Adrien De Montalembert, Deliciousnow.com: India’s first online gourmet store

Till not too long ago, even commonplace markers of international cuisine like pasta was only available at high-end departmental stores. And even when it was available, choice was always limited. But all that has changed and today, it’s not uncommon to see people picking out gourmet food products with chef-like precision. And riding on that wave is Deliciousnow.com, India’s first online gourmet store.We’ve seen very little action in e-commerce in the foods space and that only enhances the buzz around Deliciousnow. We at YourStory caught up with Adrien De Montalembert, the founder of Deliciousnow.com to know more about this business idea.

If someone asked you to tell them about Deliciousnow.com in about three sentences, what would you say?

Deliciousnow.com India’s first online gourmet store is the achievement of a dream: delivering right at your door step a unique range of locally sourced and imported fine foods. The strong relationships with European food experts give Deliciousnow.com customers a direct link to a whole other continent of foods and ensures a high-quality, on-time inventory of the finest foods from Europe.

How is Deliciousnow.com different from other online gourmet stores?

Deliciousnow.com is a gourmet store in which you will find all the products that are hard to find or one usually has to go in several stores to find them all. On Deliciousnow.com in just a few clicks, you are able to buy your favourite dairy products, fruits, vegetables, chocolates, gifts for your family and friends and much more.

We believe in adding values to the services which are not offered in shops. Also on the website we explain how to use the products, recipes, tips, videos of recipes with chefs. Plus customers have advantage of shopping from home, no need to face traffic jams, parking inconvenience, heat or rain. They can shop from home and get delivery within 48 hrs.

How did the business idea for Deliciousnow.com come about?

There are lot of reasons behind the purpose of introducing this service and demand is one of them. As there is a growing demand from the customers for gourmet or imported food products, the original idea of the website is the opening of a gourmet shop where people will be able to find all the good products they are looking for.

What has been identified as well in India is the high demand for home delivery due to several reasons such as traffic, heat, lack of parking and bad maintenance of shops. By offering an online platform, people don’t need to face all these inconveniences and can shop directly from their place with the support that only a website can offer: recipes, videos, products descriptions.A real potential and development of online commerce has been identified as well. And such a platform allows us to cater our products all over India with one single store.

Let us know about the tie-ups that you have. Is there acceptance for your concept?

Besides 18 leading international brands, the virtual store has established strong tie-ups with leading suppliers like The French Farm for meats and vegetables, Ahana Organic for its wide range of certified organic products and Exito Gourmet for their delicious Italian cheeses.

For the moment, there is a good acceptance among the gourmet food lovers and the people are already used to buying on the Internet. We still have a lot of work to do to bring more people to become frequent customers.

Where do you see online gourmet stores and Deliciousnow.com five years from now?

I believe that the e-commerce is one of the major market trends in India and online shopping will develop tremendously in the coming years. My aim is to develop the logistics platform of Deliciousnow.com all over India and supply customers with all the products available on the website.

What is Delciousnow.com’s revenue model? Have you been funded? If yes, can you throw some light on how the funding came about and from whom?

Deliciousnow.com is a private company. It has not been funded; it is only personal investments that have been done. An internet platform is a much cheaper model than a concrete structure such as a store in a fancy area or a in a mall.

Today, the revenue is based on the sales, but we hope that in the future, revenue will also come from advertising space on the website.

What are the challenges that you faced while developing Deliciousnow.com? How did you overcome those challenges?

Our first and biggest challenge was to develop an interactive and user friendly platform. In fact, if people can’t buy what they want in less than 5 minutes, they will find the usage too complex. We have to work with 2 web designers who work constantly on the development and upgrade of the website.

What is the total size of the market from Deliciousnow.com's perspective?

The market size for gourmet food is estimated at Rs 4,000-5,000 crore. That is huge! Of course, Deliciousnow.com will not tap all the demand. But this is an indicator that makes us trust in our project for the future.

How big is the team behind Deliciousnow.com? Give us some info on team composition.

As it is quite a complex project, deliciousnow.com is supported by a big team. We have 2 web designers, sales and marketing team of 5 people, a logistic team of 10 people including order preparation and deliveries and an accounting team of 2 people.

Let us know about your plans to expand and scale.

Within six months of starting operations, Deliciousnow.com India’s first virtual gourmet store, has already lined up plans to go physical and have a few signature outlets in the major metros. These plans are very challenging and will need some time before concretisation. Until then, deliciousnow.com will be upgraded and new products will be constantly added to remain the best online gourmet store.

We at YourStory wish Adrien and the entire team at Deliciousnow.com all the very best. To know more about this e-commerce venture, do check out www.deliciousnow.com. Also, do let us know your thoughts about this story by writing to us at [email protected].

Sriram Mohan | YourStory | 14^th June 2011 | Bangalore