How Grofers jumped over the last-mile hurdle

Online grocery retailer Grofers has found a better way to solve the issue of last-mile connectivity — rope in beauty parlours, gyms, hardware shops and restaurants to be the pick-up and distribution points rather than using delivery boys to zip through the streets carrying loads of items in their two-wheelers.

And, being part of Grofers’ network, these 6,500 merchants earn additional income too.

As groceries are heavy, Grofers cannot do milk runs when compared to e-commerce companies such as Flipkart or Amazon. “When we do 25 million shipments per month, the only way we can do is by leveraging the presence of local merchants like the beauty parlours and gyms. Our shipping cost is one-tenth of the competitor,” Albinder Dhindsa, Co-Founder and CEO of Grofers.