Satvacart claims unit-level break even in 12 months

e-Grocery retailer Satvacart.Com today announced that it has achieved a unit-level break even within 12 months of its launch.
The break even is significant as "rival companies in the e-Grocery segment have recently shut down operations in almost 30 per cent of the cities they had entered during the past one year, while others are struggling to survive", the company said in a statement.
Started around the same time as Grofers and Peppertap in the year 2014, Satvacart chose to keep its operations within the same city (Gurgaon) inspired by the business model of FreshDirect in the US.
FreshDirect - one of the largest e-Grocery companies in the US - started its operations in the Queen's area of Manhattan and restricted its operations to that area for a very long time.

This led to its success as compared to another e-Grocery retailer WebVan which expanded its operations into 26 cities within a year of its launch and subsequently went bankrupt with USD 1.2 billion of investor capital.
Satvacart.Com has launched pre-paid subscription model, delivering milk, bread, coconut water and sprouts amongst several other products to subscribers on a daily basis.

"The company has been able to sell more than 700 subscriptions within a period of 45 days with bare minimal marketing cost," the statement said. "Saving the customers the daily hassles of buying milk, bread and similar items, this model has been an instant hit among the customers."

The company also runs its own brand of products under the brand Satva Special.
Rahul Hari, Founder and CEO, Satvacart said unit level break-even "has been primarily achieved as a result of the successful launch of an innovative pre-paid 'Subscription Model'. Which has improved our cash position significantly."
He said cost per delivery has declined from Rs 200-plus earlier to less than Rs 60 currently.
"We plan to expand our operations horizontally within Gurgaon and are in no hurry to enter into multiple cities. Gurgaon being a Rs 3600 crore grocery market per annum is a very lucrative market to make our business EBITDA neutral. Once we achieve that, we will be at a stage where our business will be sustainable without any external funding. With a carefully chosen and curated team, we have all the resources required to achieve this," he added.

Satvacart is backed by Palaash Ventures and several angel investors, the statement said without elaborating.