Online grocery shopping and the e-commerce sector in India: A Brief of the Boom!

Sep 17
07:52

2015

Raj Arora

Raj Arora

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The grocery and food sector in the retail market constitutes almost 70% of the total. This market, estimated to be around $490 billion is expected to reach around $865 billion in another 8 years. During this period retail is expected to penetrate by around 30% across diverse segments and categories.

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There is a tremendous boom in e-commerce in India over the last few years. As far as the virtual grocer is concerned,Online grocery shopping and the e-commerce sector in India: A Brief of the Boom! Articles irrespective of whether you go to the movies or not, you cannot do without buying life’s necessities. These include soap and toothpaste, of course, but it also includes fruits and vegetables. Today, we have come to value time as life has become very fast. We find that we are always running because of life’s frenetic pace and the time spent in commuting besides the long hours we need to spend at work. Therefore, today we would like to spend minimum time in shopping.

Boom in E-commerce in India

Thanks to the way the online grocer has developed, it is now possible for us to buy not only the usual groceries but also clothes and shoes besides electronics and other products. What has popularized the online grocer is a set of conditions. It takes very little time to shop, you do not need to move out of your home, you pay the way you want and the delivery is according to the time you opt for.

Popularity of Online Grocers

Many have jumped into the fray because all it needs is to understand online retail and think creatively and if you can offer excellent service to customers you can run a fine business. Some of those that have stepped in include Quick2kart.com, LocalBanya.com, MyGrahak.com and BigBasket.com. Most of these offer service major cities and locations.

The other reason for the growth of these online grocers is that we spend most of our money on the daily essentials and grocery. Till the other day this huge chunk of the family’s money remained outside the ambit of online shopping. Another reason for online grocer to catch on is that it costs very little to own a domain as well as to host an online store when one compares with the physical infrastructure needed in a real store. This is behind the success of business models that make online grocery shopping in Noida (or from and elsewhere for that matter) a certain success. In another two years our retail market is expected to reach around Rs 43 lakh crores. The online grocery business will probably grow at a rate of between 25-30% on a year to year basis in the larger cities in India. Today our country offers one of the largest grocery markets in the world. In an efficient online grocery shop in Noida one can buy grocery and staples that include rice and wheat besides dals and pulses, oils & ghee, dry fruits and organic staples as well as masalas and spices, salt, sugar and jaggery among others. The convenience of being able to order all these products online cannot be compared to the poor experience of shopping at an actual shop.

Online Grocery Shopping and e-commerce

It is true that online grocery shopping is all set to revolutionize e-commerce in India. According to the Minister of State for Finance, e-commerce is all set to grow at 10-15% annually. The share of the online grocer in this is obviously going to be very high. The online grocer has grown rapidly in India when compared to the US because of our country’s poor infrastructure such as roads and parking areas. Chief executive of Big Basket believes the online grocery business in India will be close to $20 billion in another five years. He also feels that revenues are today growing @12-16% each month.

The share of the online grocer in e-commerce in India is going to continue to grow in the years to come.