Grofers: Grofers’ revenues double; losses widen in FY20

New Delhi: SoftBank-backed online grocery firm Grofers’ revenues for financial year 2019-20 increased 111% over the previous financial year to Rs 177 crore, even as its net losses widened to Rs 637 crore, a 42 % increase over the last financial year, according to financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler.

The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 814 crore, a 53% increase over the previous year, according to the documents sourced from Tofler.

The e-commerce platform closed last year with about 12,000 store partners, an increase of five thousand partners pre-covid, as consumers across India’s cities and small markets switched to online platforms for shopping, amid lockdowns, fear of the coronavirus, and competitive value deals offered by e-commerce platforms.

Grofers competes with Reliance JioMart, Amazon, Flipkart and Big Basket in the intensely competitive online grocery space. E-grocery has surged over 100% in the past year as India went into lockdown, which kept consumers away from super markets and modern trade outlets.

Consulting firm RedSeer estimated in a recent report that riding on profitable value-first opportunity, the overall e-grocery market is projected to touch $24 billion GMV by 2025, of which 55% will be contributed by value-first (price sensitive) households, fuelled by both metros and tier-2 and 3 markets.

Online grocery contributes to on average 3-5% to overall grocery sales in India.

The price sensitive e-grocery segment is projected to grow at 53% over the next five years, faster than the e-grocery market.