IPO-bound Ola has dived online grocery delivery once again with the launch of its services across Mumbai and Bangalore with around 15 dark stores, as per the sources privy to the development.
The firm is learnt to be delivering about 1,000 orders daily. A few weeks ago, Ola had already fixed a budget of Rs 250 crore for the supermarket delivery business and shared with media that it would start in mid-November ahead of its $2 billion initial public offering.
According to people with knowledge of the development, the organisation, which has 55 cloud kitchens, intends to grow to 150-160 by January.
In July 2015, the ride-hailing startup had started a standalone online grocery store in Bengaluru, swift on the heels of a food delivery app in March of the same year. The intention was to use its cabs and drivers also to deliver groceries between 9 am and 11 pm.
Less than nine months following, it shut both Ola Store and Ola Foods without running into detail.
Now, the firm is likely to compete with newcomer Zepto which has been doing 10,000 orders daily besides Swiggy’s Instamart and Grofers.
While Instamart delivers 150,000-1,60,000 orders regularly, Grofers founder Albinder Dhindsa freshly told media that Grofers was delivering 125,000 orders per day.
As per Redseer, quick commerce (delivery under 45 minutes) is slated to grow 10-15-fold in the following five years to convert a $5 billion opportunity by 2025.
Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal is aggressively creating an electric two-wheeler business via Ola Electric, the EV company in which the ride-hailing entity owns less than a 10 percent stake.
ALSO READ: How Teenage Stanford Dropouts’ Founded 10-Minutes Delivery Startup Zepto
Ola requires a distinct portfolio of businesses that goes beyond cab aggregation and rides ahead of its public listing. This is touted to be one of the key reasons behind its effort to recover its online food and grocery delivery businesses.
But hyper-local grocery delivery can be a brutal play, as Ola discovered a few years ago. Grocery delivery apps that were all the trend in 2015- PepperTap and LocalBanya- had to close down because they logged negative margins per delivery.
More newly, Zomato, which joined the segment before its initial public offering, shut it within months although it has a vital stake in Grofers.
