With Alibaba on board, BigBasket to go offline

BENGALURU: Online grocer BigBasket is testing the waters to go beyond its online-only model following an investment by Chinese e-commerce major

Alibaba

. The Bengaluru-based company is looking to supplement its core online business with offline kiosks that will stock daily groceries, fast-moving consumer goods, fruits and vegetables.

These kiosks will be installed across various apartments and office complexes. BigBasket has already started a pilot for the new service with a separate app called BB Instant. To increase the purchasing frequency of its users, the online grocer also plans to start a subscription service for essential items like milk and bread, among others.

BigBasket recently closed a $300-million financing round led by Alibaba. BigBasket founder and CEO Hari Menon said that they were looking to scale up their offline kiosks into thousands of such installations across the country to step on the gas for aggressive growth this year. “Based on initial feedback, we are looking to sell certain stock keeping units (SKUs) in these kiosks which can be instantly bought by a shopper after firing the app,”

Menon

said. He, however, said this was not a move to get users who do not make online purchases on to the company’s platform.

Instead, it is aimed at servicing the instant delivery market of its existing base to push overall sales. The company has an express delivery programme that promises delivery within 60-120 minutes. BigBasket’s rival Amazon, too, has a separate platform for two-hour grocery deliveries under Amazon Now. As TOI reported last week, Amazon had set up 15 fulfilment centres specifically to serve the daily essentials and grocery business. At present, on an average, a user purchases thrice a month on BigBasket.