As reported in our earlier post- Grocery Shopping is Now Just a Click Away, the Indian grocery market is the sixth largest grocery market and is valued at $360 billion. The market in India has grown at just over 4% from 2013. With a growing population of over 1.2 billion people, demand for groceries in India can only grow from here on. A rapidly growing component of the industry is modern retail, which currently forms 20% of the entire market at $70 billion. Rising disposable incomes of the Indian middle-class and growing populations in major cities are some of the drivers for growth for Modern Retail chains.
Some of the Online Grocery Portals in India
A small yet significant and rapidly expanding part of modern retail is e-grocery which is when customers make purchases on internet portals and receive deliveries right at their doorsteps. In recent years in India has seen the growth of significant number of e-grocers, who are selling all various varieties of products.
The online grocery business is still in its nascent stage with the existing stores being only a few years old and operating in limited geographies. Yet they are expected to employ about 20% of all the employees in the online retail sector. Every warehouse/sorting facility requires about 20-40 employees to manage inventory, SKUs, dealers, orders and deliveries.
Credits: Business Standard
Since this segment works with perishable items, there will be a demand for experienced supply chain management professionals, including procurement, inventory management, cold storage management, quality and logistics. Also the stores need to offer as many SKUs as possible in order to come out as a better alternative to the traditional retail stores that generally offer only about 1,000 SKUs.
More recently, online grocery retailers have broadened their scope and are offering house-hold supplies, home-ware, kitchen-ware, personal care and body care products. This will help them in becoming a one stop solution for all house-hold products.
Groceries sell irrespective of conditions. People can stop going to the cinema or buying new shoes with rising inflation. But a consumer cannot stop buying grocery. People in the cities hardly get any time off from their busy schedules to go all the way to the grocery store to shop for items. These are the very customers being targeted by the e-grocers. These are people that can now easily shop on their mobile phones and personal computers. Considering the huge size of the potential market, online retail is going to enjoy a great future in India, provided these e-grocers can manage a strong and seamless supply chain ( Fixed delivery schedules, inventory and warehousing).
Read More : Business Standard – Long Way To Go
Cold Chain India 