Grofers hope to win Indian online grocery war Online grocery business is witnessing something that is blooming in India vigorously. According to US grocery shopper trends in 2018, there is about 43 percent of all millennial’s occasionally or fairly often shopped for groceries online. The trickledown effect of this trend is also blooming to Indian market and can also be seen in India in the form of Grofers. And the investments by them have also been pouring in. Earlier this month, BigBasket (another grocery store) announced that it received $150 million (or Rs 1,040 crore) in funding from South Korea’s Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, UK’s CDC Group, and existing investor Alibaba, at a valuation of over $1 billion. In this month, BigBasket’s Indian rival - Grofers raised a $200 million funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund. The latest funding round has reportedly pushed Grofers close to the unicorn club, according to Bloomberg market. The emerging online grocery retailer - Grofers has found a better way to solve the issue of last-mile connectivity in the grocery market to rope with in beauty parlours, gyms, hardware shops and restaurants to be the pick-up and distribution points rather than using delivery boys to zip through the streets carrying loads of items in their twowheelers. Let us know how it will possible: 1. Being part of Grofers’ network, these 6,500 merchants earn additional income too. As groceries are heavy, Grofers cannot do milk runs when compared to ecommerce companies such as Flipkart or Amazon. 2. Now, Grofers is looking to expand its brand portfolio with launches in snacks and personal hygiene category over the next few months. The total target is to expand the offerings under the private labels from 800 products to 1,200 by the end of the year2020, the company said. 3. By 2020 the year, Grofers is looking to increase the share of its own brands from 40% to 60%, clocking sales worth Rs5, 000 crore. This aim of grofer in the grocery war looks very achievable and given the current consumer purchase behaviour an idea. “The total demand for the private label brands
is on the rise as consumers see the value in getting the same quality products as mainstream brands at 40-50% lower prices than others,� statement said by Mr. Venkatesh of Great Lakes Institute of Management.
