Shopping for groceries online is catching up with Chennaiites. High petrol prices, traffic congestion and parking issues seem to have pushed them to log on the internet to manage their monthly shopping needs.
There is a spurt in the number of online groceries sites that have come up in the recent months and most of them are quite upbeat about their business.
“We pioneered the concept in Chennai about five years ago on the requests of our NRI clients who had aged and ill parents in Chennai who couldn’t afford to move around,” says Mr Sivaguru Subramaniyan, founder of Chennionlinegrocery.com.
Since monthly groceries are mostly standardised items for a household with particular brand and a set quantity of items, it is easier to decide online.
Most such e-grocers such as grocerking.com and storesondoor.com have tie-ups with local supermarkets for their supplies.
“Though it is not a big profitable business for now, we see it growing in the next couple of years,” hopes Mr Sivaguru. He claims that his customer base has gone up from 50 to over 1,800 during last one year alone.
There also seems a lot of interest among local shop owners who are willing to bet on IT solutions for growth.
This has opened new avenues for firms such as Valiant Systems that offer web-based management software for rent. Small shopkeepers can get their wares online for an annual fee as low as Rs 6,000, says Mr A. Rajarajan, MD of the company..
“We have had queries from over 40 customers right now across the country since we launched this year,” he says.
Even big e-commerce portals such as Indiaplaza.com, which do not offer groceries for now, are mulling the idea. “We want to be in all categories,” says Mr K. Vaitheeswaran, CEO of the portal.
“If people can save fuel, time and energy by beating queues, traffic and parking problems, e-groceries is certainly the next big trend to catch up,” hopes the grand daddy of e-commerce.