Mumbai households are inclined towards choosing healthier grocery options against regular but cheaper options, according to “State of the Grocery Union in Mumbai – April 2014” report based on actual sales data of the last 30,000 orders placed on Localbanya.com – Mumbai’s online convenience store.
Commenting on the release of the first State of the Grocery Union in Mumbai, Rashi Choudhary, Co-founder and COO, LocalBanya stated, “Grocery shopping is one of the most engaging and discerning purchase activities of a Mumbai household and it’s heartening to see shoppers opt for healthier options even though overall inflation and rising cost of products hasn’t been easy on people’s pockets. This is also creating a buzzing marketplace of new emerging brands of healthier product options and our platform becomes a great launch platform for such brands given our reach and shopping habits of our profile of users. We hope that this report showcases some of such emerging trends within the fast-changing grocery shopping habits of Mumbai households on a regular basis.”
Some of the key findings of the report included, 24 LM, a brand that represents organic staples featured within the Top 10 brands by sales volumes (staples includes food grains, sugar and spices); diet coke led the beverages pack v/s the regular options; probiotic curd was ordered by 30 percent of all users who bought curd; muesli and wheat flakes sold were equal to cornflakes sales within the breakfast cereal category; products like green tea and olive oil gained share within their respective categories; low sodium salt comprised 40 percent of the salt bought; and rice bran oil showed a 15 percent month-on-month growth within the cooking oil category compared with others.
Other findings of the report were that Amul, Aashirwaad, and Surf Excel stand out as the three largest brands by sales turnover also making dairy, staples and detergents the three leading categories within grocery shopping. Around 5 dairy brands featured in the Top 10 brands by sales turnover and 5 staples brands feature in the Top 10 brands by sales volumes.
The report also revealed that Amul is not only the leading dairy brand but also leads most dairy sub-categories such as milk, curds, butter, ghee, cheese and cheese spread. For milk, atta, aerated beverages and juices, larger unit sizes are ordered else people have a preference for smaller unit sizes, the report stated.
It also pointed out that the amount of milk ordered is equal to the total value of basmati rice, atta and sugar (the three biggest products ordered within staples category). This shows the rising adoption of Tetra Pack Milk in the recent times by Mumbai households.
As per the report, women between 30-35 years of age are the biggest adopters of online grocery shopping and 30 percent of them shop from their mobile phones.
The households in the Western suburbs of the city buy four times the ‘packaged’ Fresh Paneer as compared to households in South Mumbai, the report said. It also lists some of the most unique items shopped by Mumbai households such as Cirio I Ceci Verace Dal; Chickpeas; Fresh Basket Double Yolk eggs; Mapro Mahakool Syrup; Maxo Cyclothrin Liquid; and Nannies Goats Milk.
