Mumbai and Hyderabad get e-grocery stores: Kaise Diya and MomGrocery
Mind boggling numbers have been pegged to the Indian ecommerce players, their aspirations, market share they’d capture, and of course the fickle minded Indian consumer. Amidst all the hoopla about selling products ranging from books to apparels, India saw a surge in players in the e-grocery segment rise at a steady state. With early players like MyGrahak providing services since December 2010 to relatively young players like LocalBanya providing the service with a difference, the Indian e-grocery market has seen a multiple colors emerge. Charting the journey till date, we have covered players like Stork, Galaxilocal, and Familykart till date. We also, recently, did a comprehensive study of the e-grocery market in Mumbai region. And now, here, we profile two young entrants into the sector: KaiseDiya and Momgrocery!
KaiseDiya.com caters to customers in the western suburbs of Mumbai from Dahisar to Jogeshwari and Lokhandwala (Andheri). Founded by Sachin Pikle, a Civil engineer by qualification, KaiseDiya is a result of Sachin’s experience with ecommerce consulting.
KaiseDiya was launched on the auspicious day of Dassera, on 24th October 2012. “We wanted a name that was different, catchy and something that everyone could relate to. I am glad all the *bazaar, *cart, *shop, *baniya, etc. domain names were already taken. So we were forced to think harder, and luckily the name KaiseDiya just popped up in the midst of a morning shower!” says Sachin.
On the technology front KaiseDiya provides features like one-step reordering of previous orders, substitution of out-of-stock items, advance orders with weekend delivery, faster checkout, flexible delivery options, COD, and a no-questions-asked-return-policy. Delivery is free in Borivali, Kandivali, Malad, Goregaon, Jogeshwari and Lokhandwala (Andheri).
Managing an inventory is a big deal for ecommerce players. KaiseDiya has eliminated this by not holding inventory, and going ahead with a just-in-time procure-and-deliver model. With this, they have also doubled their product catalog and expanded the delivery and supplier network. KaiseDiya now has over 2000 products, and have recently included Lokhandwala (Andheri) in the delivery area.
Talking about the other players in the domain, Sachin adds that, “We believe in relationships, not money. There are numerous instances where we have gone out of the way to keep our customers happy even if it meant paying from our pockets. It is these sound principles that differentiate us from our competition. I think we complement the likes of BigBasket, LocalBanya and others. We are small, yet nimble and that gives us more flexibility as compared to these bigger players. And in spite of being smaller we still offer much better discounts on a number of products!”
With MomGrocery (owned by KISS Mart Retail Pvt Ltd.) we have an e-grocery store with a difference. The primary differentiating factor being the the products categorized under brand names.
More than 7 years of software development experience at companies like CMC and Infosys was enough for Ramakoteswarrao, who finally left the cozy comfort of a tech job to start MomGrocery. He was joined by Dileep (Co-founder), who comes with more than 5 years of experience in Mechanical & Retail industry. They have been supported early on by Laxman, as an investor, and a close family friend.
Explaining their unique UI, Ram, as Ramakoteswarrao is known, says, “Let’s take an example to order Bru coffee. On MomGrocery.com – You can add it to cart with a single refresh & single click. Here is how it works: mouse over “Beverages” -> click on “Bru” -> Find your flavor and add to cart. On some other e-store, you might have to make at least 3 clicks to spend at least 3 times more time than on MomGrocery. This is a unique approach and in other words we can say it’s a risk. But we have got positive feedback over this approach from our customers.”
Some of the additional features include a proposed “2 hr delivery”, single call ordering, 7 day-no-questions-asked replacement, and multi-lingual search. They've already incorporated Telugu, and are working towards including Hindi. This team of 8 has also devised a strategy wherein they extensively use hand-drawn cartoon characters for social media promotions.
Presently MomGrocery delivers in limited number of areas in Hyderabad, with plans to cover the twin cities of Hyderabad & Secunderabad. The team wishes to establish a strong hold over the market before they look for further investments and expansion across India.
On a concluding note, Ram shares a touching incident, “Recently we got an order that was supposed to be delivered near JNTU. It actually came from USA and had been paid for online by a lady who wanted to send groceries & household stuff to her old parents every month. As she wanted, we surprised her parents this afternoon and it’s really difficult to depict smile on their face and put the feeling in words.”
