6 Reasons Why Indian Startups Are Focusing On Hyper-Local Services : eAskme |
Along with the dramatic rise of India’s e-commerce industry, there has been a substantial rise in the number of startups in the country as well. With increasing amount of Smartphone and mobile internet penetration in Indian cities, startups have succeeded in creating exceptional services to the huge domestic market. The sheer amount of convenience now easily accessible by urban Indians is something that was probably unimaginable a few years ago. Everything from recharging your phone to buying groceries have become effortless. In efforts to create great services for their customers, many among the new breed of startups have been focusing on providing mobile based hyper local services.
Hyper-local services involve collaboration with local service providers instead of creating new services from the ground up. The two hour delivery time in Groceries is possible because apps like Grofers source your groceries from the local supermarket and don’t hold any inventory of its own. It does appear that ‘hyperlocal’ might emerge as the next buzzword in the startup world and for various reasons.
Lack of inventory costs
Hyperlocal delivery involves the collaboration with local vendors and service providers and therefore, does not bring inventory maintenance costs with it. This leads to a win-win situation between the startup and local vendors where one manages the inventory and other delivers the service.
Faster delivery
Sourcing of local inventory lets hyperlocal startups be much faster in their delivery times than conventional e-commerce companies where warehouses and delivery addresses can be in different cities. Food delivery apps like Swiggy have been known to collect food from local restaurants and deliver most of their orders faster than 40 minutes.
Non-Disruptive growth
Thenon-disruptive nature of hyper-local startups is ideal for striking a balance between growth of new companies and protection of small businesses. Such startups act as an interface between customers and vendors to produce a seamless customer experience.Hyperlocal delivery services are usually newly unearthed revenue models that didn’t previously exist and therefore are able to create completely new jobs. These models usually create sales where sales wouldn’t be possible if not for them.
Due to their collaborative and minimal nature, the initial capital requirements for a hyperlocal startup are significantly lower than that of a conventional e-commerce company. Plus their inherent nature of fueling sales and helping a mutually beneficial relationship with local vendors makes it easy to market.
Convenience to customers