' Fare' Deal
BENGALURU: Mangosteen, South African pears or grapefruits, Spanish plums. You don’t have to travel to different parts of the world to get your these exotic fruits. All these fruits are now available to you at the tap of your finger. Take, for instance, Sapna Lulla Jadhwani’s WhatsApp group ‘Fruity Flavours & More’, where people get regular updates about the new offerings in stock, along with pictures and price details. “The idea came to me during the lockdown, where markets were allowed to be open but with restrictions,” says Jadhwani, whose group now has over 100 members.
While WhatsApp has helped us stay in touch in a global pandemic, the platform is now doubling as a virtual marketplace. While group chats are notorious for being filled with spam, groups like Jadhwani’s ensures that only admins can send messages and those interested can reach out privately. “I buy the fruits in bulk from either a farmer or vendor and this helps me keep the cost less when I sell it in smaller batches. This draws in more customers and the demand helps the people I buy the fruits from as well,” she explains. For example, South African mandarins at a supermarket would cost about `400/kg but through her, customers can get it for `285 instead.
When Sagar A Kataria first started using Instagram and WhatsApp to sell fruits, he was apprehensive of the response. But now, the entrepreneur and chef at Agni Sagar is now planning to set up a shop to do the same. While regular seasonal fare like litchis and cherries have been star fruits at the moment, the response towards the more exotic fruits like mangosteen or South African pears and grapefruits has also taken him by surprise.
“If I were to compare the response between pomegranates or mangosteens, the latter always draws in more people,” says Kataria, who in the past 3-4 days has sold over 35 kg of mangosteens. Customers are all over the city, including Hebbal, Shanti Nagar and beyond Electronics City. For customers, there’s nothing like the touch-and-feel experience a real market provides. But over WhatsApp, queries and complaints see a faster response.
Hema Chhabria, who has been buying fruits often from Jadhwani, says unlike big corporates, the connection is mo repersonal here. “There’s the one-on-one factor here. If I order through a supermarket chain store, I’ll have to make multiple calls and wait for a refund. Here, if the fruit turns out bad, I can reach out immediately,” she says. It’s not just fruits that are popular on WhatsApp. Some are also using the platform to sell homemade masalas and spices, while others are promoting multigrain and jowar flours instead. For Sangeeta Rathi, being able to start a business helped beat lockdown blues and WhatsApp helped facilitate the same. The owner of The Spice Rack says, “I didn’t have the contact base before but now I can send a broadcast message about my products to 350 people,” she says.
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SAGAR A KATARIA
9901218677
SANGEETA RATHI
9448382464
SAPNA LULLA JADHWANI
9884100431