It’s hassle free. No more haggling and absolutely no sweat. Just 10 minutes of browsing is all it will take to shop for the day’s vegetables, fruits and greens. Welcome to thalluvandi.com. People can order their veggies online and they will be delivered home.
A vegetable wholesale merchant M. Sethupathy has launched this website. “My father M. Murugappa Thevar also dealt with wholesale vegetables and I carry on from where he left,” he says. We started home delivery a year ago even before we launched this website.
We took phone orders. The overwhelming response to our home delivery venture propelled us to take it to the next level,” he says.
The website is the brainchild of Sethupathy’s sons S. Senthil Murugan and S. Shanmuganathan. “With hectic work schedules, we realised not everyone has the time to visit Uzhavar Sandhai or the central market to buy the best fruits and veggies of the season. And since many shop for an entire week and stock them in the refrigerator, they do not enjoy the benefits of fresh vegetables. Our website with a view to provide them fresh farm products at competitive prices on day to day basis,” says Senthil Murugan, who is a software engineer.
Having been in the business of buying and selling vegetables and fruits in central market for more than six decades, Sethupathy did not find it difficult to source farm produces. “Vegetables like ridge gourd, cabbage, broccoli come from Bangalore, while potato, beans and carrot are sourced from Kodaikanal. Brinjal and tomato are brought from Melur, Theni, Andipatti and Varushanadu. We purchase the hybrid varieties of tomato from Andhra Pradesh,” he says.
“Though vegetable prices fluctuate everyday, we fix the price the previous day. We neither charge our customers for delivery nor the difference amount,” says Sethupathy. Orders are entertained till 10 p.m. for the following day’s delivery.
Vegetables arrive at their place at around 2 a.m. and they are sorted out. Good ones are separated and packed neatly for the home orders. “We have appointed three college students for this purpose,” says Sethupathy. The boys come to the market at around 5 a.m. and pack the vegetables and take it for delivery of the orders booked on the previous day. The delivery starts at around 7 a.m. and goes on till 11 a.m. The distribution reach up to Uthangudi and Iyer Bungalow in the north, Viragnoor in the East, TVS Nagar and Bypass Road in the south and Sellur and Kochadai in the west. They are also planning to extend the limit once they get orders in good numbers.
The website also has a combo-pack option where they supply sambar and khorma packs. There are four different vegetable combinations for sambar pack. “We will also include biryani pack,” says Shanmuganathan, the youngest of the sibling. He says they are also planning a grocery section.
A computer science engineer, Shanmuganathan is planning to launch a mobile app. “We are in the process of developing an android mobile app to help our customers order from their mobile,” he says. They are prime targets are apartments as it minimises their delivery workload.
“We are in the process of spreading out our operations. We already have a franchisee in Tiruppur. My uncle Murugaboopathy takes care of the operations in Kongu belt,” says Shanmuganathan.
The entire family is into the business with Sethupathy looking after procurement and distribution, his wife S. Meghala the phone orders and the sons looking after the website and providing technical support.
Log on to thalluvandi.com and for phone orders call 8220466920.
