The Quick Comm Soap Opera. What's the reality

There are 4 primary shopping occasions for groceries and home supplies.

1.     Monthly basket: These are your monthly supplies for your pantry and include items like rice, atta, spices, coffee, tea, pasta, cooking oil, sugar, salt, toothpaste, floor cleaner, detergent, dish cleaning liquid, quinoa, masalas, spices, frozen foods, sauces etc. This is mostly a planned purchase and most people make a list and have a budget for these monthly supplies. There is a high chance that your monthly basket is still replenished by your local Kirana stores and a very low chance for Q-comm to fulfill this need. Sure E-grocery giants like Big basket could take a share of this market and so could hyper markets like Spencer’s, Easyday, More, Big Bazaar,, Reliance smart bazaar. But Kirana’s still rule the Indian landscape for fulfilling this shopping occasion. The reasons are plenty, which include a long-standing relationship, informal credit, proximity, evolution of service and home delivery by Kirana’s, WhatsApp commerce etc. There is a very low chance this shopping occasion will be affected by Q-comm. Not to forget this is the biggest chunk of business in home supplies.

2.     Weekly basket: This occasion includes replenishment of fresh foods like vegetables, eggs, meats, butter. These items require weekly replenishment due to the nature of these items. Along with these it includes top ups of your monthly basket if any key item has run out earlier than expected like coffee, tea, dal, sugar, shampoo, detergent etc. There is a low chance this occasion will get fulfilled by Quick comm the way local Kirana’s and fresh shops can fulfill this occasion. Even giants like Amazon Fresh, Reliance Fresh, Big Basket have a miniscule share of this shopping occasion. There are many factors that make local retailers co-exist with these modern solutions. Even advanced markets like Singapore which went through this journey early have not given up their fresh markets. Even in Bangkok which has a 7/11 at every corner to fulfill this need, yet modern and traditional retail co-exist. In fact the markets have come back with a vengeance in a new avatar. Something to do with our Indian, Asian gene where modernity does not come at the cost of tradition.

3.     Daily basket: This includes things like milk, eggs, curd, vegetables, bread, paneer etc. A large part of this occasion is fulfilled by Kirana stores and could be replaced by Quick Comm or other e-commerce solutions like Amazon Fresh or Big Basket. However, I still feel there will be enough business for everyone if we focus on growing our economy and pushing up consumer consumption in a country which is still low income and low on consumption.

4.     Emergency/ Impulse shopping: This includes things like chocolates, candies, cold drinks, snacks, chips, cigarettes etc. Sure this is the natural space of Quick Comm and they will gain a share of this market. However I also feel they will help grow this shopping occasion due to easy access and faster service. Will Kirana stores totally lose this market. My sense is no. The market is too large and everyone can gain from this growth. A lot of Kirana stores in proximity are also supplying quickly. India still has a long way to go. We still have a low penetration of e-commerce. The impact of Quick Comm will depend on the maturity of the market, the city class and demographics.

All in all my conclusion on this subject is that India and Asia are different markets from the west. These are also growing markets. The growth in these markets and these societies are built on mutual co-existence. There is enough evidence from other Asian markets with higher modern retail and e-commerce penetration that traditional trade co-exists and flourishes in these markets. The need of the hour for India is inclusive growth, employment creation (Organized, Unorganized or Self Employed) and growth in consumption and all retail channels can benefit from this growth. Most importantly am sure the street smart Kirana owners are also thinking on their feet. What are your views on this hot topic? BTW am loving the Blinkit experience. Spoilt for life.

Author: Divya Pratap Mehta

Ex Chief of Strategy with India, Apac and Global Experience across new age and traditional businesses. Thought leader and marketing think tank with Start-ups and large corporations