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Hi there,
I got into a baking frenzy a year or so ago, so my friends received surprise cakes for a good while. It was easy to send them the cakes since I had my “own” delivery fleet: Google-backed Dunzo does a good job of picking up and dropping off stuff in its home turf, Bengaluru.
But when I opened the Dunzo app one day, it suddenly looked more like an online grocery store than a delivery platform. Apparently, the grocery service has become the app’s focal point. The rest of its features – food and medicine delivery, courier services, etc. – were lined up at the bottom instead.
There’s a good reason for this change. Grocery delivery might just be the most promising – and underserved – market yet, and companies in India and Southeast Asia are looking at “dark stores” as an indispensable part of quick commerce.
This edition’s premium feature dives into how Indian companies like Flipkart, Dunzo, Grofers, and Zepto as well as Indonesia’s Dropezy are banking on the dark-store model, and why they think it will light up the hyperlocal delivery market. It also talks about what dark stores really are, and how not everyone is a fan of the name.
We’re also introducing a new format where we analyze the hottest ecommerce development of the week.
To kick off this segment, my colleague Tian Wen looks at how China’s ecommerce giants are riding on the NFT (or non-fungible token) boom, and how their Southeast Asian counterpart, Sea Group, can also join the ride.
— Nikita
THE BIG STORY
Dark stores light the up red-hot grocery delivery market
Image credit: Timmy Loen
While dark stores are relatively newer to India and Southeast Asia, their adoption has been swift in the competitive hyperlocal delivery market.
THE HOT TAKE
How can Sea Group jump on the NFT bandwagon?
FYI
NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
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