Amazon goes hyperlocal in India, taps mom-and-pop stores for speedy groceries

Amazon is now trying something new in India, allowing shoppers to get food and other essentials delivered from nearby convenience stores. Because the items are shipped from local family-run stores, called kirana, the service delivers in just two to four hours.

The new system is called Amazon KiranaNow. It only works from a mobile browser (pictured below), and it’s currently only available in one city – Bangalore (hat-tip to The Times of India for spotting this).

Amazon’s new hyperlocal delivery service gets the owners of kirana to upload their inventories to Amazon in order for local shoppers to see what’s available in nearby stores. I’m not in Bangalore, so no items showed up for me. The items will be delivered using either Amazon’s own logistics network in India, or by a store’s own delivery people, or possibly via a third-party service.

More online options

For Bengaluru people, Amazon KiranaNow is an alternative to getting groceries from ecommerce sites such as Bigbasket, Localbanya, AaramShop, or Snapdeal’s food section.

India’s kirana are a wonder of efficiency, making two to three times more revenue per square foot of retail space than major chains that operate in the country, such as Big Bazaar, Star Bazaar, Spar, Carrefour, and Tesco.

“The opportunity in the space is huge so I am not surprised,” says Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder of Grofers, about Amazon’s entry into this hyperlocal niche. The US tech titan is a new rival to Grofers, which not only offers an app that helps people buy things from nearby kirana in three major cities but also has a network of motorbike riders to deliver the groceries to nearby customers. “Flipkart and Snapdeal are also reportedly working on similar concepts [to Amazon KiranaNow],” explains Dhindsa to Tech in Asia.