Grofers has shut down vegetables/fruits delivery in NCR, Bengaluru
What's the story
It has been confirmed that Gurugram-based online grocery delivery service Grofers has shut down its vegetables and fruits delivery segment across NCR and Bengaluru.
The service had been suspended in the aforementioned cities for the past couple of weeks, and Entrackr has confirmed that the SoftBank-backed start-up has killed the service.
Here's why Grofers stopped the service.
Why?
Fresh vegetable and fruit delivery didn't suit post-2016 Grofers
Although Grofers started with delivering fruits and vegetables, in 2016, the company pivoted to focus on mass market and monthly stock-up.
It had also pulled the plug on its 90-minute express delivery service, which is an absolute necessity when it comes to delivering fresh food products.
The company was also reportedly grappling with increasing waste, resultant of lukewarm demand following its 2016 change-of-direction.
Quote
What the Grofers CEO had to say
"Since Grofers has been focusing on next day delivery, our volume for fresh produce was very little. Hence, it doesn't make sense to prioritize. Vegetable and fruits suit express delivery format, not ours," said Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa to Entrackr.
Grofers' labels
How Grofers' private label business is going
Meanwhile, Grofers' business in terms of its own labels in staples and FMCG products seems to have picked up.
According to Dhindsa, around 35% of Grofers revenue comes from these private labels in products such as beverages, detergents, noodles, pasta etc.
Currently, Grofers delivers around 35,000 orders daily, and has an annual revenue of around Rs. 750cr.
Market segment
What the fresh produce segment looks like with Grofers out
With Grofers out of the way, BigBasket, Satvacart and a slew of micro-delivery platforms, including Milkbasket (Gurugram), and DailyNinja (Bengaluru), remain in the fresh produce delivery segment.
Among them, Alibaba-backed BigBasket currently has the most advantageous position as it offers express delivery services across all major Indian cities.
Additionally, BigBasket also recently acquired Bengaluru-based Morning Cart and Pune-based RainCan to consolidate its position.