Covid-19: In essential items, e-commerce is no match to kirana stores

That's because, according to KSA Technopak, e-commerce firms sell gross merchandise value of only $2.5 billion. That's minuscule in the $550-billion annual sales of food and groceries in 2019-20.

Is the role of e-commerce in distribution during a crisis, especially that of the food and grocery business, exaggerated? That was clearly reflected in the fact that despite the failure of most e-commerce players to meet orders through the first week of the lockdown, there has been no serious crisis, thanks to supplies from 11 million small kirana and mom-and-pop stores across the country with the support of over 300,000 distributers and wholesalers.
 

The reason for it is simple. According to KSA Technopak, a global consultancy firm, e-commerce players sell gross merchandise value (GMV) of only $2.5 billion. That’s minuscule