Today, in the world of modernization, people have a habit to scroll the screen of their mobile phone frequently for many reasons such as to shop, learn, relax, or to fulfill an never ending list of requirements that people desire for. No doubt, smart phones have been quite a help that had made the world seem a easy navigating space. The first thing that comes in the mind when talking about ordering daily good an groceries, it is the list of fruits, vegetables, groceries needs that people are going to order.
Today, the world has come up with several applications, websites, and companies from where people can order groceries, and among them one is the Grofers app which is a prominent name in the online grocery shopping.
HOW DID IT ALL START-
The Gurugram based e-commerce grocery delivery company was founded in the year 2013 by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar. The e-commerce company offers a variety of daily needs goods and products that made people’s lives easy ranging from grocery, bakery items, baby care items, and many more. After Albinder was done withe his graduation, he worked as a transportation analyst at a URS Company in the USA.
At the time he worked in the USA, Albinder met Saurabh Kumar and stayed in contact with him with no intention of any entrepreneurial motive. Both Albinder and Saurabh noticed that there was a huge gap in the delivery industry. Both of them thought to grab the opportunity as at that time several startups were emerging. They realized the need to solve the unorganized hyperlocal space in the transaction made between merchants and the consumers.
This gap in the delivery industry led them to build a base for this startup. Their goal was to offer a one-stop solution for the customer’s requirement for delivering daily need goods and products. This was to work with the systematic logistics from the shops around their locality like grocery stores, medical stores, and restaurants for the consumers.
Previously, both of them worked with the delivery of groceries to the customers from the local stores and supermarkets. Currently, the e-commerce company runs its services in over 28 cities in India as the name Blinkit that was the new name of Grofers after the completion of the rebranding attempt with the motto to deliver groceries and other household products in the blink of an eye.
THE CONCEPT OF DELIVERING IN 10 MINUTES-
Blinkit, which was previously known as Grofers, has come up with its new mission that states- “instant commerce indistinguishable from magic”. Blinkit simply believes in proving its customers with grocery delivery within 10 minutes. Flourishing in the quike commerce space is what Blinkit at present visions. In June 2021, Grofers declared that it has effectively scaled up its delivery service, that will make the delivery within 10 minutes after the order is placed online.
The e-commerce grocery marketplace also guaranteed that in urban areas where Grofers is available, the company will make sure to deliver the order in under 10 minutes within the next 45 days. This concept of 10 minutes delivery received a lot of criticism from people all over the country , who have blame Grofers of exploiting their worklife to make such a promise a reality. And in the reply of the criticism, Albinder said, “It breaks my heart that instead of celebrating innovation coming from India, some of us stay cynical of people who are trying to break the status quo.”
In order to figure out how Grofers makes it to 10 minutes delivery possible, Albinder stated that the company has its partner store within 2kmof the customer, which is a big plus point for the company. The company has around 20 partner stores in Delhi and has expanded to over 30 partner stores in Gurgaon already and along with a good number of partner stores even in other urban cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru etc.
Further, Albinder wrote in his Twitter post that the partner stores are so densely located that 90% of the orders can be delivered by Grofers easily within 15 minutes even if the driver drove at a speed of 10km/hr.However, the in-store arrangement and planning of the company, engaged by the advanced technologies are so properly organized that they can pack their orders within 3 minutes of receiving the order.
GROFER’S BUSINESS AND REVENUE MODEL-
Grofers works as a marketplace business model and can also be considered as the Hyper-Local on-demand logistics system, which aims to replace the need of customers traveling to the local shops to buy daily need goods rather than wanting them to order online. It just join hands with the local grocery shops in the city and then sends their delivery person to pick the products ordered by the customers from these stores. They accept orders from their mobile application or from the website. This tie-up system supports the local grocery shop owners get more orders and also Grofers make a profit from these orders as the company charges some commission.
The revenue model of Grofers is as same as the commission-based revenue model. The company has tied up with the local shop owners and merchants for grocery and daily needs goods in the local areas. Grofers charges these merchants some commission on these orders. The commission ranges from 8% to 15% when the orders are below 700 and charges 12% to 15% when the orders are below 1000. Grofers also charge a delivery fee when the order is below the amount of INR 250.
GROFER’S INVESTORS AND FUNDING-
Grofer’s witnessed a total amount of $827 million fund in around 16 funding rounds. On 16 august 2021, the e-commerce grocery delivery service raised $100 million fund led by the Indian food delivery giant, Zomato, which helped the company to reach a valuation of more than $1 billion and entered the unicorn club. Grofers is currently valued at $1.01 billion after the latest round. The quick commerce unicorn is looking to raise funds close to $500 million from its existing investor Zomato through a fresh round of funding.
By Gitika Mandhana
