Startups are changing the way of doing business. Customers have the options of choosing services from multiple apps. Startups related to the online delivery of grocery are seen as a profitable business idea. Some of them got a positive response in the big cities of the country where people don’t much time to go and buy things every day. But the problem for these startups began when they expanded their market to small towns also.
People living in lesser denser cities buy online grocery mainly for the offers and discounts. Time is not an issue for them. The consumer behaviour of Indians living in not so developed cities is far different from those living in metro cities and startups need to understand this. Below are some reasons why online grocery selling startups fail in small towns:
1. Delivery issues
In small towns all products are not available in a single shop, thus, the delivery by has to collect items from different sources and then deliver to the buyer. This takes hell lot of effort and time which decreases the productivity in completing orders.
2. Discount loving customers
Most of the people buy grocery products because they get discounts and offers on them. Companies can not earn profits if they offer big discounts every day which makes the customers disloyal towards these apps.
3. Marketing costs
To attract and raise the awareness of people big money is required to spend on marketing as different advertising tactics are used for gaining the faith of audience living in these cites.
4. Shopping habits
The shopping habits of people living in small districts and towns are very different from those who are in developed cities. People like to buy things after checking them by touching them and knowing their quality which is not possible in the online world.
5. Network and internet issues
Although the internet services have reached to a big segment of customers still the connectivity issues in many areas of the country are not so good that they can rely on doing daily tasks using the internet.
If you can share other such reasons or you have a different point of view on this topic, you can write that in the comments section.
