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Plug pulled on Indian online grocery service
The Gurugram-based online grocery delivery service Grofers has shut down its vegetables and fruits delivery segment across NCR and Bengaluru. The service had been suspended in the aforementioned cities for the past couple of weeks, and it has been confirmed that the SoftBank-backed start-up has killed the service.
The fresh vegetable and fruit delivery didn't really suit post-2016 Grofers. Although it started with delivering fruits and vegetables, in 2016, the company pivoted to focus on mass market and monthly stock-up. It had also pulled the plug on its 90-minute express delivery service, which is an absolute necessity when it comes to delivering fresh food products.
The company was also reportedly grappling with increasing waste, resultant of lukewarm demand following its 2016 change-of-direction.
Newsbytesapp.com quoted Grofers CEO, Albinder Dhindsam, as saying: "Since Grofers has been focusing on next day delivery, our volume for fresh produce was very little. Hence, it doesn't make sense to prioritize. Vegetable and fruits suit express delivery format, not ours.”
Meanwhile, Grofers' business in terms of its own labels in staples and FMCG products seems to have picked up. According to Dhindsa, around 35% of Grofers revenue comes from these private labels in products such as beverages, detergents, noodles, pasta etc. Currently, the firm delivers around 35,000 orders daily, and has an annual revenue of around Rs7.5 billion (€93.75 mln).
