Indian startup gives grocery stores an online platform

Grocery shopping on a Sunday morning is an irritating endeavour at the best of times. Now an Indian startup is planning to use the Internet to make that endeavour a painless one and help out local retailers at the same time. While e-commerce has mostly been restricting itself to items like books, garments or electronics, your common yet essential groceries stores now get an e-face as well.

The startup, AaramShop, which is based out of Delhi, links up the sales of fast moving consumer goods as well as consumer packaging goods to people who just don’t have the time to go out and get it done. And AaramShop does it by tying up with neighbourhood retailers to get their products to a consumer’s doorstep, according to ZDNet.

AaramShop, which has been in action for a couple of years now, helps the system by giving individual retailers a place in the online sphere to connect with the Internet-savvy consumer. Consumers get to go online and pick a preferred store from their neighbourhood, which will deliver the products home in a matter of hours. 

Indian startup AaramShop looks at giving local retailers an online avatar to get in touch with consumers

The platform doesn’t stop at individual retailers though. The company includes both independent and chain stores in its list. According to the company, the biggest advantage that any store will enjoy from this partnership will be a Web store, which consumers can access at any time to place orders. This will be a big bonus for the retailer’s sales volumes.

The company does not list any private labels on its site, though, as ascertaining the quality and quantity of such products may become a problem for the platform. For individual retailers, the company states that retailers are allowed to list commodities, the quality and quantity of which they are responsible for.

In order to get the best deals from retailers, AaramShop provides an AaramOffers service that lets individual stores customise their offerings with individually crafted offers and promotions which can be marketed to consumers on the site. This will be good for both consumers and retailers, as the consumer will get more relevant and competitive offers and prices while retailers get an opportunity to increase their consumer base. The platform is free for retailers, but it is invitation only.

AaramShop works on its retail inventory via a dedicated team that identifies quality retailers and ropes them in for the platform. In addition, the company also focuses on retailers that consumer recommend, which are then verified and brought onto the platform as well.

While there are a lot of e-grocery stores out in the market like Big Basket, AaramShop CEO and Managing Director Vijay Singh believes that the decentralised retailer network that AaramShop brings to the table will make the platform stand out from the competition.

The immediate vicinity around a consumer is what AaramShop focuses on the most. Thus, the best offers and prices for a specific product or the entire shopping list within the immediate vicinity of a consumer can be searched for. Consumers can look for product offers within specific pincode areas with the most economical options being featured.

For now, the startup is self funded, with the company looking at 50,000 AaramShops across 60 cities in the country. The revenue model for the company also allows for a number of opt-in premium services that can be used by brands and retailers. The company has also come up with innovations like AaramShop Grocery Festivals, which are designed to allow on-ground consumer marketing in specific cities.

The startup is also looking at the mobile platforms to ensure that retailers can target consumers through geo-targeted communications. The AaramShop mobile app, when it comes out, will feature this across all platforms.