By Prem Kumar
When we believe of e-commerce, the very first point that comes to our minds are the biggies such as Amazon, Flipkart, SnapDeal, Urban Ladder and so forth. Over the previous handful of years, the e-commerce business in India has grown by leaps and bounds and is at present at $27 Billion (as of calendar year 2019). The Covid-19 predicament has merely accelerated its development and this business is anticipated to develop to $200 billion by 2026 recording double digits development YoY.
While these are impressive development figures, it is significant to note that the development has mainly been driven in extremely handful of categories such as style, customer electronics, mobile phones, books amongst the other individuals. It does not cover 1 big category – FMCG Grocery which is all round a $540 billion business! It also does not cover 1 big aspect of this business – the ‘silent’ e-commerce which is currently prevalent in the unorganised grocery trade for a extremely lengthy time. And it is taking place at your humble kirana shop.
Grocery micro-ecommerce – The ‘silent’ E-commerce revolution currently underway!
E-commerce, in very simple terms, is shopping for and promoting of goods and solutions more than a digital medium. While speaking about grocery e-commerce, we have never ever looked at the micro-ecommerce ecosystem exactly where this exchange of goods and cash requires spot ‘online’ at our kirana shops.
In the previous handful of years, kirana shops have fulfilled buyer orders not just at his shop but also by way of the following ‘online’ channels:
(a) Phone calls
(b) SMSs
(c) WhatsApp
(d) Hyper-neighborhood apps such as Swiggys, Dunzo and so forth (a new phenomenon)
(d) Kirana mobile apps (a new phenomenon)
Even prior to Covid-19, we’ve observed clients sharing their comprehensive buying lists with the kirana shops more than digital media – telephone calls (for a lot of decades), SMSs and far more not too long ago – WhatsApp. WhatsApp has turn into 1 of the most common tools for clients to spot ‘online’ orders with the kirana shops. One getting the order by way of WhatsApp, the kirana shop owner (recognized for preserving exceptional private relationships with his clients) confirms the order immediately, tends to make suggestions if there are any new presents, suggests options if a distinct item is out of stock and so forth. This goes back and forth among the buyer and the shop owner – virtually like a actual face-to-face interaction and then ultimately, the shop owner dispatches the supplies to the customer’s residence. Both of them win – kirana shop owners gets a sale with no shop getting overcrowded in the course of Covid-19 and the buyer effectively gets the things on the web with no the require to check out a web page, develop an on the web account and so forth. and gets all the things he has asked for (as opposed to grocery e-commerce websites which is recognized to have a under-satisfactory fill price). As a outcome, there has been considerable development in the use of WhatsApp by the kirana shops and clients alike – for grocery buying and fulfilment. This explains why facilitating e-commerce transactions more than WhatsApp is getting touted as the subsequent massive point.
Impact of silent e-commerce development – Not silent any longer with the entrance of the massive players
From the point of view of the FMCG players, the present Covid-19 predicament has produced them step out of their comfort zones. They have had to adjust/adapt their item portfolio/mix in sync with the sudden transform in customer obtain behaviour (to shop on the web or go to a kirana shop?) – Not to mention the truth the customers are prepared to attempt out new items and go for regional/in-shop packaged brands. This has forced the FMCG firms to appear for new strategies to attain out to the customers and get their items into the consumers’ baskets – by way of e-commerce.
Therefore, with more than 560 million Indians connected on the web and more than 400 million WhatsApp customers in India, there is a large micro-ecommerce evolution that is currently underway. The present Covid-19 predicament has merely fuelled the development of e-commerce with a lot of substantial players getting into into this space. We’ve observed Swiggy (a player in meals delivery), Facebook/Google/Qualcomm + Reliance JIO (conglomerate), Domino’s Pizza (a pizza chain!!), a variety of banks and a lot of far more all getting into into this grocery ecommerce space. Their entry will transform the retail landscape as they pump millions of investment dollars to create the important infrastructure and bring in a structure that will drive higher level of efficiency in the retail operations. This will only drive stickiness towards this sector and bring in droves of customers who have began embracing digital mode of buying.- be it by way of a buying app, e-commerce web page or a messaging app.
The way-forward: Creating a robust eco-method for micro-ecommerce
With the accelerated development in grocery e-commerce more than the previous handful of months, there is a sturdy require for a robust eco-method consisting of all FMCG ecosystem (FMCG Brands, Distributors, Wholesalers, Fintech Players, E-commerce players, eB2B players, Research agencies and so forth). We will see a variety of new robust hyper-neighborhood platforms emerging out in micro-ecommerce space which will connect and provide worth to all these FMCG players (such as the kirana shops and customers) – some kind or the other. These platforms will facilitate smooth/effective flow of supplies and economic sources to these kirana shops and finish-customers. How the huge chance gets tapped by a variety of players to develop and unlock this immense worth requirements to be observed.
The author is CEO and founder of Snapbizz
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