Photo credit: Andre Faria Gomes .

In 2014, it was estimated that the entire grocery retail market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was worth a sizeable US$28.7 billion. Food retail alone was projected to increase by US$1 billion each year, helped by the fact that median household incomes in the UAE are an impressive US$104,000.

As Dubai prepares to host the World Expo in 2020, it is likely that there will be a greater influx of expatriates, especially in the hospitality, tourism, and property verticals. Sales in large grocery retail outlets are bound to increase. And that’s the opportunity el Grocer is looking to tap into.

The startup, which exists as an app-only marketplace for fresh groceries, started after co-founder Mickael Costache set about solving his own grocery shopping problem.

“Regular shopping is a time consuming chore in our fast paced life. Ordering groceries was limited to calling stores which by itself had its own set of challenges – calls not answered, misunderstanding of order or variant, no pricing clarity, etc,” explains Mickael.

What Mickael noticed was that grocery shopping in the Middle East hadn’t evolved to online channels at all, while shoppers had transitioned to transacting online for restaurant deliveries, travel, fashion, and electronics. “It was easier to order a laptop online than a bottle of milk,” he adds.

el Grocer team

Solving problems

Work on the product started in mid-2015, with a beta launch in November and then a full-fledged public launch in January. Through el Grocer’s app, users can connect with grocers in their vicinity and receive their items in 60 minutes or less. Prices are the same as those advertised in-store.

“We want to transform grocery shopping from a physical endeavor to a few simple taps on our mobile devices,” affirms Mickael. “We are solving a real pain point for people living in the UAE. People are busy, traffic on the roads can be horrible, and we are offering them a seamless solution to get their daily groceries delivered.”

Mickael claims they’ve pursued an extremely aggressive expansion plan, both in terms of user acquisition and onboarding partner stores. As a result, they’ve seen ‘triple digit’ month-on-month growth in terms of users and orders. He adds that there’s a ton of repeat customers with consistently bigger basket values, a phenomenon he attributes to their ‘trust in the platform.’