Clicking for greens

BANGALORE: Most of us find absolutely no time to make a trip to the grocery store during the week. Besides, after a strenuous day at work, standing in long queues at supermarkets can get a little frustrating.  With hectic work schedules, never ending traffic hours and the rush to get back home on time, working men and women today require a more efficient system to make shopping a less maddening affair. For most people, grocery shopping is a chore restricted to weekends. However, with the evolution of Internet grocery retail, things seem to look bright again for the tech-savvy population. Today, online grocery stores give you the privilege of shopping groceries from the comfort of your desk. City Express takes a look at this rising trend in tech-savy Bangalore.With a vision of revolutionising grocery shopping in Bangalore, Vineet Saraogi and Avinash Nishant established www.kiranawalla.com eight months ago. The website aims at bringing together consumers, brands and retailers on a common platform. “Well, we met each other in Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. And, after working in the corporate world for a while we soon realised that we wished to provide a one-stop shop for online grocery and daily needs. An advantage of using an online medium is that you can get your groceries delivered right to your door especially in a city where driving isn’t a preferred option. We have around fifteen Kiranwalla stores in Bangalore. Currently, the customers can choose to shop from any of our outlets or other stores like Namdhari.  Also, all our delivery points are existing retailers and they already have a setup to manage home deliveries. Hence manpower issues are well managed. We plan to add many more stores in the future. Moreover, all the products sold are covered under a 15-day-replacement-guarantee,” said Vineeth Saraogi, one of the founders of Kiranawalla.com.Though online grocery shopping is gaining popularity in Bangalore, one of the major concerns of all virtual grocers include quality assurance. While checks are performed regularly at all outlets, Vineet also said that extensive research has been done in order to ensure that they offer a wide variety of choices. Said Triveni Hebbar, one of the customers, “I use the website (to shop) atleast twice a week. I really like their service. Besides there are no delivery charges. I don’t have any complaints so far. The products are fresh and they maintain high standards for food quality”However, Nandan Pujar another customer feels that Kiranwalla.com should expand their areas of operation. “I live in Banashankari and work in Koramangala. And, one of the main advantages of placing an order online is that I can get the products delivered to my office. Well, initially I thought it wouldn’t make any difference but I soon realised that this helped me maintain a record of all my transactions for the month. The website is extremely user friendly. And, I hope they add more items in the future,” said Nandan.With the urban population in desperate need of a system that will make procuring items for daily needs hassle-free, online grocery shopping seems to hold all the answers.