Description
The online grocery market in India, which is a segment of the e-services industry, operates with the help of grocers either in the form of a supermarket, e-commerce platform, or a brick-and-mortar grocery store that provides its customers with the facility of ordering grocery online. The service providers operate in any of the following four models: home delivery, click and collect, third party or personal shopping, and direct to consumer.
Market insights:
In India, the online grocery market is at a nascent stage. Currently, only ~0.15% (~ 2 Mn out of ~1.35 Bn) Indians make purchases through online channels, mainly due to abundant presence of physical grocery stores across the country. However, the market is anticipated to expand at a high compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~68.66% during the 2018-2023 period, to reach a value of INR 1,034.13 Bn by 2023, from its 2018 value of INR 62.01 Bn. Such remarkable growth of the Indian online grocery market is accounted to growing customer acceptance, increasing internet and smartphone penetration, new market entries, and increasing focus of online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart in the grocery segment.
Key growth drivers of the market:
o Acceptance of online grocery platforms in India has increased in recent years, owing to the rising awareness about the convenience of the process, digital literacy, and internet penetration across the country. Also, investors have shown the tendency to spend large amounts on customer retention, because grocery is an essential commodity for households. Therefore, customer acceptance, and high investment on customer retention is expected to lead to further growth of the online grocery market in India.
o The central government of India has designed and developed smart cities with a state-of-the-art infrastructure for setting up different models of e-commerce and online transactions. Owing to these reasons, the online grocery retail market is witnessing a growth rate of ~25-30% in the Indian metropolitans, and other emerging smart cities.
Key deterrents to the growth of the market:
o Most of the customers in India often show a tendency of switching between different online grocers, with special inclination towards those who provide more discounts, charge less for delivery, and generate a higher value of coupon offers. As a result, the online grocery market players face difficulty in developing a loyal customer base in India, which in turn hampers their business.
o The Indian grocery market is dominated by ~12 Mn local physical grocery stores. Most of the Indian families still prefer purchasing grocery from the ‘kirana’ stores, because of lack of trust, thus hindering generation of revenue for online grocers.
Companies covered:
o Amazon India Pvt. Ltd.
o Godrej Nature’s Basket Ltd.
o Grofers India Pvt. Ltd.
o Paytm E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd. (Paytm Mall)
o Reliance Retail Ltd. (RelianceSmart.in)
o Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Ltd. (BigBasket)
o UrDoorstep eRetail Pvt. Ltd.
o ZN Retail Pvt. Ltd.
