Only 7% of households in India buy fruits and vegetables online: Study
Quality of produce, high prices, and challenges in returns and grievance redressal are the top issues while buying fresh groceries online, says a study by LocalCircles, a community social media platform.
Despite the presence of platforms such as , , and , which offer home delivery of fresh grocery, Indian households favour local stores and markets, says a study by , a community social media platform.
Only 7% of Indian households buy fresh fruits and vegetables online, while 66% prefer buying them from local or weekly markets near their homes, says the study, based on a national survey conducted by LocalCircles across 297 districts of India.
Quality of produce, high prices, challenges in returns, and cumbersome grievance redressal are the top issues while buying fresh groceries online, the study reveals. It also shows that, over the past 10 months, many consumers have switched to buying groceries from local stores and local markets, and many more are likely to do so in the coming months.
"Due to competitive prices and good discounts, most tended to ignore shortcomings (related to online grocery shops). With discounts reducing and the risk of COVID minimal, many consumers are now buying the majority of their fresh supplies from the local market, buying only incidentals or topping up via online grocery apps,” said Sachin Taparia, Founder of LocalCircles
“Returns and refund of fresh produce is another major issue where some of the apps expect a consumer to spend 5-15 minutes to request refund of small quantities of fresh produce, which is just impractical," he added.
The initial value pricing and discounts offered by these platforms have diminished or disappeared, resulting in prices that are now 1.5-2 times higher than those found in local markets, LocalCircles said in a statement.
The survey, which received over 24,000 responses, was conducted between September 1 and November 20 this year.
Edited by Swetha Kannan