While online retailers like Snapdeal and Flipkart are grabbing all the headlines, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has quietly launched its first e-commerce initiative. The consumer goods giant recently launched Humarashop.com as a pilot to tap the grocery segment. The portal, which has been rolled out in Mumbai to start with, has tied up with several neighbourhood, or ‘kirana’, stores to reach out to consumers indirectly.
“HUL recognises e-commerce as an important platform to reach out to consumers and shoppers in India. We are experimenting with different business models to learn more about the rapidly evolving space,” an HUL spokesperson said. “Humarashop.com, which connects shoppers with local retailers, is one such pilot to understand the changes in the consumer space and build a better understanding of this.” While HUL will push its own products by offering attractive incentives to the ‘kirana’ store owners, it will also allow consumers to buy other brands, said the owner of a neighbourhood store at Lokhandwala in suburban Andheri.
HUL not only helps the ‘kirana’ retailers have an online presence by creating a different page for each store, but also carries out the delivery for them.
However, the company did not respond to a query on whether they own the supply chain and logistics. According to industry experts, HUL’s Humarashop is based on online ordering and fulfilment model, which means the company will not own any inventory. The Humarashop.com site says it will deliver any product in just two hours anywhere in the city. Meanwhile, other players such as Godrej and Marico are also mulling an online play.
The maker of Dove soap and Surf detergent, HUL, is also contemplating rolling out the service to other metros soon.
A recent study by Google and consultancy firm Bain & Co said online sales in FMCG categories, such as male grooming, beauty, food and beverages, and infant care, would reach $5 billion ( Rs. 30,000 crore) by 2020, making it over 5 per cent of total FMCG sales.
The current FMCG market size is $50 billion and, of this, online accounts for only 0.3 per cent. In the past couple of years, online players such as Bigbasket.com, Localbanya and Greencart have emerged to compete with local ‘kirana’ stores and hypermarkets.