With its smart online application, one can easily purchase products from its small supermarket, which gives convenient solutions to their customers. They will help you shop from the nearby store and deliver it to your doorstep within 90 minutes.
How it All Started –
Grofers was founded by the IIT Alumni Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar in December 2013. It all started when Albinder Dhindsa was within the US, and while working in Cambridge Systematics, he met Saurabh Kumar. They both kept in touch with no intentions of any entrepreneurial aspirations.
Both Albinder and Saurabh spotted a significant gap within the logistics. Hence, they felt a requirement to sort most of the transactions between purchasers and nearby merchants that have been unorganized.
As a result, both of them got together and began to work on an idea that laid the foundation for their start-up. The idea was to provide a one-stop solution for the local delivery needs of customers by having a pick-up and on-demand delivery service.
The Word “Grofers” comes from two words – ‘Grocery and Gophers, which particularly means a person who runs errands.‘
At Present, the company operates in over 30 cities in India, and Its user base is ready to grow as they add 1-2 new cities every month and are plan to expand its services. During the 2020 pandemic, Grofers, Amazon India, and Big Basket were among the few online e-commerce platforms that remained in operation in India.
Funding and Acquisitions –
Grofers has raised a total of over $607 million in different rounds of funding. The company received its first funding ($500k) from Sequoia Capital in 2014. After series of funding from investors like SoftBank, Tiger Global Management, Roeding Ventures, Cyriac Roeding over the years.
In its latest round of funding, Chicago-based asset management firm Euler Fund anticipated raising $70-100 million. With this fresh funding raised Grofers valuation to $644 million, estimated by Fintrackr’s.
As of now, Grofers has acquired two organizations. They completed the acquisition of MyGreenBox on April 10, 2015, and Townrush on October 27, 2015.
Initially, Grofers started as B2B (Business 2 Business) model. However, it soon realized that it couldn’t capture the opportunities within the market. So, they provide the logistics system and operates in the B2C (Business to Customer) model to take advantage of their operations; soon, Grofers became a hyper-local delivery network.
Grofers success is primarily because of their plans and initial strategy, which help customers buy products online hassle-free. As a result, people began to support and appreciate their services enormously and got positive feedback.
Grofers has tied up with the local shop owners and merchants for selling grocery and daily needs in the market. They invested a lot, managed to own a warehouse, and made supply chain management to create an ideal business model.
The company takes a commission from merchants, ranging from 8% to 15% when the orders are below 700, and charges 12% to 15% when the orders are below 1000. They also charge a delivery fee when the order is below the amount of ₹250.
Competition –
With new players in the market many big companies made a huge investment and diverted their interests in selling online marketplace. As a result, companies like BigBasket, Pepper Tap, and Zopnow becomes big competitors for Grofers in recent years.
Moreover, the E-commerce giant Amazon also speculates about entering into the online grocery market and could be a big threat for other companies in the online grocery market.
Conclusion –
Grofers procure themselves in this online grocery market, and with its business model continuously expanding their brand with colossal success. They also plan to elevate their business in tier II and tier III cities and reach a broader range of customers in the near future. According to reports, Grofers is expected ongoing public in either 2021 or 2022.
Read More: CRED – India’s Fintech Firm Enters Unicorn Startup Club
