Indian online grocery to hit $3b

Increased access to phones and low data costs boost sales

The Indian online grocery market could exceed sales of USD 3 billion (about Rs22,500 crore) in 2020, a substantial 76 per cent jump over the previous year, Spencer’s Retail Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said. The preference for online delivery of products became more visible following the COVID-19 outbreak, he added.

Spencer’s Retail, part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPSG) Group, acquired online supermarket and grocery store Nature’s Basket in July 2019.

Consumers are opting to buy essentials and other products from home in a bigger way than they did in the past, he said.

“The result is that India’s online grocery market could exceed $3 billion in sales in 2020, a substantial 76 per cent increase over the previous year following a demand spike for the home delivery of fresh produce,” Goenka said in his address to shareholders in the company’s Annual Report for 2019-20. With increased access to smartphones and low data costs, shoppers now prefer an omni-channel shopping experience, he added. Spencers Retail is attractively positioned to capitalise on the omni-channel opportunity, he said.

“The company did not just respond to this sectoral inflection point with a relevant mobile application and home delivery; it invested in enhancing proximity to consumers through phone call-based delivery, Chatbots and WhatsApp-driven product delivery using its stores as hubs,” Goenka said.

The retail chain collaborated with Uber and other delivery partners for product supply.