Indeed, this is a race against time—where accessibility and quick deliveries take centre stage, and where people expect groceries, gadgets, and even medicine at their doorstep at the speed of thought. Bringing this conversation up to speed will be Hari Menon, Co-Founder of BigBasket—a Bengaluru-headquartered online grocery store, currently owned by Tata Digital. Menon will be in conversation with Digbijay Mishra, Deputy Editor, ET Tech at the inaugural Fireside chat, kickstarting the third edition of the Economic Times (ET) Soonicorns Summit in Bengaluru on September 20, 2024, right after the keynote address by Priyank Kharge, Minister for Electronics, IT/BT and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka.
Hari Menon, a pioneer in India’s e-commerce landscape
ET SpotlightAn alumnus of the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, Menon stands as a stalwart in India’s e-commerce landscape, making him the ideal voice to speak on the country’s rapid e-commerce boom and the surge in quick commerce. As a Co-founder of Fabmart in 1999, Menon was a pioneer in online retail long before the infrastructure to support e-commerce existed. Despite early setbacks, he demonstrated resilience, shifting focus to Fabmall, India’s first integrated online-to-offline retail chain. This strategic pivot laid the groundwork for his most transformative venture—BigBasket. Founded in 2011 by Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Sudhakar, Abhinay Choudhari, and V S Ramesh, BigBasket revolutionised grocery shopping in India.
BigBasket, which stormed into the nascent online grocery space in India more than a decade ago, is home to several innovations, such as bbinstant, unmanned, fully automated, and cashless vending machines installed across major cities of India; bbnow, a quick grocery delivery service with an estimated delivery time of 15-30 minutes; and bbdaily, promising home delivery of milk and grocery by 7.30 am, and so on.
Get ready to get in-depth insights into the immense potential of this booming segment from Menon with his deep understanding of market dynamics, innovation, and quick commerce.
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The Fireside chat with Menon will explore some key agendas:
- The exponential growth of quick commerce
- The way forward for the sector
- The ascend of BigBasket as a major player
- Big Basket’s playbook for manoeuvring the competition
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YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: India’s quick-commerce age
Experts say this is India’s age of quick-commerce and it is set to win over the country’s next one billion customers! The question is how and why. Here is a sneak peek!
- Instant gratification: A value for convenience and speed, especially in the urban markets of the country has altered the shopping behaviour of people. The need to not wait and be instantly gratified is immense.
- Digital penetration: Smartphone penetration is already at 71% and is expected to reach 96% by 2040. Quick commerce is tapping the potential.
- A rise in income and the subsequent lifestyle shift: “Value for money” is what everyone wants and that is what quick commerce companies cater to.
- The pandemic-driven shift in shopping patterns: Almost everything went online during the pandemic and going back to the traditional ways is kind of hard.
However, apart from the growth potential, what is in it for businesses? What are the perks of joining this bandwagon?
- Competitive advantage: Faster deliveries allow companies to give a better value proposition to the consumers. The competitive edge is palpable.
- Increased customer loyalty: Obviously, better and faster services are reciprocated with consumer loyalty.
That is not the end of the story. For consumers, there are hyper-local delivery networks, a diverse range of products, instant gratification, and more, while the companies have user penetration, market growth, and rewards to look at when it comes to quick commerce.
Attend Menon’s Fireside chat to gain hands-on knowledge and insights into this quickly rising sector. That’s not all.
The ET Soonicorns Summit 2024, on September 20, in Bengaluru is where the industry leaders, investors, innovators, unicorn and soonicorn founders, thought leaders, and policymakers would meet to have invigorating discussions around different topics pertaining to the startup ecosystem of India, spanning sectors such as fintech, software as a service or SaaS, artificial intelligence (AI), including the ethical AI paradigm, electric vehicles (EVs), climate tech, space tech, clean tech, edtech, real estate tech, fit-tech, food tech, and more.
The summit, a definitive platform to track the new frontiers of growth for the Indian startup ecosystem and power the rise of a more resilient startup-tech innovation economy, features a list of illustrious industry leaders to speak on diverse subjects, amid curated, closed-door panels where experts will share goal-oriented agendas.
It is in the first-ever ticketed format of the summit this year, themed ‘From Resurgence to Resilience’ with its core messaging or an underlying call for startups to ‘Recalibrate. Rebound. Reinvent’, the ET Soonicorns Summit 2024 will also see unicorn leaders demystify their playbooks and soonicorn founders share their unique journey so far, decoding the factors that have propelled them into this covetable league of startups, positioning them as ahead of minicorns and potential unicorns.
To register, click here!
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: What is stopping you from registering for the ET Soonicorns Summit then? Register now and learn winning formulas and discover the secrets to startup success at India’s biggest and only dedicated space to celebrate soonicorns.
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To learn more about the ET Soonicorns Summit, visit the website.
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(This article is generated and published by the ET Spotlight team. You can get in touch with them at [email protected])