To provide pesticide-free food, the Bengaluru-based online grocer Bigbasket.com, plans to source and sell only organic fruit and vegetables starting late next year. Currently, organic produce contributes only 5% of the total sales volume.
“We know we are dreaming big, but over the next 15-18 months we will move to a situation where we will sell only organic vegetables and fruit, and at the price of normal vegetables. Farmers use pesticide to increase the shelf life and to improve the looks of it. We can overcome this (using pesticides) with better storage and scientific packing facility,” said Hari Menon, CEO & co-founder of BigBasket.com.
However, on its portal, the price for the organic produce is 25-100% higher compared with the other vegetables. But with scale, they will be able to bring down the cost, Menon says. Big Basket is backed by serial entrepreneur and angel investor K Ganesh.
Innovative Retail Concepts Private Limited, which runs the online grocery and food store BigBasket.com, will also open 40 collection centres across the country moving closer to the point-of-produce, where vegetables and fruit will be processed and packed, and transported to warehouses in various cities. For instance, a collection centre for onion in Nashik and Agra, and oranges in Nagpur.
At present, BigBasket’s one-third of the total produce are directly sourced from farmers. With the collection centres, the company also aims to reduce the food wastage and focus more on the organic food.
Menon said the return on capex in this segment is high, and the customer retention increases on their portal with fruit and vegetable sales. “Unlike other groceries, fruit and vegetables are not ordered once a month. Customers buy them 3-4 times a month and this increases traffic on our portal. So, if we get our customers hooked on to it, we have an absolute advantage in the long run,” Menon adds.
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