Ajit John
PANJIM: The e-retail business in Goa may be picking up steam with the task of buying rations for the house now being offered on a website. Urbanration.com a website that came into existence last year is planning on aggressively moving ahead in the state and surrounding areas keeping its promise of delivering ordered goods on the same day within hours of receiving the request.
Tejpal Singh, Head of Communications speaking to the Herald revealed that the website which was set up with an investment of Rs 50 lakh was now being used by 850 families in the Panjim, Dona Paula, Porvorim area. The consumers purchase products as diverse as fruits, vegetables, eggs, confectionaries, fresh meats and deodorants to name a few. The company stocks 3000 products at their storeroom in Caranzalem. Presently 80% of all consumers prefer to pay by cash with the rest using a debit card or credit card to pay for expenses.
The idea to create such a concept came out of the logical conclusion that the promoters would like to enjoy the benefits they enjoyed while living in bigger metros ie the convenience of having vegetables or any other requirements delivered at home at the time of their choice.
First time users of the website usually buy the minimum required without being made to pay a delivery charge of Rs 50. Tejpal said “they start off with Rs 500 and once they are convinced about our service they spend more. The usual average bill is Rs 1500. We get approximately 15-20 requests everyday and this peaks out at 30-40 on weekends”.
Asked what the psychographic profile of the consumer was he said it was someone who had used such services in the past and was comfortable using their credit card online. Orders placed before 12 o clock would be delivered anytime between 1 and 4 pm and before 5 pm between 6-8 pm. Asked when they expected to break even and how would it happen Tejpal revealed that once they had the volumes they would go directly to the producers and get the margins based on the orders placed. Today all the products are purchased from the distributor all of whom who were presently based in Goa.
The company intends to enter Kolhapur and the surrounding areas in the future once they have their operations in the Goa market well in place.
