Convenience food maker MTR Foods Ltd is preparing to jump into the rapidly growing e-commerce bandwagon, and proposes to have its own online store soon.
Sanjay Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, MTR Foods, said the company has partnered with a technology provider to launch its online store and expects it to be operational by the third quarter of 2015. The company is in the process of finalising a delivery model for the proposed initiative.
Besides the traditional grocery and modern trade retail network, the MTR range of products such as spices and
At present, the kirana shops stock and sell 30-80 of the MTRs products and modern retail outlets 100-150.
The consumer response for sales of MTR products through e-grocers has been encouraging. “E-commerce is not about the prices or discounts, but now shifting to the concept of availability of the entire range of products. The biggest challenge in e-commerce is fulfilment and we are still in the process of learning,” Sharma added.
With this initiative, MTR Foods will join competitors such as Aachi Foods in leveraging the e-commerce space. MTR Foods has more than tripled its revenues in the past seven years, after it was acquired by Norwegian conglomerate Orkla in 2007.
Revenue growth The company, which has been growing at 17-18 per cent annually, clocked a revenue of ₹600 crore in 2014. At present, sales through the e-grocery stores account for less than 1 per cent of the company’s turnover, while modern trade accounts for about 6 per cent.
The company earns about 60 per cent of its revenue from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and is making inroads into Tamil Nadu.