I have been a big time user of Big Basket online grocery and I like the service, it almost replaced my offline grocery shopping. Sometimes I do miss the brightly lit aisles and the big lines at the billing counters, but hey guess what, it saves me significant amount of time and sometimes offers good discounts as well. I do not remember the last time I walked into my regular grocery - Hypercity then replaced by Ratnadeep . My offline retailers do miss me, big time, as I get SMSes about new offers and come back discount codes. Those discount codes don't drag me me back to off line shores anymore. What makes me stick to Big Basket ?
1. Amazing Customer Service - For a product I bought, Brittania NutriChoice multigrain biscuits, there was a free gift of worth 40/- per packet of 50/-, the gifts were not delivered, I did not check the details until after few weeks. I called the helpline and with out any questions being asked, the equal amount of money was refunded and appeared in my wallet in no time.Now that is a delight though I do not expect the BigBasket guys to foget my gift in the first go and give me the pain to call their helpdesk, I have to say , I was pleasantly surprised when I was told about the refund with no questions asked, that is not a customer service I am used , not in India until that transaction.
2. Some of the products on Bigbasket, for the first time in the last 22 months of my experience with BB, were not good - by good I mean the coriander that was delivered was half smashed into pulp + the corn was half dry and dead. I did not expect that quality and this was the first time I was calling them to replace some of the items, mind you, I boiled one sweet corn and consumed it too- ofcourse that consumption led me to decide on the product exchange, promptly the products were exchanged the next day and I was given replacements. Now those products are not what made me happy but the whole transaction and how the customer, I was being valued in the equation.
3. My recent observations with BigBasket
Big basket announced express delivery about a month ago in Hyderabad - with a promise to deliver the products in 90 minutes from the time of order. Magically the products were delivered almost in a 60 minute turn around time. But my order on 2nd March had some products qualify for the express delivery [ The way the express delivery works is, some of the products are kept in a warehouse closer to my zipcode and they qualify for the express delivery, for a stand delivery the products are often supplied from another city hub warehouse that houses all the listed products] and some for standard delivery with a slot for the next day. Surprisingly after the payment was made, I was shown the Standard delivery will be done as promised the next day BUT the "express" delivery will not happen until 4th March - that is a delay on express by almost 30 hours +, when I called the helpline, the mentioned the express delivery orders are back listed. This is not something any customer expects - a stand delivery to come in first almost 24 + hours prior to express, that surprised me. Also the express delivery is wonderful packed foods but not for polythene covered- leafy vegetables and the sorts. I have often seen all the soft stuff gets crushed- could be the fast handling of the "express" delivery turn around times are hurting the vegetables quality as well. I will wait for Big Basket guys to fix those problems soon.
Next Steps - as I understand ..
I just learnt Big Basket is winding upto launch its market place business- so a cake from my neighborhood or a bread from my favorite near by bakery. Do not be surprised if you find Big Basket branded foods in the small and big retails very soon too. With Amazon India lauching "KiranaNow" with a promise to deliver the ordered essentials in 2 hours- already started in Bangalore.With that spreading to other cities Big Basket and other Hyper locals alternatives - the Grofers, the PepperTaps will have a run for every rupee the customer spends.
What is clear is the Online Grocery and the Hyperlocals are clearly the urban favorite where traffic snarls and parking pains + polythene cover purchase [ many people I interview tell me that the 5 Rs they pay per polythene bag is something they do not like spending for] continue to haunt us.
For the customers who have traditionally shopped with a local baniya are not yet ready to replace the trusted baniya shop as the Baniya offers home delivery for even 50/rs product with no additional charge + he is offering me a monthly roll over credit + no polythene charges. So if the Big Basket wants to reach most of the homes in India - selling through the trusted offline baniya and selling meat through our favourite offline "mastaan" shop is the next extension for Big Basket, their basket just cannot wait to get bigger - do keep an eye on the quality,- brothers at BigBasket, I want you to scale new heights - raising the bar on quality ofcourse !
1. Amazing Customer Service - For a product I bought, Brittania NutriChoice multigrain biscuits, there was a free gift of worth 40/- per packet of 50/-, the gifts were not delivered, I did not check the details until after few weeks. I called the helpline and with out any questions being asked, the equal amount of money was refunded and appeared in my wallet in no time.Now that is a delight though I do not expect the BigBasket guys to foget my gift in the first go and give me the pain to call their helpdesk, I have to say , I was pleasantly surprised when I was told about the refund with no questions asked, that is not a customer service I am used , not in India until that transaction.
2. Some of the products on Bigbasket, for the first time in the last 22 months of my experience with BB, were not good - by good I mean the coriander that was delivered was half smashed into pulp + the corn was half dry and dead. I did not expect that quality and this was the first time I was calling them to replace some of the items, mind you, I boiled one sweet corn and consumed it too- ofcourse that consumption led me to decide on the product exchange, promptly the products were exchanged the next day and I was given replacements. Now those products are not what made me happy but the whole transaction and how the customer, I was being valued in the equation.
3. My recent observations with BigBasket
Big basket announced express delivery about a month ago in Hyderabad - with a promise to deliver the products in 90 minutes from the time of order. Magically the products were delivered almost in a 60 minute turn around time. But my order on 2nd March had some products qualify for the express delivery [ The way the express delivery works is, some of the products are kept in a warehouse closer to my zipcode and they qualify for the express delivery, for a stand delivery the products are often supplied from another city hub warehouse that houses all the listed products] and some for standard delivery with a slot for the next day. Surprisingly after the payment was made, I was shown the Standard delivery will be done as promised the next day BUT the "express" delivery will not happen until 4th March - that is a delay on express by almost 30 hours +, when I called the helpline, the mentioned the express delivery orders are back listed. This is not something any customer expects - a stand delivery to come in first almost 24 + hours prior to express, that surprised me. Also the express delivery is wonderful packed foods but not for polythene covered- leafy vegetables and the sorts. I have often seen all the soft stuff gets crushed- could be the fast handling of the "express" delivery turn around times are hurting the vegetables quality as well. I will wait for Big Basket guys to fix those problems soon.
Next Steps - as I understand ..
I just learnt Big Basket is winding upto launch its market place business- so a cake from my neighborhood or a bread from my favorite near by bakery. Do not be surprised if you find Big Basket branded foods in the small and big retails very soon too. With Amazon India lauching "KiranaNow" with a promise to deliver the ordered essentials in 2 hours- already started in Bangalore.With that spreading to other cities Big Basket and other Hyper locals alternatives - the Grofers, the PepperTaps will have a run for every rupee the customer spends.
What is clear is the Online Grocery and the Hyperlocals are clearly the urban favorite where traffic snarls and parking pains + polythene cover purchase [ many people I interview tell me that the 5 Rs they pay per polythene bag is something they do not like spending for] continue to haunt us.
For the customers who have traditionally shopped with a local baniya are not yet ready to replace the trusted baniya shop as the Baniya offers home delivery for even 50/rs product with no additional charge + he is offering me a monthly roll over credit + no polythene charges. So if the Big Basket wants to reach most of the homes in India - selling through the trusted offline baniya and selling meat through our favourite offline "mastaan" shop is the next extension for Big Basket, their basket just cannot wait to get bigger - do keep an eye on the quality,- brothers at BigBasket, I want you to scale new heights - raising the bar on quality ofcourse !
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