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October 8, 2024
Nandini Singh, Business Standard
11 October 2024, New Delhi
Reliance Retail, the country’s largest retailer, has officially entered the booming quick commerce space, intensifying competition for players like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket. The company began offering quick commerce services through its e-commerce platform JioMart in select areas of Navi Mumbai and Bengaluru last weekend, a move that signals its intent to disrupt the segment, as reported by The Economic Times.
Initially, Reliance would start with selling grocery items from its network of 3,000 retail stores nationwide. However, the company has ambitious plans to extend its offerings to value fashion and small electronics, such as smartphones, laptops, and speakers, according to a senior executive at the company. The quick commerce services will be fulfilled through Reliance’s existing network of stores, including Reliance Digital and Trends outlets.
Reliance plans to scale up its quick commerce operations across India by the end of this month. The company aims to deliver most orders within 10-15 minutes, with the remaining fulfilled in under 30 minutes. Reliance will leverage its logistics arm, Grab, which it had previously acquired, to facilitate timely deliveries.
Unlike other quick commerce operators that rely on dark stores or neighbourhood warehouses, Reliance will use its existing retail infrastructure for fulfilment. Analysts have pointed out that this strategy might pose challenges in delivering within the 30-minute window, especially in cities that experience traffic congestion during peak hours.
A fee-free strategy to woo customers
In a bid to attract customers, Reliance has chosen not to charge delivery fees, platform fees, or surge fees, regardless of order size. This contrasts sharply with competitors like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket, which levy additional charges for deliveries. A key part of Reliance’s strategy is targeting smaller cities and towns, where quick commerce operators are yet to make significant inroads. By focusing on these untapped markets, Reliance aims to create a strong foothold and gain a competitive edge over its rivals.
The company is also positioning itself as a provider of a more extensive range of products, linking its entire inventory to the quick commerce platform. With 10,000-12,000 stock keeping units (SKUs), Reliance’s offering will far exceed the typical range available on competing platforms.
Targeting 1,150 cities and 5,000 pin codes
Reliance’s goal is to expand its quick commerce service to 1,150 cities, covering 5,000 pin codes where it already operates grocery stores. This extensive reach, combined with its focus on smaller towns and cities, is expected to give Reliance a significant advantage over its competitors, many of which are still focused on metro areas.
“Reliance has overhauled the JioMart delivery model. Previously, deliveries took 1-2 days, with small trucks delivering multiple orders sequentially. Now, the focus is on quick commerce. Each order will be delivered individually by a bike or cycle, and each grocery store will cover a 3-kilometre radius,” the senior executive told The Economic Times.
Refining delivery processes
Earlier this year, Reliance attempted to reduce delivery times for JioMart to just a few hours, or at least the same day, as part of its hyperlocal delivery initiative. This process has now been fine-tuned further to offer deliveries within 10-30 minutes — a key market demand, according to the executive.
Although a spokesperson for Reliance Retail declined to comment on the developments, industry experts believe the company’s aggressive push into quick commerce could significantly alter the competitive landscape.
Blended delivery model could be the future
Devangshu Dutta, chief executive at consultancy firm Third Eyesight, told The Economic Times that Reliance might adopt a blended approach in the long run, offering quick commerce deliveries in areas close to its stores and scheduled deliveries in areas further away.
“Reliance is clearly in market share acquisition mode in the quick commerce space, and waiving transaction fees while offering higher discounts is part of that strategy. There is ample opportunity for deep-pocketed players like Reliance to dominate this fast-growing segment. Their track record in retail suggests that they are willing to experiment aggressively once they find a model that works,” Dutta said.
For fast-moving consumer goods companies, quick commerce is rapidly becoming a vital channel, accounting for 30-35 per cent of total online sales, making it a lucrative area for major players like Reliance to tap into.
(Published in Business Standard)
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October 7, 2024
Writankar Mukherjee, Economic Times
7 October 2024
Reliance Retail has initiated efforts to enter the thriving quick commerce market in a move that is set to escalate competition for Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and BigBasket, among others. The country’s largest retailer has started offering quick commerce services in select areas in Navi Mumbai and Bengaluru through its ecommerce platform JioMart since last weekend.
It will initially sell grocery items from its retail stores totalling about 3,000 nationwide, eventually adding value fashion and small electronic products such as smartphones, laptops and speakers, a senior executive said. All orders will be fulfilled from its own network of stores including Reliance Digital and Trends.
The retail arm of Reliance Industries plans to rapidly scale up its quick commerce venture pan-India by this month-end with the aim to deliver most orders in 10-15 minutes and the rest within 30 minutes, the executive said. The company will use its acquired logistics service Grab for the fulfilment.
Reliance, however, doesn’t have any plan to set up dark stores or neighbourhood warehouses, unlike other quick commerce operators, the executive said. Analysts said this may become a challenge in delivering orders within 30 minutes in large cities where traffic is high during peak hours.
To entice customers, Reliance won’t charge any delivery fee, platform fee or surge fee irrespective of the order value, and keep a major focus on untapped smaller cities and towns where quick commerce operators like Blinkit are yet to enter, the executive said. Other platforms have a delivery fee and platform fee.
Reliance plans to offer a wider choice of products of 10,000-12,000 stock keeping units by linking its entire store inventory to the quick commerce business, which too is much more than rivals.
Eventually, the company aims to cover 1,150 cities spanning 5,000 pin codes where it runs grocery stores. The executive said the company would target a bigger share of business from towns and smaller cities hitherto untapped by quick commerce firms.
“Reliance has reworked the way orders are delivered for JioMart. Earlier, orders had a scheduled delivery taking 1-2 days by small trucks who would take multiple orders and deliver them one by one. Now, all grocery orders will be quick commerce where one delivery bike or cycle will deliver one order. Each grocery store will cover a 3 KM radius,” the executive said.
Earlier this year, the company tried to reduce JioMart delivery timings to a few hours or at least the same day under its hyperlocal initiative. It has fine-tuned the process further to 10-30 minute delivery. “This has become a top-of-the-kind requirement in the market right now,” the executive said.
A spokesperson for Reliance Retail didn’t respond to ET’s queries.
Devangshu Dutta, chief executive at consulting firm Third Eyesight, said Reliance can ultimately use a blended approach of quick commerce deliveries in areas near its stores and scheduled deliveries a bit far away.
“Since they are in a market share acquisition mode in quick commerce, charging no transaction fees and offering higher discounts on products is a given. There is significant scope for deep-pocketed players like Reliance to strengthen presence in quick commerce. They have aggressively backed other experiments in the retail business once they worked, and may do it again,” said Dutta.
For fast-moving consumer goods companies, quick commerce is the fastest growing channel, accounting for 30-35% of total online sales.
(Published in Economic Times)
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May 8, 2024
At the recent Phygital Retail Convention in Mumbai, Devangshu Dutta anchored an engaging “Fireside Chat” with Bhavana Jaiswal of IKEA India and Kapil Makhija of Unicommerce , on retailers engaging with their customers across channels and formats, and the opportunities as well as challenges in managing experiences seamlessly across online and offline interfaces.
Watch the video at this link:
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January 8, 2024
Yash Bhatia, Afaqs
8 January 2024
In the 10th episode of Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s YouTube podcast series, WTF, Aadit Palicha, co-founder, Zepto, says that consumer goods are the fastest-growing category for its quick commerce business. Initially, quick commerce brands just focussed on serving impulse grocery needs, but now they have changed their way to serve regular planned purchases too.
Major players like Zepto, Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and BBNow are expanding their offerings in gifting, makeup, ready-to-eat, baby care, pet care, meat, poultry and more to cater to a wider range of consumer needs and preferences.
Through our interviews with brands like Bombay Shaving Company, Bevzilla and Plum, it is evident that Q-comm business contributes approximately 10-25% of online revenue for different brands.
Also, according to a report by Redseer, the Q-comm market is expected to reach almost $5.5 billion by 2025. The report highlights, that these platforms can up their game by going beyond just grocery and extend their offerings to other consumables, electronics, newspapers and more.
It shows that quick commerce players would focus on other categories to reach this milestone. But, are brands ready for it? If yes, how is their strategy different for this model?
Aditi Handa, co-founder of The Baker’s Dozen, an artisanal bakery, states, “In our category, once the customers figure out a product in the physical store, then they tend to buy again on the quick commerce platforms rather than visiting a store. It works well in our category, as there is no need to touch and feel the product.”
Baker’s Dozen makes 60-65% of its online sales on Q-comm platforms.
Devangshu Dutta, founder of Third Eyesight says that quick commerce has spread across various product categories and he believes, “It is driven more by buzz than customer needs. Unless we meet a core demand with a large consumer market, there’s no sustained road to profit.”
Deepti Karthik, fractional CMO, SuperBottoms, says, “In the diaper category, there are a lot of unplanned purchases. We target customers who’re buying other products, and eventually get trails from them.”
She points out that a lot of gifting happens in the quick commerce segment. “Gift packs can be a great solution our brand can leverage.”
She predicts that for the baby-care brand, quick commerce will contribute 3-5% of overall revenue, led by gifting as a category.
Apart from the reduced delivery time, is there a reason that customers are opting to shop on quick commerce platforms?
Handa answers that two factors work in favour of Q-comm platforms: discounts and convenience. “As these players are expanding their portfolio, customers will find more reasons to go on these apps.”
Is the quick commerce business driven by celebrations?
India is renowned for its diverse festivities. Quick commerce platforms capitalise on this by selling event-related or topical assortments. For instance, they offer flutes for Krishna Jayanti, Ganesha idols for Ganesh Chaturthi, Christmas decorations for the holiday, decorative items for Diwali, and gold and silver coins for Dhanteras.
These platforms are also curating special web and app pages for such occasions, even for regional festivals like Chauth Puja. In 2023, Blinkit curated a specific page dedicated to the wedding season.
Karthik states, “The major business of this sector is driven by consumables and FMCG products. On special occasions, e-commerce brands used to curate specific products, which Q-commerce is now doing. The market share of the other modes is now being taken by the quick commerce players on festivals. That’s why every e-commerce is looking to launch its version of Q-commerce, like Amazon Fresh by Amazon, and BBnow by Big Basket.”
Handa believes differently and states that quick commerce is not taking up the market share of any other modes. “Currently we’re buying more than what we need. Quick commerce is creating some new markets, and people are spending more money as it is easy to spend now.”
Will Q-commerce take over e-commerce?
As the country embraces digital commerce, the battle between e-commerce and Q-commerce is intensifying. While e-commerce has a well-established presence with a vast user base, Q-commerce offers unmatched speed and efficiency. As Q-commerce players foray into other categories, will they take over e-commerce?
Ritesh Ghosal, former chief of marketing at Croma believes that Q-comm will not replace e-commerce. He says that Q-commerce will only be a successful mode for urgently needed products like trimmers, headphones etc.
Handa predicts, “In our category, Q-commerce will replace e-commerce purely based on better service. The only advantage that e-commerce holds is a variety of stock keeping units (SKUs). Like, some products will have a presence in e-commerce only like English Cheddar cheese, it will not be there in Q-comm, a customer can only get it through e-commerce.”
She says that quick commerce also provides a fast way to experiment with new products.
Kartik, says e-commerce will always be at the main stage for the brand and believes Q-commerce will be an incremental business for them.
She has observed that in quick commerce if a product gets listed, it starts to sell faster and gets a quick start as compared to the e-commerce route.
Challenges
While the benefits of quick commerce are evident for customers, these players in the backend face a lot of challenges including warehousing, labour expenses, and, most importantly, the orders are low-value, therefore the margins are less.
Balasubramanian Narayanan, vice president, of Teamlease services points out that the consumer preferences and buying patterns in the quick commerce segment evolve rapidly, making data collection and analysis a crucial aspect.
“Balancing data collection with user privacy is a key challenge. The data insights can help to create personalised experiences, predict demands, and improve operational efficiency. But this can be a challenge in this mode.”
Handa says in quick commerce, the biggest challenge is the stock keeping unit (SKU) mix, SKU selection is critical.
“Brands like Amazon, and Flipkart allow a plethora of SKUs, while quick commerce just allows a limited number, due to limitation of warehouse space and delivery time. The SKU selection by the brand becomes a critical aspect.”
In the physical realm, shelf presence plays an important role in reaching customers, in the online world, optimising the online presence is crucial to get the customers’ attention. She highlights that in quick commerce, the fight is to be at the top of the search bar.
“To be at the top, the brand should generate organic sales, secondly it’s about keyword bidding. A keyword that would search customers to find the product from the brand. The brand pays quick commerce players for this.”
Ghosal also agrees with this and states, “In the Q-commerce arena, most searches are by category rather than by brand. The brands have to tick more boxes in terms of categories/searches so that customers tend to look at them.”
(With additional inputs: Ruchika Jha)
(Published in Afaqs)
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October 26, 2023
Sagar Malviya, Economic Times
26 October 2023
Surging demand for fitness wear and sports equipment for disciplines other than cricket and football helped Decathlon’s India unit expand sales 37% to Rs 3,955 crore in FY23. With more than 100 large, warehouse-like stores selling products catering to 85 sporting disciplines, the French company is bigger than Adidas, Nike and Asics all put together in India.
In FY22, sales were Rs 2,936 crore, according to its latest filings with the Registrar of Companies. The retailer, however, posted a net loss of Rs 18.6 crore during the year ended March 2023 compared to a net profit of Rs 36 crore a year ago.
Experts said a host of factors – from pricing products about 30-40% lower than competing products to selling everything from running shoes, athleisure wear to mountaineering equipment under its own brands – has worked in its favour. “They have an extremely powerful format across different sporting activities and have something for both active and casual wear shoppers. For them, the market is still under penetrated with the kind of comprehensive product range they sell for outdoor sports beyond shoes and clothing,” said Devangshu Dutta, founder of retail consulting firm Third Eyesight. “Even their front end staff seem to have a strong domain knowledge about products compared to rival brands.”
By selling only private labels, Decathlon, the world’s biggest sporting goods firm, controls almost every bit of operations, from pricing and design to distribution, and keeps costs and selling prices low.
Decathlon uses a combination of in-house manufacturing and outsourcing to stock its shelves. In fact, it sources nearly 15% of its global requirement from India across sporting goods. And nearly all of its cricket merchandise sold globally is designed and made in India.
(Published in Economic Times)
