NEW DELHI: Online e-commerce company BigBasket on Wednesday announced its foray into offline retail with the launch of its first physical store in Bengaluru. The new store ‘Fresho’, which the company claims is a technology-driven, self-service store, was inaugurated at Basaveshwar Nagar in Bengaluru. This, according to the company, is the start of the big retail plan on the cards, which involves opening of 200 physical outlets pan India by 2023 and 800 by 2026. “The Stores will offer high-quality products at extremely competitive prices,” it said in a statement.
With access to the company’s entire range of 50,000+ products, customers would be able to place the orders online and collect them at the Fresho Stores at their convenience, the company said.
“The ‘Fresho’ stores will be game-changers in terms of making the buying of fruits, vegetables and groceries as seamless as cash transactions at ATMs. The stores will give access to the next 500 million customers who have not yet started buying groceries online and create a new significant growth opportunity for BigBasket,” Hari Menon, Co-Founder and CEO, BigBasket said in a statement.
As consumers expect sellers to provide services across all touchpoints, the omnichannel retail model, which is a multi-channel approach to sales to provide customers with a seamless experience, has become an imperative for brands to grab a big pie in the market. Beauty and personal care brand Plum, insurance aggregator Policybazaar, hygiene and wellness brand Pee Safe, Chinese smartphone manufacturer itel are some of the brands that have launched their first-ever offline stores this year.
With the launch, the company will now be competing with the likes of Big Bazaar, DMart, Reliance Fresh, Spencer’s, Spar, among others.