Meet bigbasket CEO Hari Menon who changed the traditional style of buying Groceries
Who had ever thought that groceries would be reaching the doorstep of the house without taking the pain of going to the market? Might be very few, but Hari Menon thought and did it! It was long back in the year 2011 that Hari Menon started bigbasket, India’s online food and grocery store. A store that just waits for the order to be placed and then it’s there without any delay-That too with quality even in the case of perishable goods!
Yes, with the quality and freshness of vegetables and fruits, you can have whatever you want just at the ease of sitting at home!
On the other hand, it was not all that easy for Menon! It is his fighting spirit and ‘Never give up’ attitude that he has come so far. He has seen failures also. Finally, the man with vision has proven himself and at the same time, earned a name. Beginning from the corporate world, he has entered the world of entrepreneurship but his experience and expertise gained after working in many companies, have shown everyone that passion and hard work do not get wasted. Through this first online platform selling groceries in India (bigbasket), Menon changed the way groceries were bought previously.
Earlier, Menon had dreamt of an e-commerce company much ahead of time and it was in 1999 that he started ‘Fabmart’. This was done along with his friends Vipul Parekh, VS Sudhakar, VS Ramesh, and Abhinay Choudhari.This venture witnessed selling cassettes, books, jewelry, groceries, and toys but India was not so much prepared as far as online marketing was concerned. The consumers were hesitant of transacting online and there were hardly any secure payment gateways, even deliveries were tough.
It was then Menon with his partners decided to begin ‘Fabmall’, a physical retail chain of grocery stores. They merged this with another grocery retail chain called ‘Trinethra’. In just seven years, the team had expanded their business to 200 stores in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Then, Menon and the partners decided to sell off the business and focus on their idea of the online grocery business. It (Fabmall) was acquired by Aditya Birla Group.
With the beginning of bigbasket, the perspective of the Indians changed and by that time, payment gateways also got opened. Though it was a bit challenging initially, Menon fought the odds.
Menon Speaks …
While sharing his story with Accel partner Anand Daniel on the #INSIGHTS Podcast2019 series, Menon said, “Initially, our volumes were too small to meet the minimum volume requirement to qualify for direct supply. As a result, we began purchasing from Metro Cash and Carry. We had individuals working at Metro stores, which served as our warehouse. Then we grew quickly and opened our first warehouse in Whitefield within a year.
The success of bigbasket has been such that during the pandemic and in a survey released in September last year, the company stated that the number of new customers had increased by as much as 84% compared to the pre-Covid levels while the retention rate grew by 50% against the earlier 30%-45%. Apart from the pandemic, statistics are authenticating and proving the success of the company. With its headquarters in Bengaluru, bigbasket is now known as the largest online grocer in India. It receives 1,50,000 orders per day.
In the above that is on the #INSIGHTSPodcast2019 series, Menon also recalled how the founders would eat, sleep, dream the three golden metrics of e-commerce: fill rate (percentage of customers’ demand met), on-time delivery (due to the essential nature of groceries), and in-stock rate (“out of stock” is a killer for e-commerce businesses). The ‘inventory control model’ was central to the thesis of solving for the three golden metrics.
Highlights:
- Born: 1963, Bandra West, Mumbai (age 58 years)
- Education: Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (1976–1979)
- Net Worth – $507.5 M
- Revenue – Rs. 509.68K (FY 20)
- Total Funding -$1.1 Billion
- Valuation – $2 Billion +
- Parent Organization – Tata Digital Limited
Few Details About Hari Menon
Hari Menon was born in 1963 and brought up by his middle-class family in Bandra, Mumbai. Before ‘Fabmart’, Menon was the CEO of ‘Indiaskills’ which is the Vocational Education Joint Venture between Manipal Group and City & Guilds (UK). Menon has also been the Country Head of ‘Planetasia’ which was one of the first Internet services businesses in India. Not only this, Menon also started his career with ‘Wipro’ as a Business Head in the infotech business.
He is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and is a music enthusiast who loves to sing the songs of Kishore Kumar and is a cricket fan too. He is fond of teaching young entrepreneurs from his experience and later on, he wants to be left alone with music.
Must Read:-
- Top 10 pharma companies in the world
- Top 10 company of India 2021
- Top 10 logistic Companies in India 2021
- Top 10 automobile companies in India 2021
- Top 10 fastest growing industries in the world 2021
- Top 10 most charitable person in the world 2021
- Top 10 logistic Companies in India – 2021
- Top 10 Company in the Corporate World
- Top 5 Most Fuel Efficient Car In India
- Start Small and go Big: Low-Investment Business Ideas 2021
- Top 10 Electrical Company in India 2021
