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BigBasket to set up small warehouse in Trichy

Online grocer BigBasket is setting up a number of small warehouses across the country to be able to ship orders faster to customers under its express delivery service. It will also use the warehouses to expand into smaller towns.

BigBasket will establish about 10 such warehouses, or so-called dark stores, in each metro city in its network, and one each in 50 towns. While hyper-local deliveries are typically implemented through partnerships with neighbourhood stores, BigBasket is investing to have its own warehouses as well for greater control and wider inventory.

"On the one hand we're a full-service online grocer that delivers large volumes... but we are also a one-hour express delivery for topups through the month," BigBasket founder and chief executive Hari Menon told ET. "The second will be done in our partner kiranas and these dark stores."

Menon said dark stores in cities will be of around 5,000 square feet each, with up to 1,500 product lines being fed from central delivery centers in each city . The first will open in Gurgaon on Saturday .

Using dark stores for hyper-local delivery was pioneered by British grocery store Tescos when it started online deliveries.

The concept is becoming more popular across Europe as well as in the US, where food delivery star tups like Munchery are making ample use of the concept. In India, food aggregator Faaso's started opening such stores last year to make local deliveries as well, which they call fulfillment centers.

"The need for a dedicated facility arises when volumes from online orders become high enough that it is difficult to fill them from retail stores and capital costs are justifiable," said Amar Sapra, associate professor of production and operations management at IIM-Bangalore.

"The purpose appears to be to increase responsiveness, which should help them in attracting more customers. With high enough volumes, BigBasket may be able to save on costs."

Bengaluru-based BigBasket ships about 11,500 orders a day across the country .

The company is looking to reach further into smaller towns and cities with its dark stores. "We will choose about five or six towns that are an overnight drive away from each central delivery center in cities like Bengaluru, where the buying will be done. We will not be buying locally," Menon said.

Dark stores in towns will be of about 10,000 square feet each. The first of these was scheduled to open in Mysuru on Monday, and more are to come in Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, and Vizag over the next month. BigBasket, launched in 2011, has raised around $61 million to date and owns inventory in its own warehouses in each city

2 comments

யுவானியன் said...

Where it is in Trichy?

Unknown said...

Nice article, lot of information in this! I also prefer Bigbasket for my grocery orders. I usually prefer https://happysale.in/bigbasket/ for more discounts and offers when ever is shop online.

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