A Damp Squib At Debunking An Online Super Market

“Hey man, I am busy counting my grocery items which I bought from an online super market”. My friend Neveen said with a chuckle. I jumped from my seat and shouted on my cell phone “Whaaaaaaaat?...an online Super market? Have you gone crazy?” Naveen was laughing loudly on the other side and singing  Def Leppard song from the album Hysteria “Pour some sugar on me………... Oh man!!! For a moment I was blank and thinking what the hell’s going on here? Having my third cup of coffee I came to my senses and later had a discussion with Naveen bout his great shopping.

Well this happened a few months back when my friend told me that he was buying his grocery items from Rice and Sugar(R&S) an online Super Market in the Hubli-Dharwad, a two tier city. He is getting the quality items with cheaper price at right time. The e-commerce has come a long way and penetrated into everything you can think of. Be it electronic gizmos, computers, clothes, toys you name it. Swiping a few screens, clicking a few buttons one can order anything and get it at his choice of place and time. Isn’t it cool? But an online super market is something I couldn’t have thought of. Well I was just thinking how these guys sell the quality items at cheaper prices? I wanted to give a try and dive deep into this mysterious business; of course it’s no more a mysterious one.

So…I downloaded the app from the Play store and it was cool, within no time, I was able to surf through the app and see what’s cooking there? Ordering was quite easy. I just wrote it down on a piece of paper the items that I wanted and uploaded as per the instructions.  “Tring..tring…tring…”..hummm within 10 minutes my cell phone was ringing and the call was from Rice and Sugar asking a few clarifications from  my order. Ooohhhh!!! What on earth…..so fast…so quick response. The guy from the other side asked a few questions like the brand, quantity etc…that he had doubts and informed me that you will get these items the next day at @ 10 AM. I ordered at around 9.30 PM…well that’s terrific buddy I said. The next day, @ 10.15 AM the truck came to my home with two guys. They smiled and placed all the items on the floor. Once done, one of the guys took out the bill and verified everything with me including the free items. I paid the money and the transaction is done….cool isn’t it?. Well I thought maybe it’s first time and they are extra careful for a new customer but the kind gesture repeated every time I purchased. Wow!!!! Simply great. I verified the prices with our regular grocery store and it was a cool savings of Rs.350 for a purchase of grocery Rs. 3500. Great!!!.

Well at this point of time all the fundamental principles of Online Super Market, like area of operation, delivery module, strong supplier network, a unique USP, marketing and advertising, payment systems etc surfed before my vision …I was just wondering  how these guys take care of these stuff that every online super market should  consider. I was squeamish thinking deeply about the various points related to this business.  My doubt was, even if they follow these things religiously, do they get the profit that they expect? Are they insane of selling the stuff at cheaper rates? How these folks are managing? Definitely it’s not that somebody is supplying these materials free of cost and saying “Hey buddy, I have lot of free stuff, just sell it whatever price you want”. This is going to be crazy. Take for example of Planning the delivery module. A strong delivery module is necessary to keep delivery expenses in check. Optimize the number of people you employ, their travel reimbursements, and the delivery routes and timings, so as to avoid repeated excursions to the same locations. Take another example, creating a Supplier network. Prior to advertising and selling products on your website, it is necessary to get in touch with the local vendors and create an affiliate grocer network. Together, these wholesale shops will constitute of your supply channel, providing groceries as necessary. Take one more. Marketing and advertisement is the backbone of any online store and plenty of money has to be put in this area. Are they justifying the kind of prices they are offering considering the huge cost involved in this area? Another area is the mobile optimization. A huge chunk of 57% of the millennial population opts for the orders on the go through the smartphone. Many features have to be included in the app like rearranging the sidebars, display of the products, cart sharing, multiple payment options, reviews and ratings, quick reorder and repeat order, monthly shopping reminders etc. The point is, the application should be user friendly with all the facilities that a customer expects. Now imagine the kind of IT expenditure involved in this. Just these examples are enough to understand the gigantic work and investment involved in this business. So how come the company Rice and Sugar managing its business is of great challenge for me to understand. 

The next thing I did was to compare the prices with the super market. I bought a few thousand rupees of grocery in a nearby super market and compared the prices to the prices of Rice and Sugar and wow!, I was going bonkers man…they are still cheaper. The goods were not adulterated and the quality too was good. Hummm!!! well, I was pondering deeply over this and trying to figure it out, how come this is happening? Tired of deep thinking, I was sitting in my veranda sipping lemon tea; I heard my daughter’s voice, saying her friend’s moms were able to download the R&S app on their mobile, which they were trying since morning and are ready to order the stuff. One more nail on the coffin..phew..Just then, I heard my wife shouting at me and asking me to put an order to purchase a few items through R&S app. I was going berserk and shouted at her” I’ll get these from the local store”. She shouted again at me telling, if I do this through Rice and Sugar we will have an  an extra savings of Rs.80 and our daughter can use it as a pocket money. I frowned without saying any words, lest I would have a final nail to fix the casket in its place. After a while I thought ….well it makes sense. I put my tea cup (third one) and thought as long as I am getting cheaper quality grocery items at the right time, why should I worry about what the heck Rice and Sugar does?..

- Prakash Dhabadi