Overview

 The digitalization of our country has paved the way for the people to buy their essentials with a few clicks on their gadgets and get the daily necessities delivered to their doorsteps. Even in the recent past, mom and pop shops, commonly known as “Mudir Dokan”, has been the main source of daily grocery items. They can be easily found at every residential area and they have been ruling the retail space for ages. Super shops used to be located at prime locations of Dhaka, but Swapno is the first super shop brand to open their stores in suburban areas in small scale with greater visibility. Among all the online grocery shops, Chaldal and Khaasfood are dominating the market. There are other online grocery shops which have emerged in the recent years. The outbreak of pandemic in the year 2020 has significantly contributed to the growth of online retail spaces due to countrywide lockdown. Most of the people preferred to make grocery purchases online in the comfort of their home.

 The Current Scenario of Retail Space

The mini marts are preferred for their brand value and quality of products which provided the middle income people the opportunity to make grocery shopping under one roof. Despite mini marts having huge potential for growth, mom and pop shops have been the most dominant player in this sector. The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic has changed the scenario of the retail space. Due to lockdown, the shops had to remain closed and people had to stay home. So, the super shops took the opportunity to provide grocery shopping service online. It enabled them to enjoy greater visibility, but they could enjoy it only for a short period of time.

 Major Online Grocery Stores

Chaldal: Chaldal is a platform for online grocery shopping and doorstep delivery in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The concern is focused on providing its customers the experience of shopping in a virtual bigbox store with a huge selection. Chaldal was founded in 2013 with the intention to offer its customers the opportunity to purchase large amounts of groceries online which is something that is not typically possible in Dhaka due to limited stock of most of the shops. Today, the company is the country’s second largest grocery store and the largest e-commerce platform for grocery shopping. Backed by Y Combinator and 500 Startups, Chaldal currently stocks more than 4,000 products in its two warehouses with the commitment to delivers goods within an hour. It uses a cloud-based inventory system to allow users to see what items are available in real-time

Khaasfood:  Khaasfood is an e-commerce platform coupled with a chain of brickand-mortar stores for hygienic and uncontaminated foods in Bangladesh. Founded in 2015, Khaasfood started as a Facebook page taking orders online for a handful of food products such as milk, honey and so on with the promise to deliver high-quality safe food to customers. Eventually, Khaasfood launched a website and started taking orders there as well. Today, the company serves hundreds of orders daily and has made a name for being a leading safe food brand in Dhaka. The company has expanded to Dhaka and Chittagong with 06 physical retail outlets which also serve the purpose of warehouse and distribution centers.

Jogaan: Jogaan is one of the fastest-growing online grocery shops in Bangladesh. They promise to deliver all kinds of grocery items by ensuring utmost quality and fastest delivery at competitive prices. It has a large workforce and delivery network to serve its prestigious consumers. Jogaan has served a wide variety of corporate customers since its inception. They facilitate smooth delivery and client satisfaction by assigning a Key Account Manager (KAM) to each corporate client. Recently, Jogaan has launched an Android app to deliver customers a smoother experience.

Ghore Bazar: Founded in 2018, Ghore Bazar is currently one of the most promising virtual grocery shops existing in the market. Customers can purchase clothes, accessories, gadgets and devices through this platform. It is a complete online regulated e-commerce platform. Customers can order groceries from the website directly or can simply download the Ghore Bazar app to keep the ordering process hassle free. There are multiple options to make online payments such as cards, mobile banking etc. Cash on delivery is also available. Ghore Bazar ensures fast delivery with the commitment to deliver products within one hour. They also provide free of cost delivery for orders worth Tk. 1,000 or more.

Hurdles Slowing Down the Growth of Online Grocery

 Stores The online grocery stores are facing a number of challenges in its way to dominate the retail space. It ranges from technology integration to trust issues. Even if there are apps available, advanced features such as real-time tracking, inventory management etc. are yet to be integrated with the currently available technologies. Trust issue is another big concern. It is a common practice in our country to go to the market in person, check the quality of the products physically and buy fresh stuffs. When an individual makes an online purchase, he/she becomes skeptical about the quality of the products. Hence, mass people prefer physical stores over online shops.

Future

Online grocery stores have enjoyed a steep growth during the pandemic and lockdown. Apart from that, the new generation feel more comfortable to make purchases online. Moreover, the per capita income of Bangladesh is one the rise and so is the disposable income. This is contributing to the shift towards online platforms. Further, technologies are being more integrated as we are heading towards digital Bangladesh. Considering them all, we can expect that the online grocery stores will flourish in the near future gaining significant market share in the retail space.