The last time Vizag-based P. Kishore called in a plumber, he was in for a surprise. The plumber not only arrived well under an hour, he fixed the leakages and completed his work with perfect professionalism. The invoice arrived in Kishore’s email inbox and the exact fee was handed over to the plumber.
Kishore had booked the service through Vizag-based Quickpebbles, an online platform that connects consumers with service providers like electricians, AC mechanics, plumbers, electricians, computer technicians and carpenters. This experience was in stark contrast to his previous run-ins with regular plumbers, who would not turn up for days or the work would be shoddy.
Incubated in Sunrise Starup Village, Quickpebbles is just one of the hyperlocal startups that have come up in the city bridging the demand-supply gap. The hyperlocal startup space has gone through a rapid evolution in the country in a short span of time. While firms like Grofers, LocalOye and Zopper have triggered this trend in bigger cities by attempting to solve wide variety of daily problems faced by consumers, ranging from getting groceries to finding reliable handymen, the trend is now percolating in to budding startup hubs like Vizag as well.
In layman’s term, a startup in the hyperlocal space is a platform to enable local offline services access to consumers from anywhere, anytime. Though at a nascent stage, the city has seen a handful of hyperlocal startups slowly spreading its wings.
Changing transaction patternsThe growth of the hyperlocal startup story also signifies the changing pattern of financial transaction of consumers. In a major shift from a few years ago, consumers are now beginning to trust the online medium as a channel for transactions. Entrepreneurs running hyperlocal startups attribute this change to the efforts of the e-commerce trailblazers like Flipkart and Snapdeal.
“Consumers are far more comfortable transacting online now than they were even a year or two ago. This has given a big boost to hyperlocal startups,” says Krishna Morla, co-founder of Urbanbasket, an online grocery store that operates in Vizag. Consumers can place grocery orders through their website urbanbasket.in or a call-back order option. The firm procures stuff from wholesale dealers in the region and consolidates and handles the delivery. “Currently, most of the food and grocery consumers buy from supermarkets or retail stores close to their home and for e-commerce to succeed in the space it required localized delivery with shorter delivery time,” says Morla. With the startup firm following a hyperlocal model, everything is available on order within a few hours. Orders placed before 5 p.m. are delivered on the same day itself. Customers can also give their preferred time of delivery
Started in October last year, the company has a customer base of 700 and currently they get around 15 to 20 orders a day. With growing demand, the firm plans to expand its services to more localities beyond their existing 40 kms radius (Vizag Steel Plant to Hanumanthvaka) and scale up their stock points.
This growing trend of online purchases was highlighted in an Assocham-PwC report that said about 40 million consumers purchased something online last year, and this number is expected to go up to 65 million this year. The rapid growth in mobile usage is yet another factor spurring the growth of hyperlocal startups. Mobile users are not just utilising their devices for calls or messaging, they are shopping as well. About 11 per cent of all e-commerce sales are through mobile devices, reports say.
Convenience of time“In today’s fast-paced world, the most valuable thing is time and convenience,” says K Shiva Kara, co-founder of another hyperlocal startup AcroMarc. The firm was started as an online platform that brings together all the retail shops in the city, where users can surf through and choose the desired products and get routed to the shops. While the product is in a prototyping stage, once ready the co-founders feel that it will help to restrain the supremacy e-commerce firms have over offline retailers. “It is a win-win situation for all. Through AcroMarc’s online platform, the offline stores can multiply their sales and reach out to many customers. Similarly, for customers the options to shop will be plenty and all under one platform. They need not visit the stores physically,” Karan adds. AcroMarc has also added a virtual styling room feature to their product. Currently, they are in talks with retail store owners like Arrow, Puma, Nike and bigger showrooms like Kalaniketan in the city. The team is also looking for seed investment to scale up their product.
While there are challenges, hyperlocal entrepreneurs believe theirs is the model of e-commerce that will succeed. Even bigger players like Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm are prepared to up the ante by launching their hyperlocal services. Amazon Kirana is already operational as a pilot in Bengaluru. Paytm has launched Zip mobile app and is testing in Bengaluru and Ola has started Ola store, a hyperlocal grocery mobile app.
