Godrej e-marketplace for gourmet food soon

Portal will compete with Snapdeal, Flipkart; Group expects it to contribute 15-20% of its online business

Godrej Group’s gourmet food retailer Godrej Nature’s Basket plans to launch an e-commerce marketplace soon in cities where its stores are not present. The portal will compete with the likes of Snapdeal and Flipkart.

“We will launch the marketplace in the next two-three months and handle directly. We will partner with logistics players for this,” said Mohit Khatter, managing director and chief executive officer, Godrej Nature’s Basket. Khatter expects the marketplace to contribute 15 to 20 per cent of the company’s online business to come from this stream.

“This will be limited to gourmet products. We will do online business where our stores are present,” he said.

Khatter added there are constraints in delivering fresh products and chilled products, as courier companies would not normally do that. Nature’s Basket recently acquired Mumbai-based online grocer Ekstop and integrated the operation.

The company on Monday said it is expecting 10 times growth in its online business revenues through various new initiatives. The new services include extensive gourmet food range, shop by recipe, delivery within three hours.

“A unique hub and spoke delivery model through its flagship stores is being offered initially in Mumbai and Delhi and will soon be rolled out to other cities as well,” said a statement from the group.

Its e-commerce portal will allow people to explore and read recipes from around the world and shop for all the ingredients in a single click.