It is not easy competing with the market leader when your opponent is Amazon and Flipkart, the largest e-commerce retailers in the nation, who come with decades of experience and billions in the pocket. The story of this online marketplace is quite interesting and a story of constant passion and belief.

Today, we are going to discuss the story of an e-commerce platform which delivers over 2.5 lakh orders of food and grocery products across almost all the major cities. The e-commerce platform identified the need of people who want to get the essential items delivered at their doorsteps. They designed an interface that could allow millions of people to select from thousands of products and get them delivered within the next 24 hours in various slots. While creating an operational app and e-commerce, they also curated the best brand activation strategies which led to the formation of online people’s favourite online supermarket. Let’s get into the success story of the business which revolutionised the shopping experience of groceries and essential items-

What is BigBasket?

BigBasket.com is the India’ largest online food and grocery store with over 18,000 products and over 1000 brands in the catalogue where one can find everything they are looking for- fresh fruits to vegetables, rice to dals, spices to seasonings or any packaged products, beverages, personal care products, and meats and many more. They offer a wide range of options in every category, handpicked and the best quality available at the lowest prices to patrons in major cities of India.

A Brief Background
Initiated in 1999, there were five friends- Hari Menon, VS Sudhakar, Vipul Parekh, Abhinay Choudhary and VS Ramesh launched their online retail website known as “Fabmart”. Being quite ahead of its time, the idea attracted attention but could not shake the masses.

They attempted to revolutionise the retail industry but they failed. In spite of being infamous, they decided to set up a physical retail chain of grocery stores in South India- “Fabmall”. Today, the stores are currently operating all over the world as MORE, by the Aditya Birla Group.

Then, the group of five friends reunited again to work on the idea of getting back to their original idea of an online grocery store. After procuring funds, the group of five friends finally gave birth to BigBasket.com in December 2011.

Business Model of BigBasket.com
When BigBasket started its operations, it adopted a “purchased-to-order” model. In this model, the delivery boy directly picks up the item from the retailer, and directly delivers it to the customer. As the time passed, business continued to achieve success. Later they adopted an ‘inventory model’ for most of their products, and BigBasket now buys products directly from suppliers and keeps stocks in their warehouses. BigBasket sources many perishable food products like fruits and vegetables from the mandis and other places.

To serve the hyper-local sentiment of the people, BigBasket has been implementing hyper-local strategies and has joined hands with more than 1,800 neighbourhood grocery stores across India to deliver goods within an hour. Recently the online grocery platform has been funded by Alibaba and has tried to add in more assets in the form of a more efficient delivery fleet.

BigBasket has launched three new segments in the previous two years:

1. BB Daily: It is a subscription-based platform for milk, fruits and vegetables, bread, dairy, eggs, breakfast cereals, tender coconut, etc. for every day or alternate days.
2. BB Instant: It ensures that you get your basic needs covered 24*7.
3. BB Beauty: It takes care of men and women’s beauty and personal care products at one place.

Revenue Model of BigBasket
BigBasket purchases the products from the direct manufacturers/suppliers like P&G, HUL, farmers & mills and stocks them in their warehouses saving big on each product cost. To generate revenue, it adds a small margin to the cost price before vending them. Most of its profits and revenue are dependent on its private label products like Fresho, Royal Organic, Happy Chef Gourmet and more.

BigBasket also earns through lucrative discounts, bundling techniques, delivery charges and on-time delivery which helps them retain customers and maximize sales.

With the imposed restrictions of lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, many people are dependent on BigBasket for their essential needs. Company noticed the demand for groceries rose by 3-5 times when compared to pre-lockdown days. BigBasket is receiving around 200,000 orders a day.

With an aim to completely revolutionise the online marketplace and become people’s favourite, BigBasket allows you to order grocery products, fulfil daily needs products and even beauty products within a few clicks on your mobile device. The Bangalore-based online start-up leveraged various best digital marketing services to gain wide popularity within a short period of time and provide a comforting shopping experience to people. With the help of the best digital marketing agencies, they have transformed the online grocery shopping experience.

Digital Marketing Model of BigBasket

BigBasket wanted to ease the pressure of grocery shopping for people and make the weekends comforting. BigBasket has revolutionised the online shopping experience and have thrived to become one of the favourite platforms for shopping for food providers, grocery or products. They targeted everyone through its top-digital marketing strategies. Consult some of the brand activation agencies to reach maximum people through best digital marketing services. Let’s check out the digital marketing strategies used by BigBasket:

1. Search Engine Optimisation: BigBasket tapped search engine optimization services to improve its organic search rankings to attract maximum authentic traffic on their website and establish their brand presence. They targeted famous keywords like online grocery shopping, grocery online, online grocery, grocery shopping online, big basket Delhi, online grocery store and online supermarket. This means that whenever someone searches for these terms online, BigBasket’s results are the first that pop up.

    

   They have also optimised their blogs and articles for easy crawling and searching through Google. They have adopted the best search engine optimization services to optimize their content with potential keywords that show up high in search results.

2. Social Media Marketing: BigBasket has established its strong social presence and has leveraged various social media platforms for its inbound lead generation. You can also reach out to the top 10 social media agencies in Gurgaon for best SMO services in Delhi NCR.

    

   Being in the eCommerce business, BigBasket has really become a PRO with its social media strategies.

   Facebook and Instagram
   With a massive following of 4,00,000 fans, the company makes use of the Facebook page to engage with customers by promoting various campaigns, posts which encourage homemade food, and offers discounts and rebates. In fact, the e-retailing brand has now enabled the ‘Shop Now’ button on its social media channels to redirect consumers to their e-commerce website for purchasing the products they wish to buy without losing any interest in the purchasing decision.

    

    

   While on Instagram BigBasket engages with the young audience of 29,000 fans through creative content posts. It also advertises its various range of products, offers and posts videos of many influencers.

    

    

3. Content Marketing: Nowadays, there’s only one way to attract and keep your audience engaged on your brand’s website i.e. publishing creative and engaging content. BigBasket engages with its audience through various types of content strategies like blogs, reviews, suggestions, how-to videos, DIY videos, funny content like memes, gifs, collaboration of influencers and promotion of various contests and offers. Choose from the top 10 performance marketing communication agencies in Gurgaon to design the best content marketing strategies for your F&B e-commerce business.
4. YouTube Marketing: Knowing the importance of video advertising, BigBasket owns a dedicated YouTube channel “BigBasket.com” that provides the consumers with up to date and best video guides for using beauty and wellness products and making people aware of the latest trends in the society. With the range of “how-to videos” they also show recipes for making tasty food at home. BigBasket has garnered 9.33K subscribers on their YouTube Channel. Hire the best video production company for top quality marketing video production services in Delhi NCR.
5. Influencer Marketing: BigBasket also tapped on influencer marketing tactics to create buzz around the online grocery platform. The brand collaborated with influencers from various categories to create a conversation about health products, baby products, and more. The influencers also talked about how to maintain health and build a fit body using good food habits and maintaining lifestyle. BigBasket had also partnered with the famous Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador. Reach out to the best influencer marketing agencies in Delhi NCR.
6. Online Reputation Management: BigBasket tapped the power of ORM to improve its reputation on online platforms. The brand benefitted from the famous and most-visited platforms like Trusted Company, Quora, Mouth Shut, Google Play Store and Yahoo Answers, that helped customers share the reviews of BigBasket services and help spread the word.

Digital marketing has been working very well for BigBasket. It has helped eCommerce platforms to gain a lot of popularity within a short period of time. Some of the best online reputation management agencies in Gurgaon will help you in devising the best marketing plan and strategy for your brand.

Campaigns of BigBasket

1. BigBasket-The Sceptic: In this commercial, Shah Rukh Khan tries to convince Ratna Pathak Shah about Big Basket in a quirky way while answering questions that may cause any inhibitions about the quality and service of the brand.

    

2. BigBasket-Shah Rukh Khan Orders: In this video, Shah Rukh Khan is receiving the orders from the BigBasket at his residence as the brand tries to break the stigma.

    

Conclusion
BigBasket has proven to be one of the best start-ups and one of the favourite marketplaces. With its poised and slow and steady approach, it has become one of the best online grocery marketplaces. It is the epitome of trust, wellness and care for all its customers. Looking at the marketing strategy of BigBasket, we understood that the e-commerce brand understood the nerves and inhibitions of its target audience and took the initiative to be present where it could easily interact with its audience while answering their queries in the most effective way.

You can get in touch with The Marcom Avenue for the best online marketing services for your e-commerce brand and reach your targeted customers.