Shop, swipe, pay for groceries from home

Online grocery retailer MyGrahak.com seems to have taken a cue from the leisure travel industry. The company said it will deliver not just grocery at your doorstep but will also allow you to pay through credit card on delivery through a portable swipe machine the sales person will bring along.

“Customers can shop in the comfort of their home without worrying about long queues and parking at malls,” Mr Ambuj Jhunjhunwala, founder-CEO, MyGrahak.com said.

He claimed that the portal is already clocking a turnover of Rs one crore and growing at about 25 per cent “Indians traditionally order groceries through the telephone and MyGrahak is merely an extension of that concept,” he said.

The one-year old company has introduced its services in the Delhi-NCR region. “We plan to introduce the service in most major metros,” said Mr Jhunjhunwala. Currently, it sells 11,500 products in categories like food and beverages, FMCG and dairy products.

“The average bill size at our portal is Rs 1,261. Also what we save on the real estate space, we use it to build warehouses. At present we have a company-managed 7,000 sq feet warehouse to service our customers,” he said, adding the company is looking to set up mother warehouses at various places.

The online food and grocery category has been seeing hectic growth. PE firm Ascent Capital is understood to have invested $10 million in the first round of funding in Bangalore based BigBasket.com. Another player in this category, Aaramshop.com which went live last year, has tied up with mom and pop stores to attend to the daily needs of consumers.