Online grocers see uptick in orders amid localised lockdowns in many states

Grocers see momentum in orders of fruits, vegetables & staples as people avoid stepping out in containment zones

As a wave of local lockdowns and restrictions grips several states in the country, online grocers are seeing an uptick in the number of orders per day with people avoiding markets and mandis, especially in cities.

During the initial phases of the nationwide lockdowns earlier, there were several restrictions that the delivery executives faced leading to breakdown of the home delivery mechanism. However, in the loaclised lockdowns, in force in several states and cities, the delivery mechanism has been quite smooth so far. According to experts, while there has been a general shift in buying groceries online, local lockdowns have accelerated that even more.

For online grocer BigBasket, Bengaluru being the biggest city in terms of revenue contribution has seen an increase in orders during the lockdown. The company is doing close to 40,000 orders a day in the city currently. The base is constantly increasing though not as fast as it happened in April and May when people were seen indulging in panic buying.

“We are facing challenges when it comes to delivering in the containment zones, but because of the support from local government authorities and commitment from our delivery executives, we have been able to deliver even in the containment zones,” said a company spokesperson.

Bengaluru currently has over 5,500 containment zones and the lockdown is likely to end on Wednesday. States such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have also implemented lockdowns in several pockets.

Grofers cofounder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa said his company was working with local authorities in the states where essential services were allowed to operate despite intermittent lockdowns, and were aiming to serve as many households as they could.

Categories such as fruits and vegetables are seeing a traction in revenue contributions for online grocery players during this second phase of lockdowns. For Alibaba-backed BigBasket, fruits and vegetables which contributed 16-18 per cent of monthly revenue during pre-Covid times have risen to 20 per cent of the revenue. “We have seen a positive trend towards the meat category as well. So we are expanding and strengthening the offering across all cities,” said the Bengaluru-headquartered company.

As compared to pre-Covid-19 times, Milkbasket is also witnessing higher sales in the fruits and vegetables, and staples section. “Consumers are paying extra attention to hygiene and hence that has a direct positive impact on cleaning supplies like floor cleaners, toilet cleaners, detergents as well as soaps and sanitizers,” said Anant Goel, co-founder & CEO, Milkbasket. The Gurugram-based company is fulfilling 60,000 orders per day during these times of ad-hoc shutdowns compared to 50,000-55,000 per day earlier, as people avoide venturing out.

According to e-commerce experts, home deliveries are running smoothly during these intermittent lockdowns as there is structured demand from customers and there’s no restriction on interstate movement of goods. “There was a lot of fear and panic among customers earlier for which they were ordering in bulk, but now they know that groceries will be delivered to them either online or offline. So there’s a structured demand from the consumer's side,” said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research.

For Walmart-owned Flipkart, consumers’ focus on grocery and other essential products continues to see an uptick with the average order size in the category seeing decent growth. “Some of the products that have seen continual demand include hand sanitizers, ice tea, instant drink mix, ready baking mixes, syrups, digestives, dry fruits – nuts & seeds combos, baking ingredients, juices and snackable items along with cleaning essentials, among others,” said a Flipkart spokesperson.

“The potential danger of a crowded market during the current pandemic, for both shoppers and workers, and the fragility of the food supply, have people frantically looking for reliable, low-contact or no-contact groceries. Farms and small businesses are rising to the occasion and adopting more direct distribution models for local foods in the time of crisis,” said Somdutta Singh, founder and CEO of e-commerce management firm Assiduus Global.