Product details

In April 2015, Paytm ventured into the online grocery market in India with the help of Paytm Zip. Initially, this service was kicked off in a few selected areas in Bengaluru. This was a pilot project started by Paytm and the service would gradually be extended to other cities. In Bengaluru, the company had entered into a partnership with third-party logistic stores and also local stores. Paytm had targeted to complete 10,000 transactions in the country’s grocery space within the first few months of its launch. However, there were several challenges ahead for Paytm. First of all, there were several large and established players in the e-grocery space like Reliance Fresh Direct, Amazon, Tata Group, BigBasket, Local Banya, etc. Secondly, selling of groceries online was a low margin business, though it required an effective supply chain, proper warehousing and storage facility, a prompt delivery system in place, and also huge investment for developing good IT infrastructure. Retaining the quality and freshness of perishable items and getting dedicated customers who placed repeat orders were also some other challenges. Last but not the least, infrastructure was also a major concern, since several roads in India were still unsuitable for vehicles. Amidst this scenario, would it be possible for Paytm to play a dominant role in India’s e-grocery market in the near future?