Delivered

Your Daily Dosage Of Laziness, Delivered Right At Your Doorstep, And How!

Abhay Sharma, AIS Vas 1, IX A

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To notice an online grocery spill
I had barely finished these lines when my online grocery order arrived in nine minutes. Now, you can’t really blame me for making my online grocery delivery app my muse. For, if not for them, there would be no aloo in my aloo ka parantha, no solace for my late-night hunger pangs, and no best friend to save me from the embarrassment when my guests arrive for dinner, and I run out of turmeric. But, then, that’s just me, or maybe not, for the spaghetti of online grocery delivery wraps differently around different forks, folks.

Twinkle twinkle little star
This is faster than a shooting star
The market share of online grocery delivery apps in India stands at a meagre 1%, but you would still be silly if you are considering writing them off. Reason – their soaring popularity. One in every ten households in India is currently ordering groceries online. In fact, the online grocery app delivery market share is anticipated to grow by approx 800 billion USD between 2020 and 2025. Experts opine a CAGR of 33% for the online grocery segment during the FY 2017-2027. Early movers like Big Basket are already reaping the benefits of this surge, with its sales moving from 1.1 bn USD in 2021 to 1.7 bn USD in 2022.

Johnny, Johnny. Yes, papa.
Add to cart? Of course, papa!
While the initial spurt in the popularity of these apps was driven by the need for contactless shopping created by the pandemic, several other factors seem to be fueling its sustenance. Convenience, better shopping experience, and facility to repeat orders and access order history being some of them. A recent survey saw 85% of respondents cite a wide array of products, availability, and price as the top driver for shopping on apps, while 8% stated fast delivery as their prime reason. Even though multiple factors seem to be at play in this sport of online grocery shopping, it is the reduced costs that stand out as their Tendulkar. Commonly, shoppers go to the market with a grocery list, but then buy many additional items they never planned on purchasing. With grocery shopping platforms, one is much more inclined to stay on the list made, since the total cost is calculated each time an item is added to the cart.

Zepto, Blinkit, Dunzo on the wall
Who’s the fastest of them all?
It takes two to tango, and two to place an online order – the consumer and the grocer. While the former seems to be on a winning spree with this marriage, the latter has rather mixed repercussions. Contrary to popular opinion, the cost to operate an e-commerce is higher than that of brick-and-mortar operations. And this cost is only likely to push forward in the coming times, a cost that consumers are not willing to share. Only 36% of consumers indicated a willingness to pay a price premium when buying groceries online. Further, with more players jumping onto the grocery bandwagon, the competition and, consecutively, the fight to be faster and better is likely to gain a stronger foothold. The emergence of quick commerce has already changed the on-demand delivery landscape by reducing delivery time from 12-24 hours to 10-60 minutes. Flipkart Quick has been making delivery of groceries within 90 minutes since the pandemic rolled out, in fact, it has reduced the time to 45 minutes in several cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR etc.

It’s raining, it’s pouring
The economy is soaring
Grocery has been, and continues to be, the largest consumer segment in India, accounting for an estimated 60% of the country’s retail market. This grocery retail market is primarily dominated by the neighbourhood kirana stores who account for 75% - 78% of the total consumer goods sales, but this is fast changing. Factors like increased smartphone adoption, an increasingly tech-savvy population, and expanding internet penetration are some of the contributing factors. The ‘e’ thing has proved to be the thing for the Indian grocery market, driving the market value to 6.4 billion USD in 2022. For those who fear this online surge to be the death of mom-and-pop stores, the reality spells quite the opposite. For players like Big Basket have already tied up with 1800 local grocery stores across India, revving up the conventional businesses.

Like it or not, the online grocery delivery business is expanding, wrapping all in its tentacles. The question is – can you resist the pull?