BigBasket targets Rs 2,000-cr revenue in 2016-17

Grocery e-tailer plans to increase number of farmers in centres from 1,100 to 3,000 by Mar

Grocery e-tailer BigBasket plans to triple its revenue to nearly Rs 2,000 crore this year as it deepens its services in the 25 odd cities it has established a presence in nationwide.

BigBasket had reported Rs 600 crore revenue in fiscal 2015, three times the Rs 178 crore it made in the previous fiscal.

The company also plans to increase active farmers in collection centres from 1,100 to 3,000 by March 2017, for which the company plans to invest Rs 1 crore in training and enrolment.

The grocery e-tailer, which has raised $243 million so far, says it is currently growing at 10% on a monthly basis. The company raised its latest round of funding of $150 million in March this year from a consortium led by Dubai-based Abraaj Group. It counts among its investors firms such as Sands Capital Management Llc, International Finance Corp. (IFC), World Bank,Helion Ventures Partners Llc, Bessemer Venture Partners Lp and Ascent Capital Llc .

The average ticket size for the company is Rs. 1500 out of which F&V is Rs. 450, Hari Menon co-founder and chief executive of BigBasket said.

The company delivers over 1 million orders per month and 70% of the total orders have F&V.

Menon says that their focus is on focused on scaling our operations and going deeper in the cities we have launched.

"We have also taken our private label growth as a serious key initiative. We are also seeing a trend of a growing share of wallet from our customers. Our current run rate is about 40000 orders a day with an average ticket size of Rs.1500, " says Menon.

Menon says the company's customer satisfaction can keep all competition, be it Amazon or old box retailers, at bay.

"The factor that distinguishes us from the other players in the industry and results in better customer satisfaction is our focus on customer facing metrics, " says Menon.

He claimed that BigBasket has a more than 99.5% record in in-time delivery and a more than 99% fill rate of the products ordered by customers.

The company also offers multiple delivery options such as Full Service Delivery and Express Delivery, where an order is delivered within 90 minutes. Another factor that Menon believes helps BigBasket remain differentiated from its competition is their BB special- a speciality marketplace, where customers can order local specialities in meats, bakery, sweets and savouries.

The company along with grocery is also present in segments of cut fruits and vegetables, happy Chef "Heat and Eat" and "Ready to Cook" range of meals and meal kits. It also has a large range of in house brands in bakery, cookies, jams, honey, Fryums, idli and dosa Batter etc. (