Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Grofers.
As we move forward in the world of modernization, we tend to scroll the screens of our mobile phones too often and for many reasons. We swipe our mobile screens to shop, learn, relax, and fulfill an endless list of requirements that we need them for. Using our mobile phones has surely been quite a help, they have literally made the world seem like an easily navigable space. Our daily needs and requirements are now nearer than ever with mobile phones. Today, we don't need to go out and purchase our daily goods, grains, and veggies from the market. All we need is our mobile phone with an internet connection!
What is the first thing that comes to your mind while talking about ordering daily goods and groceries? Obviously, it is the list of fruits, vegetables, and grocery needs that you are going to order but soon after that, it is the application or the website that is to come up next in order!
There are numerous applications, websites, and companies now from where you can order, among which Grofers is one of the most prominent names. This e-commerce company has offered us with variety of daily goods that made our lives easy. Check this article to know more details about Grofers.
Grofers - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Grofers |
|---|---|
| Headquarter | Gurugram, India |
| Sector | Online Shopping/ecommerce |
| Founders | Saurabh Kumar, Albinder Dhindsa |
| Founded | December 2013 |
| Valuation | $1.01 billion (September 2021) |
| Revenue/Turnover | $23.78 mn (Rs 176.79 crores in FY20) |
| Total Funding | ~ $827 million (August 2021) |
| Area Served | India |
| Parent Organization | Grofers India Private Limited |
| Website | grofers.com |
Grofers - About
Grofers - Founders and How it started?
Grofers - Name, Tagline and Logo
How do Grofers deliver their orders in 10 minutes?
Grofers - Business Model
Grofers - Revenue Model
Grofers - Funding and Investors
Grofers - Startup Challenges
Grofers - Competitors
Grofers - Future Plans
Grofers - FAQ's
Grofers - Latest News
August 16, 2021 - Grofers becomes the third-largest online grocery delivery platform of India with a 13% market share.
August 16, 2021 - The Zomato fundraise of around $100 mn is finally approved by CCI, it turns Grofers into a unicorn. Furthermore, according to the deal, Zomato has also acquired 9.3% stakes in the grocery delivery firm.
June 22, 2021 - Grofers promises a 33% hike to its tech team, which will be effective from July onwards along with disclosing its plans for hefty ESOPs that will be available soon for their employees.
Grofers - About
The Gurugram based Indian on-demand online grocery delivery service Grofers was founded in the year 2013. This e-commerce startup platform provides a variety of daily needs products ranging from groceries, bakery items, baby care items and many more to its customers.
From the mobile application of Grofers, the customers can buy and order their products at a scheduled time and the Grofers employees deliver these items to the customers. Currently, the company operates in 28 cities in India.
Grofers - Founders and How it started?
Grofers was found by two IIT Graduates Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar.
Albinder after his graduation worked as a transportation analyst at URS Company in the USA. While working he met Saurabh Kumar and kept in touch with him with absolutely no intentions of any entrepreneurial motives.
Both Albinder and Saurabh found that there was a huge gap in the delivery industry. They both thought to tap the opportunity as it was the time when many startups were emerging. They felt the need to sort the unorganized hyperlocal space in the transaction made between merchants and consumers.
That is when they started to build a base for their startup. Their idea was to provide a one-stop solution for the customers' local delivery needs by having an on-demand pickup and drop services. This was to facilitate the logistics from the shops around their locality like grocery stores, medical stores, and restaurants for the consumers. Initially, both of them also facilitated the delivery of groceries for customers from the neighborhood stores and supermarkets.
Piyush Mishra
Grofers - Name, Tagline and Logo
The name Grofers is a combination of two words – Grocery and Gophers which particularly means a person who runs errands. The tagline of Grofers is ‘We get it’ which was initiated with an online advertisement campaign.
How do Grofers deliver their orders in 10 minutes?
Two months ago, in June 2021, Grofers announced that it has already revamped its delivery service, which will make the deliveries within 10 minutes of the order being placed online. The popular online grocery marketplace also assured that in cities where Grofers is present, the company will make sure of delivering the orders in under 10 minutes within the next 45 days. This promise of 10-minute delivery has received huge criticism from people all around the country, who have accused Grofers of "exploiting" their workforce to make such a promise a reality.
The hate that the company has received was fittingly replied by one of the founders of Grofers, Albinder Dhindsa, who said,
"It breaks my heart that instead of celebrating innovation coming from India, some of us stay cynical of people who are trying to break the status quo."
While clarifying how Grofers makes its 10-minutes delivery possible, Dhindsa mentioned that the company has its partner stores within 2 km of the customers, which is a big plus. The company has more than 60 partner stores in Delhi and has grown to over 30 partner stores in Gurgaon already, along with an adequate number of partner stores also in the other serviceable cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, etc.
Dhindsa further pointed out in his Twitter post that the stores are so densely located that 90% of the orders can be delivered by Grofers easily within 15 minutes even if the drivers drove at 10 km/hr. Moreover, the in-store planning and management of Grofers, empowered by the advanced technologies, are so organized now that they can pack their orders within 3 minutes of receiving the order. Also, the riders of Grofers are "not (dis)incentivised to deliver orders fast. They do it at their own pace and rhythm", said Dhindsa. The founder concluded by citing the last 2 months' data since they started the 10-minute grocery delivery process and claimed that Grofers has seen no reported rider accidents.
Here's what the founder has posted via his Twitter handle on August 28, 2021:
I want to chime in about the hate we are getting for delivering groceries in 10 minutes... pic.twitter.com/RNhFvd6ojV
— Albinder Dhindsa (@albinder) August 28, 2021
Grofers - Business Model
Grofers work on a marketplace business model and might also be referred to as the Hyper-Local on-demand logistics system. It aims to replace the need of consumers traveling to the local shops to buy consumer goods rather than want them to order online. This startup does not own any grocery stores or warehouses.
It just partners with the local grocery shops in the city and then sends their delivery boys to pick the items ordered by the consumers from these stores. They accept orders from their mobile application or the website. This Tie-up system helps the local grocery shop owners get more orders and also Grofers make a profit from these orders as the company charges some commission.
Grofers - Revenue Model
Grofers has tied up with the local shop owners and merchants for grocery and daily needs goods in the local areas. Grofers charges these merchants some commission on these orders. The commission ranges from 8% to 15% when the orders are below 700 and charges 12% to 15% when the orders are below 1000. Grofers also charge a delivery fee when the order is below the amount of INR 250.
Piyush Mishra
Grofers - Funding and Investors
Grofers has been quite fortunate when it comes to its investors and funding. To date, Grofers has raised a total of around $827 Mn. The recent fundraising round was led by KTB Ventures soon after Zomato's investment in the Softbank-backed grocery delivery startup.
The online grocery delivery service startup raised $100 million from Indian food delivery giant, Zomato, which was approved on August 16, 2021. This helped the online grocery delivery major to reach a valuation of more than $1 billion and join the unicorn club. Grofers is currently valued at $1.01 billion after the latest round.
Here is the Grofers' Funding Details till date-
| Date | Amount | Round | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 29, 2021 | $16.7 Million | - | KTB Ventures |
| August 17, 2021 | $100 Million | - | Zomato |
| November 13, 2020 | $55 Million | Venture Round | SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF) and other existing investors |
| December 31, 2019 | - | - | - |
| November 18, 2019 | $43.04 Million | Corporate Round | Grofers International Pte Ltd |
| October 29, 2019 | $18.83 Million | Series F | Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd |
| August 19, 2019 | $70 Million | Series F | Softbank Vision Fund |
| July 15, 2019 | $10 Million | Series F | Abu Dhabi Capital Group |
| May 15, 2019 | $220 Million | Series F | Softbank Vision Fund |
| May 16, 2018 | $53.81 Million | Series E | Softbank Vision Fund |
| October 25, 2017 | $12.91 Million | Series D | Grofers International |
| September 1, 2017 | $839K | Debt Financing | Trifecta Capital Advisors |
| November 2015 | $120 Million | Series D | Cyriac Roeding – Roeding Ventures, Softbank, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global |
| April 2015 | $35 Million | Series C | Sequoia Capital |
| February 2015 | $10 Million | Series B | Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global |
| December 2014 | $500k | Seed Round/Series A | Sequoia Capital, Deepinder Goyal |
Grofers - Startup Challenges
While in just a few years Grofers has got a lot of success in the market, but it had to face many challenges and hiccups too. Whether it was their delayed service or quality issues of the products, Grofers has seen many hurdles in its journey.
Also due to its unsuccessful operations, it had to shut down its operations on major cities like Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and so on. One of their initial challenges was also to find the right people in their team which would align with the vision that the company aimed to have and work upon it.
Varad Kitey
Grofers - Competitors
With no surprise as every other e-commerce platform flourishing with increasing speed, even the online grocery market has grown really big in India. Many big brands and supermarkets are now diverting their interests in selling online and all the existing players need to retain their brands and customers.
Similar is the case with Grofers as the biggest competitors of Grofers are BigBasket, Pepper Tap, and Zopnow. Since the inception of Grofers, it has been the investors' favorite but it has tough competition in the e-commerce market. Also, the e-commerce giant Amazon plans to enter into the online grocery market and is a big threat to brands like Grofers.
Shubham Kumar
Grofers - Future Plans
Grofers have had sufficient funds to grow now and to establish their brand with huge success. It already boasts of 13% of the total market share being the third-largest of the online grocery delivery platforms. Bigbasket is the leading the market with around 37% of the total market shares.
Grofers strives to be a market leader in the online delivery sector and is continuously expanding its range, which has widened from grocery to include bakery items, fruits, flowers, baby care, pet care, and so on. The business is not looking to expand its business to tier II and tier III cities and provide the best experience to its customers.
Grofers - FAQ's
How do Grofers make money?
Revenue Model For Grofers. The company provides a service to its users with its inventory-based model. In return, Grofers takes a commission on every order, which can be anywhere from 8% to 15%.
Are Grofers products good?
Grofers is authentic. The product quality is good as well the price is less than compared to other online sites.
Can I sell on Grofers?
You need to register with Grofers and have a seller account with them. Grofers seller registration will give you a credible platform and a huge customer base to sell your products.
How does Grofers work?
Grofers is an e-commerce marketplace for your daily shopping. It allows you to shop from your favorite store in your neighborhood and get delivery within 90 minutes. You can shop for Groceries, Fruits & Vegetables, Bakery items, Flowers, Meat, Pet Care, Baby Care, and Cosmetics products with just a few taps.
How long does Grofers take to deliver?
The customer is also notified on dispatch and can track the order status on his/her app. We currently deliver in slots of 2 hours each. So for an order with a promised delivery time of 8 am to 10 am, our executive can reach at any time within this period.
Author: Rishabh Rathi
Source : https://startuptalky.com/grofers-success-story/
Date : 2021-09-30T09:13:00.000Z