Online Food & Grocery Retail Outlets In India Rising: USDA

Highlighting fast changing trends in the India's online retail sector, the USDA report said: "Indian consumers are overcoming biases against purchasing items without prior inspection and safety of automated and online transactions. This shifting tendency is brought about by competitive pricing and the convenience of shopping for groceries from the comfort of one's own home."

Consumers are seeing that online retail provides some benefits over going to kirana stores (independent small grocers) or store-based retailers' outlets, it said.

The availability of multiple payment methodologies such as online banking, cash-on-delivery, credit cards and debit cards have meant that it is convenient for urban consumers to shop online while saving both time and money, it added.

Emphasising the opportunities for continued growth in online grocery retailing, the report said, "Presently, most online retailers limit their distribution to a particular city, but operations may expand quickly if some business models prove successful."

Domestic products dominate the product categories, but most online retailers carry some imported food items. Given the complexity of importing food products into India, online retailers currently rely on local distributors, it said.

Websites like aaloo.in, eemli.com, fishvish.com, dilligrocery.com, tazastuff.com and veggibazaar.com are among 44 which are selling both domestic and imported food items in the country.