Exclusive: Future Group's retail chain EasyDay begins taking order via WhatsApp

Kishore Biyani-led Future Group retail chain, Easyday, have begun delivering daily essential food items such as milk, eggs, and bread at your doorstep. And, it is taking orders through Whatsapp.

Entrackr has placed orders at multiple Easyday stores in Gurugram and East Delhi. The store managers at both places said the service has been going on since past few weeks.

"We are delivering daily essentials between 9 AM to 5 PM for free," mentioned a store representative at Sector 56 Esayday outlet. However, the minimum order cap is Rs 350, he added.

At present, there are no catalogues of products available for customers.

"As soon as a consumer texts us about the product, we inform him/her about the availability of the same on WhatsApp," he said. According to him, these services are available across cities. The store delivers milk and vegetables within 2-3 kilometre radius.

However, the exact timeline for app launch isn't known.

Last month, it was widely reported that Future Group will launch a mobile app in line with Amazon Prime model for delivering essential commodities, including fruits, vegetables and grocery.

Meanwhile, the store runs a membership programme with Rs 999 as the annual fee, subscribing to which, the members are entitled to a 10 per cent discount on all purchases. It also has an Android app dedicated exclusively to members.

The Future Group’s move will give a tough competition to hyper-local milk-delivery companies such as MilkBasket, SuprDaily and the local doodhwalas.

According to estimates, home delivery services could bring about Rs 20 lakh more revenue per store to the Future Group on a monthly basis.

Biyani's Group aims to open about 10,000 small-format shops stores in the range of 2,500 sq ft as a part of its mega retail strategy of increasing revenues to Rs 60,000 crore.

According to a Crisil report, online grocery will be the fastest-growing segment (around 65-70 per cent CAGR between fiscals 2017 and 2020) in e-retail and is poised to grow quadruple over the next 3 years to Rs 100 billion in terms of revenues.

Of late, online grocery has witnessed significant investments and developments. Other than Bigbasket and Grofers' recent funding from Alibaba and Softbank respectively, Flipkart has also entered the segment.

Furthermore, US giant e-tailer Amazon sees a huge opportunity in groceries and households products. The company has said that these segments will account for half of the business in upcoming years. The Jeff Bezos-led company is also in talks to buy 10 per cent stake in Future Retail.