INDIA – BigBasket, an Alibaba-backed online grocer in India has merged two core business, the on-demand 90-minute delivery and planned next-day orders as it seeks increase efficiencies in its business.
The Bengaluru-based grocery said that the reorganization will help in supplying
a larger selection of items to its customers in less than 4 hours.
The on-demand business offered a smaller range of products, while customers got
to choose from a larger range in the case of next-day delivery.
According to an update by ET Retail, with the transition, the company will offer more than 85% items in 3-4 hours, while keeping select long-tail items for next-day delivery.
The internal restructuring is also expected to help the company compete in the heating up grocery segment that has seen attracted immense competition from e-commerce players such as Amazon and Flipkart and food delivery company Swiggy.
BigBasket, which is owned and managed by SuperMarket Grocery Supplies, has also moved from smaller, ‘dark’ stores to opening warehouses that are three times larger as well as modifying its supply chain across cities.
BigBasket has also launched vending machines in apartments in a move that the CEO, Hari Menon said that will help the company fulfill the majority of customer orders.
“We are expanding our B2B presence with a focus on working with kirana (corner) stores and are soon going to launch fresh, to cater to standalone fruit and vegetables vendors,” Menon said.
BigBasket is also seeking to stay ahead of micro-delivery players such as MilkBasket and SuprDaily in the subscription-based milk delivery business and wholesale businesses like Jumbotail and Ninjacart.
Menon said that BigBasket
will focus on expanding its presence in a hyperlocal, cluster-based manner with
an aim to increase density, before aggressively expanding.
Grocery is seen as the next big category in ecommerce, attracting the largest online
and offline players to commit huge investments in growing market.
However, players in the retail sector are also warming and are optimistic to crack the category and leverage on the vibrant retail market.
Retail sector aggregator, Karina King has unveiled ambitious expansion plans seeking to open 7,000 associate stores across 14 cities in the next five years.
The company, which started operation in 2018 already has 96 stores in Jaipur and is looking to expand business in other cities with most of them being in Rajasthan.
“We are boosting the business of kirana stores by transforming them on four points of standardisation, digitisation, centralisation and socialisation,” Kirana King Founder and CEO Anup Kumar Khandelwal said.
“This is providing the traditional kirana business sustainability and required edge in the digital competitive market scenario,”
