Looking Back at 2021’s Highlights from bigbasket, India’s Most Loved Online Grocer

Bigbasket, (A TATA Enterprise), India’s largest online supermarket, completed 10 years of its operations in 2021. The year proved to be a perfect finale to the first decade of incredible performance for the brand. In 2021, the brand made 5.8 crore deliveries to the family of over 3 crore basketeers, and added 65 lakh new members to it. bigbasket is now set to chart newer frontiers in 2022 by entering Tier 3 and 4 markets and making available products to customers through order-from-app-and-pick-up-at-the-store option.

bigbasket received 120 orders and welcomed 15 new customers every minute in 2021 courtesy of its combination of best quality at lowest prices. bigbasketeers availed discounts worth INR 2200 crores and 3.7 crores free home deliveries. The transaction trends at bigbasket also highlight how India is advancing towards digitization with more customers (30%) preferring to pay through UPI than cash-on-delivery.

As a sign of changing times, the company also entered offline retail arena with its integrated Fresho brand of retail outlets. Through it’s Diversity & Inclusion initiative, the number of women working with the company has doubled from 2000 to 4000 in the last 18 months. bigbasket has also employed close to 700 differently abled people in their warehouses.

Speaking about this, Mr TK Balakumar, COO, bigbasket, said, “bigbasket had a fantastic year in 2021 and continued to be the grocery platform of choice for over 3 crore Indians during the pandemic. Through our range of more than 40,000 products, we have served the needs of our customers, right from the very first to the very last minute of 2021. At every stage, and for every grocery and food need, Indians across the country have reposed their faith in bigbasket.”

As the year went on, the sales trends and numbers at bigbasket have revealed numerous facts about the food habits of Indians. For instance, tea outsold combined volumes of coffee and cold drinks by over 9 lakh orders. With more than 140 crore pieces sold, onion proved to be India’s favourite vegetable whereas banana topped the fruits with 9.4 crore units sold.

Adding further, Mr Balakumar said, “bigbasket entered the Tier 3 and Tier 4 markets as well. There is incredible growth potential in the smaller towns with more than 20 crore internet users residing in these towns and cities. We are aiming to expand our online portal’s coverage as well as the physical retail network to bring these regions under our coverage in 2022 and beyond.”

bigbasket also observed some specific regional patterns which are key to the brand’s future strategies. For instance, Bengaluru topped the charts in terms of order numbers followed by Gurgaon, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Alongside its rapid growth, bigbasket has also consistently focused on environmental protection. The brand cut down 186 tons of CO2 emissions by installing 9 units of biomass-based refrigeration systems, and offset 2842 MT of CO2 through EV operations. This is equivalent to 1137 acres of greenery. bigbasket is thus not only growing as a brand but also contributing to a greener and better society.