited food testing laboratories.
Qtrove
Qtrove is an online platform that offers various handicraft products for its customers. Its product range includes homemade chocolates, jams, ells sauces, home decor products, cold-pressed juices, skincare, and others.
Qtrove is headquartered in Bangalore, India with some very advanced investors such as Brand Capital, Navodya and K Ganesh.
Conclusion
With digitization in every sector, grocery and household products are also available on the Internet. Today, the life of every individual has become very tacky and hectic. That’s why people search for an online platform that provides the required services.
Many prominent companies are established in India with great grocery services. Therefore, it has become quite tough to choose the right one. And for that purpose only, we have brought this article. Stay tuned for more updates!
FAQ
Are grocery delivery services profitable?
Yes, Grocery delivery services are profitable ventures.
How do delivery companies make money?
Delivery companies make money by charging the customers a delivery fee that is fixed or depend on the distance travelled.
Which are the top grocery delivery startups in India?
Big Basket, Grofers, Godrej Nature’s Basket and ZopNow are the top grocery delivery startups in India.
Saurabh Kumar who is the co-founder of the online grocery e-commerce platform Grofers has announced that he would be leaving from the company. In this article the let’s look at the reason, Why Saurabh Kumar is leaving the company.
The company was found almost 8 years back and Saurabh Kumar has been serving the company since then. He had conveyed it through an email that he had sent his employees.
He had conveyed to his employees that he will no longer continue in the company’s day to day functions but added that he would continue to be the shareholder and a board member of the company.
Saurabh Kumar on stepping away from Grofers
In the email sent to his employees, Saurabh Kumar had conveyed that when I look back into the past 8 years and consider what we have achieved I feel proud and said that they should also feel the same. He added that the company has gone through a lot of ups and downs and said that we have faced them together and have always come out of it together and stronger.
He added that all these were possible because of the hard work and sacrifices of the employees and said that whenever they had their backs to the wall, the support and strength of the employees had given him the courage and added that he doesn’t know a life outside Grofers.
Reason Saurabh Kumar is stepping away from Grofers
Saurabh Kumar had conveyed in the email that most of his learning and growth had happened in the company and added that he has been reflecting on his life and personal ambitions for a while. He conveyed that he wanted to wander again and the reason for stepping away from the position is considered to be the outcome of it.
He had also conveyed that he was looking forward to building something fun and exciting and conveyed that some things are cooking. He added that it would take some time and we will have to wait for it to take shape.
Albinder Dhindsa had conveyed that Kumar had been wanting to invest in his own personal evolution over the past 6 months. He also added that driving deeper had convinced him that there is another area where he could have a huge impact and that he could build it from scratch.
Albinder Dhindsa on Saurabh Kumar Stepping away
The co-founder and Chief Executive officer Albinder Dhindsa have conveyed that the exit of Saurabh Kumar from the firm is an end of an era for Grofers. He added that Kumar was an incredibly humble and grounded and had always reminded him of how fortunate and lucky he was to have built Grofers with him in a zone of no ego and no second guessing.
He added that Kumar is not only a co-founder but also a friend, support system, a brother and a family to him. He added that he was fully supportive of his decision and wherever that would lead him in his journey.
Retail sales of Grofers
Future plans of Grofers
The exit of the co-founder from the company is when the e-grocer is close to having closing an investment deal with Zomato which is estimated to be around USD 100 million. The investment is considered to be part of a large financial round and is expected to value the online grocery firm at around USD 1 billion.
Grofers were in plans to list the company on the tech index Nasdaq but now the company has been said to have cancelled the plans of IPO and has decided to remain private. The move is considered to have come at a time where there is a huge competition and an increased demand in the market.
Conclusion
Saurabh Kumar still holds around 3.5 % in the firm and will still remain as one of the directors of the firm. He will not be part of the day to day activities of the company but will remain to be the shareholder and a member of the board of directors of the company.
FAQ
Who invested in Grofers?
Zomato is in funding talks with Grofers to invest around USD 100 million.
When was Grofers founded?
Gofers was founded in 2014 by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar.
How do Grofers make money?
Grofers generates revenue through merchants. They charge a small percentage for every sale they get for them.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Watasale.
Imagine a store where you can just enter, get your groceries and other items, pack your stuff and walk out of the store without having to wait in a queue for payment. India’s first cashier-less store- Watasale was started up by a Kochi-based startup Nayasale Retail Pvt Ltd in Kochi, Kerala in 2018. Watasale helps you do just that. You can buy any stuff in 3 simple steps: Download Watasale app, open it and scan the unique QR code while entering the store. That’s it. You can now pick the items you need, and you can pay for it via different online payment options so you don’t need to wait in a long queue for billing.
Watasale is operating in Kochi, Kerala. The retail store is the first of its kind by Nayasale Retail Pvt. Ltd., a pet project of five friends Richu Jose, Rajesh Malamal, Subash S., Dileep Jacob and Vinci Matthews. They struggled with managing finances as the project is bootstrapped. This has been after years of deliberate planning and trial runs in a garage that they finally succeeded in launching the store.
Watasale Kochi Store- shopping
Watasale and Amazon Go
Subhash S, CEO & CTO, Watasale, revealed that they were inspired to attempt this because of the media attention received by Amazon Go. Subhash stated, “We started working on the technology in the start of 2015. It was after the announcement by Amazon that they were going to bring Amazon Go similar to our technology, we were reinstated about our correct direction.”
“We use a combination of touch sensors, AI and computer vision—pretty much the same technology as in a self-driven car,” explains Richu Jose, COO of Watasale. The payment for the items purchased will be automatically debited from their Watasale prepaid wallet or card. No cashiers, no queues, no checkouts, no scanning. “After finishing shopping customer can just walk out of the gate,” says Rajesh Malamal, chief marketing officer of Nayasale.
Watasale- App
The store attempts to offer the customers with a checkout-free experience. Customers at Watasale need to download the Watasale app and scan the QR Code generated to enter the store. They have to keep adding items into a bag and exit when they are done.
Right now, the items aren’t reflected immediately on the app and the bill is generated a few minutes after you walk out of the door, but we are working on smoothing it out,” says Rajesh Malamal.
Watasale- Kochi store
Watasale- Team StartUp
It took the team of Watasale almost 3 years of exhaustive brainstorming and countless trial sessions. Then, they got their algorithms right after which they started focusing on building up physical infrastructure and skeletal framework of the retail store. Their biggest challenge was to form the core technical team and the right manpower who have expertise on advanced stages of artificial intelligence.
They follow a similar model to Jeff Bezos’s Amazon Go, cashier-free grocery store currently operating in the US. Amazon Go is already functioning in three locations in Seattle and is expected to head to NewYork soon. Even Jack Ma’s Alibaba has showcased the Tao Cafe concept in China to be on par with Amazon.
Rajesh Malamal emphasized that while the concept is similar; Watasale uses its own technology and has created it with their proprietary software, and believe that their systems are more economical and scalable as compared to Amazon Go. Rajesh Malamal claims that they have received positive feedback from the customers which has elated the interests of investors both national and international venture capitalists.
FAQs
What is Watasale?
Watasale is India’s first cashier-less store.
Who are the founders of Watasale?
Five friends – Richu Jose, Rajesh Malamal, Subash S., Dileep Jacob and Vinci Matthews are the Watasale founders.
When was Watasale founded?
Watasale was founded in 2018.
Where is Watasale available?
Watasale is available in Kerala at the moment but they hope to expand soon.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Instacart.
Instacart is a supermarket delivery and pick-up service based in the United States and Canada. A website and a smartphone app are used to provide services. Customers can order groceries from participating stores and have a personal shopper do the shopping for them according to their will. Founded by Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo in 2012.
The CEO and Co-founder of Instacart, Apoorva Mehta founded 20 businesses in the early 2010s, including a social network for lawyers and an ad network for gaming firms, as part of a surge of entrepreneurial spirit. Mehta developed the method, which targeted his former employer, using his background as an Amazon supply chain engineer.
Know more about the Instacart Startup Story, its business model, revenue, competitors, funding, investors & more in the post ahead.
March 2021 – Instacart, a US grocery delivery service, is considering going public through a direct listing, fearful of missing out on money through a typical initial public offering (IPO).
Instacart will become the latest company to forego an initial public offering (IPO), which has been the primary route to a stock market launch for decades, because it risks selling the offering too low in comparison to where its shares end up trading. A direct listing occurs when a company goes public without first raising funds via a stock sale.
About Instacart and How it Works?
Instacart Inc. is a corporation that provides same-day grocery delivery services. Customers can order groceries from a variety of retailers through an online application portal and have them delivered by personal shoppers. Customers in the United States can use Instacart.
Food and household essentials are sourced from a variety of local stores by the company. Customers can place orders from several stores at once and receive same-day delivery.
In terms of their own implementation, Instacart has a nice app that makes ordering and reordering favorite products easy. Customer service is excellent; they go out of their way to ensure that the customer is satisfied. Instacart has been been refining features/processes for dealing with product substitutions, shopper mistakes, and promoting tipping.
Instacart is a same-day grocery delivery service that promises delivery in as little as one hour, or in other words, instantly. The business, which currently focuses on delivering groceries and household essentials, plans to expand into other verticals in the near future.
Instacart logo
Instacart’s slogan, “groceries delivered in an hour,” is all too common in today’s world, which expects everything to be available with a tap on a smartphone.
Instacart – Founder and History
Instacart was founded in 2012 by Apoorva Mehta, a former Amazon.com employee and entrepreneur and his friends, Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo.
Instacart Founders – Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen, Brandon Leonardo.
Apoorva was born in India and immigrated to Canada with his family in the year 2000. He earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2008. He was a part of the Summer 2012 batch of Y Combinator, which contributed to the launch of Instacart.
Instacart began operations in San Francisco. The company had around 200 employees by April 2015. It implemented a new policy in June that allowed certain shoppers to opt to work part-time, beginning with Chicago and Boston and then expanding to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C. the following month.
Instacart – Mission and Vision
“Our goal is to build a world where everyone has access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together,” says Instacart’s mission statement. Instacart aims to be the service to ‘deliver your groceries within an hour’.
Instacart – Partners
Albertsons, ALDI, Costco, CVS, Kroger, Loblaw, Publix, Sam’s Club, Sprouts, and Wegmans are only a few of the national and regional stores that Instacart works with. Customers love the Instacart marketplace, which has over 300 stores and trusted local grocers.
Instacart uses a shared economy-based business model to offer hyper-local on-demand grocery delivery by linking consumers with personal shoppers. Instacart does not own a grocery store; instead, it serves as a marketplace for grocery stores to sell their wares.
Customers can use the mobile app to choose their preferred grocery store, browse through grocery items, add quantity, and confirm their order. The shoppers are self-employed or part-time Instacart employees who obtain the order, shop for the products requested by the customer, and deliver them to their door. Customers pay using the app and receive their goods without having to leave the house.
Instacart makes money from the companies’ distribution and placement fees.
Instacart – Revenue and Growth
Instacart reportedly generated $1.5 billion revenue in 2020, with $35 billion worth of sales
During the coronavirus pandemic, Instacart hit its first profitable month, netting $10 million
Instacart has an estimated 9.6 million active users and over 500,000 shoppers who pick up the items
In March 2021, Instacart was valued at$39 billion
Although Instacart does not release usage figures, in the first half of 2020, it added 300,000 more “shoppers,” or riders who pick up and deliver groceries. It employed fewer than 100,000 people at the end of 2019. With $35 billion in grocery sales in 2020, it will employ 350,000 more people.
Instacart has raised a total funding of approximately $2.41 Billion from investors like Tiger Global Management, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, Coatue among others.
As of March 2021, Instacart is considering going public through a direct listing, fearful of missing out on money through a typical initial public offering (IPO).
Here is the Instacart Funding details –
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Mar 2, 2021
Venture Round
$265M
Andreessen Horowitz, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price
Amazon Fresh (which uses the Webvan model), Google Shopping Express, and others are competitors (non-perishable items at the moment). Amazon and Google are also well-known brands with deep pockets. Uber Rush may be able to penetrate this market. Uber Eats, Munchery, Blue Apron, Plated, and Hello Fresh are all meal delivery services that compete with Instacart.
Instacart is making several big improvements to its business model as part of its plan to help grocers own the digital food future. As part of its effort to boost grocery e-commerce for its retailer partners, the organization is investing its capital in a variety of new ways.
Investing in helping retailers achieve greater operational efficiencies through e-commerce, enhancing customer service, and further scaling its technological teams to better meet the increased customer demand for food delivery and pickup are just a few of them.
The business believes the industry should concentrate on delighting consumers, and that aim was a guiding principle when it increased its customer service team from 1,200 to 18,000 agents early in the pandemic. Late deliveries, missing products, incorrect item substitutions, and out-of-stocks are common complaints among grocery e-commerce customers which the company has taken care of.
Instacart – FAQs
What does Instacart do?
Instacart Inc. is a corporation that provides same-day grocery delivery services based in the United States.
Who founded Instacart?
Instacart was founded in 2012 by Apoorva Mehta, a former Amazon.com employee and entrepreneur.
What companies do Instacart compete with?
Amazon Fresh (which uses the Webvan model), Google Shopping Express, and others are competitors (non-perishable items at the moment). Amazon and Google are also well-known brands with deep pockets. Uber Rush may be able to penetrate this market.
How does Instacart make money?
Instacart uses a shared economy-based business model to offer hyper-local on-demand grocery delivery by linking consumers with personal shoppers. Instacart does not own a grocery store; instead, it serves as a marketplace for grocery stores to sell their wares.
The Indian startup ecosystem is well known for its versatility, thereby home to some of the best companies in the world across industries. Starting from OLA, which ruled the transportation sector, Zomato which ensures that you don’t work with an empty tummy, to OYO, which provides affordable hotels for tourists and travelers, there’s no dearth of market leaders. One such unique venture is BigBasket. This startup provides home delivery services for grocery items and is a major name in the circuit.
The grocery retail market in India is growing at around 20% CAGR. E-grocery accounts for only 0.1% of this share. As per statistical data, the online grocery market is expected to be around $10 billion in the coming time. Thus, bigbasket.com has its hands in a pie with a bright future. Abhinay Choudhari was able to build an empire through bigbasket.com; let’s find out how.
The dot com bubble burst was a deciding factor behind the fortune of many big organizations that are wildly influential today. But, it was far from a smooth journey for these companies. The founders of the big basket, including Abhinay Choudhari, had a similar experience. They decided to use the lessons learned from the dot com bust and create a website that could firmly face obstacles of any kind. The five founders of BigBasket initially created a website named Fabmart.com in 1999. This was supposedly India’s first e-commerce store. However, the team realized that not only India but even the rest of the world wasn’t ready for this kind of online store.
Within a short period, Fabmart merged with a brick-and-mortar chain and by 2006, the founders of Fabmart sold the company. The turning point for the FabMart founders came in 2011. They wanted to try their hand at something new, an out-of-the-box offering. The result was bigbasket.com.
Bigbasket’s—Success
Bigbasket is one of the leading online grocers in India today. The company offers same-day delivery across cities with 99.3% on-time delivery, 99.5% order fill rate, and no questions asked on customer return policy. These parameters have highly contributed to BigBasket’s success. BigBasket has also implemented new options like fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and a range of recipe mixtures. A bakery has been launched in Bangalore that delivers bread on order. The company has both iOS and Android apps to allow customers to order groceries any time, any place. There are unique features like “Smart Basket”, a prediction engine about what a customer needs more often.
Abhinay received a first-round investment of nearly 10 million USD from Ascent Capital. This funding was used to expand BigBasket’s reach in the market. For many startups in India, the biggest issue is sustaining their business model in this country of diversity and differences. After researching for over nearly 5 years, Abhinay and his team realized the best way to make their presence felt was by providing personalized service to people across Indian cities.
BigBasket has taken into consideration the eating habits in different Indian locations; this is a major reason behind people being loyal to BigBasket. The company increased the availability of leafy greens in Mumbai and the supply of a special kind of rice in Bangalore. BigBasket ensures no compromise on the quality of its products. To improve customer experience, the BigBasket team ensured near-time-perfect delivery services for their customers.
While the company has grown into one of the biggest Indian brands, BigBasket still faces intense competition from local startups like LocalBanya, PepperTap, and Grofers. The company was facing heat from many rivals and hence, it was time for Abhinay to gather his team and plan new strategies for BigBasket. The aim was to race ahead of everyone. BigBasket grew its presence in 25 cities with a combination of 150 million customers and considering the expansion, Abhinay decided it was time to bring in a partner. The team aligned with Alibaba which boosted the company’s image over the next two years.
Abhinay Choudhari is the co-founder of the BigBasket. He is an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad. He has worked with leading IT companies on consulting engagements with key retail majors like Tesco and LEGO.
Who is the CEO of BigBasket?
VS Sudhakar and Hari Menon (2011–Present)
Is BigBasket making profit?
BigBasket loss widens 6.7% to INR 611 crore, revenue up 36% in FY20. Supermarket Grocery Supplies, which operates online grocery store BigBasket, reported a consolidated net loss of INR 611 crore in FY20, a 6.7 percent rise as compared to the previous financial year at INR 572 crore.
Is BigBasket successful?
Today, BigBasket is India’s largest online grocer that receives over 100,000 orders per day. Online grocery shopping is fast gaining popularity among Indians. According to a Redseer report, India’s online grocery retail market is all set to touch $10.5 billion by 2023.
Conclusion
Abhinay is an inspiration for many. In an age were rising from the lowest rung of the ladder is more than just a challenge, he and his team established a company after the dot com bubble burst. BigBasket has grown at such a rate that celebrities like Shahrukh Khan endorse the brand. Under Abinay’s leadership, bigbasket.com plans to not only retain its position as the largest online grocery store in India but also become a major player across the globe.
In the year 2019, Reliance Industries launched their own online groceries ordering website called JioMart, this was meant to be an alternative for the other grocery websites like BigBasket which is a well-established company in the market for the last few years. BigBasket has the experience and expertise of almost a decade, while JioMart launched in 2019 is already gaining users rapidly.
However JioMart has an added advantage which is pricing, JioMart offers a flat 5% minimum discount on MRP on all their products which is pretty similar to DMart’s model, this model helped DMart become an overnight success story in India with their malls being found left, right and center in most Indian cities today. Hence why, Mukesh Ambani’s digital grocery JioMart is scaling at a pace for its competitors to take a very hard look at their ventures.
JioMart is currently receiving orders at 250,000 per day. At the same time, the old players in the market such as Big Basket is receiving 220,000 per day respectively during the coronavirus induced nationwide lockdown, Bigbasket however has seen per day orders to rise around 190,000 and 300,000 levels respectively. JioMart operates in 200 cities, while Big Basket operates inly in 30 cities.
Big Basket is one of the largest online grocery super market in India. The company was founded in 2011 by Hari Menon, VS Sudharkar, VS Ramesh, Vipul Parekh and Abhinav Choudari. It is headquartered in Bengaluru and operates in 30 cities in India. Big Basket offers variety of products such as fresh fruits, vegetable, food grains, oil, masala, poultry and meat, packaged snacks, beverages household supplies including healthcare products.
It has more than 20,000 different from 1000 different brands across its catalog. The valuation of the company is 1.8 billion, reaching the unicorn status. Bigbasket has revenue of around $3.2 million and approximately 4,000 employees. It delivers to various cities in India such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Delhi, Noida, Mysore, Coimbatore, Vijayawada, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Gurgaon, Vadodara, Vizag, Surat, Nagpur, Patna, Indore, Chandigarh, etc.
Big basket was launched at a time when India’s urban workforce in cities was finding it difficult to allocate time to buy groceries and home essentials. Bigbasket gave its customers a flexibility to place their order anytime and get the things delivered at their preferred time. Bigbasket comes with the promise of having low prices and prompt delivery services.
The logos of bigbasket and jiomart
A brief about JioMart
JioMart is an Indian online grocery delivery service, started as a joint venture between Reliance Retail and Jio platforms. JioMart delivery grocery and daily essential from nearby stores. The platform was soft launched in December 2019. A pilot was launched in selected areas of Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan in April 2020. In May 2020, Jiomart launched in 200 cities and towns in India.
Within a few days of its launch the JioMart Applicationcrossed 1 million downloads. In October 2020, JioMart signed an agreement with Infibeam Avenues. JioMart is an online selling channel format of Reliance Retail Limited. We offer you convenience of shopping everything that you need for your home. The website sells products like fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals, packaged food, bakery and dairy, frozen and pet food, household cleaning items to your specialized beauty and personal care products from a single virtual store.
JioMart is an online grocery store that provides 50,000 plus grocery products at discounts rates at your doorstep through an express delivery system. The company follows the on-demand model. JioMart also avoids using the system of warehousing and partner with local retailers instead. These retailers will source the grocery products and deliver it to the customers. JioMart’s app is available for download on Google Play Store and Apple Store.
BigBasket has over 10 million customers. While the companies target audience is the working people, students and old people who don’t have the energy to go to grocery stores or to even stand in lines and buy the necessary products. Big basket helps people to browse through a huge variety of quality grocery items. Big basket helps these people to browse through a huge variety of quality grocery items.
BigBasket home page
When the customers can order the required products which will be delivery within 90 minutes for express delivery or next morning for slotted delivery. There are three types of delivery systems which are
Slotted delivery: Customers can pick a convenient slot when they want their purchase to be delivery.
Express delivery: This service can be availed by customers in cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi NCR. Delivery will be done within 90 minutes
The company has BB specialty stores: Big Basket has partnership with specialty stores like Karachi bakery. Customers can request a product from the store which will be delivered within 90 minutes. Big basket has acquired 100% stakes in milk delivery ventures Raincan and morningcart. The milk delivery service was branded as BB daily where customers can get milk delivered to their home in the morning everyday through subscribing for a fee.
JioMart will operate on the online to offline business model, it will connect with the local retailers and deliver goods to customers by procuring then from the nearest store located in the customer’s vicinity. This is unlike Grofers and BigBasket that use warehouse model. JioMart helps the correct the unorganized retail sector and help local shopkeepers whose businesses were adversely affected due to competitive pricing and warehousing strategies of online retail stores.
JioMart home page
In addition to increased sales and margins, these shopkeepers will be equipped with point of sale (PoS) terminals, integrated billing applications, and GST compliance. It will also upskill them in inventory management and supply chain management. The types of delivery services provided by JioMart are:
Free home delivery: It will give you the benefit of delivery of commodities at your doorstep by producing it from the nearby store.
No minimum value for free delivery: Sites like Big Basket and grofers det up a minimum value of purchase to avail the free delivery.
Express delivery: Express delivery means quicker delivery than ordinary services. In the ecommerce segment, it is generally within 24 hours.
No question asked return policy: When you wish to return the goods that you ordered online, you are almost always bombarded with unnecessary questions, JioMart will not ask the customer those questions.
Big discounts: The platform gives early discount of Rs. 3000, the platform has come up with a promotional strategy of pre-registration wherein people can save up to Rs. 3000 on future shopping.
Funding and acquisitions of Big Basket and JioMart
BigBasket has received funds worth around $526 million. The investors include Alibaba group, Abraaj Group, Ascent Capital, Bessemer venture partner, Brand Capital, Helium venture partner, ICICI venture, IFC Venture capital group, LionRock Capital, Paytm Mall, Sands Capital management, Sands capital ventures, Trifecta capital and Zodius Capital.
There are also talks about additional funding of around $200million post which the company would be valued at around $900 million. When it come to the acquisition BigBasket acquisition of delyver in June 2015 for an undisclosed amount. Delyver was also an online grocery store and its specialty was using local stores to deliver groceries to people. Now, all business assets of delyver have been merged with bigbasket.
The Reliance Industries has acquired or invested in several companies, which are now under Jio platforms. Some of them Haptik, Embibe, Radisys, Reverie, Grab a Crub, EasyGov, Asteria Aerospace, Tesseract. The companies that have a stake in the Jio platforms are KKR, Public Investment fund of Saudi Arabia, Vista equity partners, Silver Lake Partners, Mudabla Investment Company, General Atlantic, Google and Facebook among others.
Valuation of JioMart and Big Basket
In May 2020, the enterprise value of Jio platform was estimated to be $72 billion. The company was also reported to be valuable than all other businesses of RIL put together. Morgan Stanley has valued the net asset value of Reliance Retail at $29 billion the company estimates the e commerce will account for 15% of all retail sales in India by 2023. Big Basket on the other hand has the valuation of over $1.2 billion.
Big basket raised $300 million in February 2018 as part of its series E financing, which was led by the Alibaba Group. This gave the company a post-money valuation of $850 million. According to market sources, BigBasket is scouting for additional funding of $350-400 million at a valuation of about $2 billion. BigBasket has hence upped growth targets for FY21 by 40-50 per cent.
When it comes to workflow both the websites are similar overall ordering process, you sing up using email and phone number, selection or area or pin number, adding item to the cart, clicking on the checkout button to finally finish the payment process. BigBasket has a much wider variety of categories for products, while JioMart needs to work more in this area. However, JioMart is gets a point as it has the multi search feature. With the help of this feature the user can search multiple products in one go and the combined results will be displayed.
Navigation and search on big basket and jiomart
Wallet and checkout
JioMart does not have a wallet, it is also difficult choose an option to apply discount vouchers or choose a delivery slot. However JioMart directly refunds to your online payment method in case there is an adjustment later and they also have an option of crediting the amount to your store credit account. In contrast BigBasket provides lots of options during checkout such as the ability to apply a voucher, use balance from the wallet select a delivery slot, etc.
JioMart orders are sourced from your nearest retail outlet of reliance Fresh or reliance mart unlike BigBasket which are sourced from their own warehouses. This way JioMart has an advantage that is their sources like Reliance fresh are already established enterprises unlike the Big Basket warehouses, so they didn’t have to create their supply chain from scratch. Also, I think their stocks will churn out much faster as both online and offline buyers will buy from the same sources.
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HiGrocer India offers wide range of Comfort Food Products. HiGrocer enable every retailer to compete with organized giants and e-commerce, by their Last Minute SKU range of Quality Products Chained by Technology.
HiGrocer has a mission to partner with millions of retailers (by becoming their Trusted Brand and Supply chain partner) making it the biggest and quickest go-to-market channel for products and services. They are focussing on solutions for the grocery online end-to-end management system.
In India, the rate of urbanization has increased to a considerable level since the 2009 census, as per the United Nations (UN) World Urbanization Prospects 2018 report. There has been a noteworthy change in the eating habit in Metropolitan Cities. Due to the fast-paced life in urban cities, about 79% of the urban people prefer to have ready-to-eat food in their regular meal.
The reasons behind the increase in the use of comfort food in urban cities are the steep rise in income, the standard of living and convenience. Mostly, in a small family where both husband and wife are working, they prefer having ready-to-eat food for their children. It has become the most favorite and convenient part of their meal.
The Indian middle class is growing and so is their buying capacity and demands. They love to try on new products that come in the market. They prefer premium products; explore comfort food in the ready-to-make mobile SKU and easy-to-eat category.
Rural India provides a great opportunity for the comfort food and beverages industry. As almost 65% of the total Indian population lives in the rural region. They are attracted to food products of urban cities. The buying capacity of rural households has also increased in recent years due to benefits from investment in infrastructure and rising wages.
How was HiGrocer Started?
It was somewhere in mid 2018 when we brainstormed of creating our own Consumer Product Company. Once the calling was clear we left our respective erstwhile FMCG Leadership roles to commenced with our calling in the Business.
We did dipstick understanding on the sub industry we would like to cater in FMCG with a criteria of continual offtake, counters with higher ticket and demand oriented category; Food which is ever evolving and innovating was an obvious choice of offering.
Our Product Categorization is an outcome of this focused Customer Segmentation, Secondary being the Unorganized retailers which has become Last minute consumer Shopping Hub because of organised players amidst our Primary Audience which being the Urban consumers aged between 16 to 40 yrs their Fast changing urban lifestyle resulted into the growing demand of Comfort Foods.
Our Agenda is going National, hence at planning stage itself we brainstormed the possible scale of Operations and Solution towards it. Thinking about the same we developed Integration of SaaS Technology in our business enables market access concept whereby a product can be directly delivered to the retailer’s shop from the manufacturer’s factory through our SalesMax & Delhi mechanisms without having to go through the multiple layers of marketing, thereby providing an efficient & effective Supply Chain system.
Around mid 2019 we entered One market with our first RTE Product – Idli dosa batter ‘Ayyappa’, since then we have been growing in terms of Product offering and Shelfing Counters.
Thereby, Our Go To Market Business Model brings Scalability, Flexibility, Empowers Retailers & Building Brands.
HiGrocer – Product/Services
Helping Unorganized Retailers in FMCG with Accessibility, Affordability and Assistance in more Earning Power.
HiGrocer India as marketer offers wide ranges of Comfort Food Products. As our name suggests we are catering to neighbourhood grocers to answer consumers’ thirst for premium quality and Last Minute SKU Products, as the Urban Indians aged 16 to 40 years are part of fast changing urban lifestyle constitutes the major segment of this market. They spend over 40 percent of their income on food, are ready to experiment, and are willing to pay a premium for better quality, variety, and taste. We under the Name of HiGrocer India cater to these Indians, with our Last Minute Range of Products and its SKU.
Currently we have 10 Products across 3 categories and 3 Brands, we pivoted with our Idli Dosa Batter ‘Ayyappa’ and gained momentum for other range of products across categories i.e Frozen Snacks and Staples.
We commenced with Batter as it is a daily need product which gives us accessibility with retailers thereby build relation which makes shelfing of our other products easy and faster.
Founders of HiGrocer and team
Dharit Parikh & Aniket Sharma, both are qualified and respect each other domain experts of being an IIM graduate with 15 years of work-ex expert in Sales & Marking & other being CA with 9 years in work experience, managing Finance and Products, respectively. We have a team of 20+ and with each Delivery Centre Opening we will add 10 more in each. Even in Field staff we seek entrepreneurship skills, thereby the culture at HiGrocer is competitive, enabler and proactive.
HiGrocer – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Our Business Model is a basket Approach hence Commanding Shelf at the Counters we are present especially at the Kirana Stores. Therefore, We wanted a name which Resonates Trust with Casual atmosphere, thereby ‘Hi’ build friendliness in the conversation and because we in the Consumer product Food business ‘Grocer’ stands for ‘Grocery’ which resonates Trust.
Secondly, We are Consistent, Respects Boundaries, Show Gratitude and Don’t compromise in maintaining relations are the characteristics we would like to be known for.
Hence, A friendly neighborhood Grocer is ‘HiGrocer’ as a name builds, under the affirmation of Quality Assurance and at Best Price, which makes out Tagline Quality Bhi, Daam Bhi.
On our Logo thereby the word has cautiously been written in 2 different fonts and Red is the color of passion, strength, sensitivity, etc. also gets easily identified in the clutter.
HiGrocer – Business Model and Revenue Model
We are in the Consumer Product Business, building consumer Brands is what we endeavour for long run, the path to that is the journey we are crafting with our Business Operations
We have our own plant for one of our category of products and for the rest we do Contract Manufacturing. As we are a firm believr of Basket Approach with a Concept of Shared resource in FMCG to create the most advanced Sales and Distribution model which gives maximum retail coverage which is Marketed by HiGrocer
We do the Retail tie-ups and ensure product placement, our tie-ups with retailers are made with a committed shelf space or gondola space named “HiGrocer”, and we have a dedicated planogram for the shelf and Trade commission bundled in each every sales made.
Our Partnered Products are warehoused in vicinity directly from the manufacturers factory and delivered to the retailer shop tethered by our Technology Platform of SalesMax & DelHi mechanism without having to go through the multiple layers of Marketing, thereby providing an efficient & effective Supply Chain system.
HiGrocer – Startup Launch
Around mid 2019 we entered One market with our first RTE Product – Idli dosa batter ‘Ayyappa’, we categorically chose this as an entry product as it gives us leverage of providing Regular service and build Relation with retailers being a new entry this was very important for us.
Today, we are serving almost 2000 Retailers in a single market. We have 10 Products to offer across 2 Categories and 3 Brands (Idli Dosa Batter, Frozen Foods and Staples). Our Go To Market Business Model brings Scalability | Flexibility | Empowering Retailers | Building Brands.
HiGrocer – User Acquisition and Growth
As HiGrocer, We are providing Shelf of Hi Quality Premium products with On the GO SKU range, which enhances Customer Needs & Retailers Greed. Our tie-ups with retailers are made with a committed shelf space or gondola space named “HiGrocer – Quality Bhi, Dam Bhi”, and we have a dedicated planogram for the shelf. Idea is to build HiGrocer as a Trusted brand amidst Consumers as we will market all products as ‘Products from HiGrocer’, which Promises Quality and Price. We have and will always have a Basket Approach in building a dedicated HiGrocer Shelf at the Neighborhood Stores. All at the palm reach as we are chained with Technology, which will enable us to keep our operation cost at marginal and enhance off-takes.
So By the end of Half a Decade existence as per our plans we will have a bank of more then 50 SKU’s across 6 Categories trailing each with a minimum existence of 3 years. We, at the end of 60 months would have our market penetration across 25 cities mix of Metros, Tier 1 and Semi Urban spread over 50k retailers.
HiGrocer – Startup Challenges
We are living in a Demand Centric world, which makes our Future with Opportunity; India is the world’s fifth- largest consumer economy by 2025, up from the current 12th position.
Secondly we are Acing Products and Brand builder in an organized way catering via unorganized market, support to them will generate Push and our Media Marketing will generate SOV and Demand.
Our Challenges are with the Competition and we have a plan for that, we have identified our competition below in 2 parts:
Branded Consumer Products
This is a Direct Competition. They do Contract Manufacturing of their Products and retail it across Shops, with traditional way of Distribution thereby offering minimum margin to retailers and shelving because of Advertising Demand. At HiGrocer, We have multiple advantages in our Trade We Work on Delivery Centre Model (from manufacturer to our warehouse directly), which gives miss to traditional channels of Distribution, and our Ready stock Delivery to retailers ensures regular Service and Product Shelving. Thereby, we offer almost 2- 3 times of the current market margins, with similar high quality Product, as we miss traditional distribution
Non-branded Consumer Products
This is a Indirect Competition. They Supply Retailers in loose form, which is either/or, repacked under retailers brand or sold as it is. We work on Delivery Centre Model, which gives miss, to traditional channels of Distribution. Our Ready stock Delivery to retailers ensures regular Service and Product Shelving likewise to our non- branded product suppliers.
Margin: We offer similar margins, with high quality Product bundled with Brand Assurance, which is lacking by non-branded suppliers.
HiGrocer – Future Plans
We are currently retailing in approx. 2000 stores with 10 Products, 3 Brands, 2 Categories, By the end of Half a Decade existence as per our plans we will have a bank of more then 80 SKU’s across 6 Categories trailing each with a minimum existence of 3 years. We, at the end of 60 months would have our market penetration across 15 cities mix of Metros, Tier1 and Semi Urban spread over 50k retailers.
Also, by the Decade of existence apart from our respective Brands, HiGrocer would also be a Trusted brand name as all our products are marketed as Products From Higrocer. Which would unfold the potential of future Business integrations and Cross Selling’s.
HiGrocer – Funding and Investors
We are Bootstrapped company and have decent runway with us, though we are in talking terms with few VC’s who shown Faith and Interest in HiGrocer, we will come back to you on this space soon.
Rishabh Rathi
