UrDoorstep Success Story – How to Run a Successful Online Grocery Business

urDOORSTEP.com is India’s first online hypermarket, redefining the retail industry by not just delivering the widest range of quality products at your doorstep, but also adding value to every step of the process, thereby taking online shopping to a whole new level.

Dinesh Malpani’s (CEO & Founder, UrDoorstep) exhaustive 25 years of experience and his in-depth knowledge in the multi-channel Retail & eCommerce Industry helped the company offer the best possible experience and value to their customers. His ability to analyze the market, understand the behavioral patterns and cater to the changing demands of the highly dynamic retail business, makes him a visionary and innovative entrepreneur who is all set to revolutionize online retail with urDOORSTEP.com.

Vinculum formed a strategic partnership with urdoorstep.com to help them go online and automate their eCommerce operations. They required a robust Order Fulfillment and Warehouse management solution to

• manage the large volume of B2C orders
• manage large scale warehouse having multiple zones including temperature controlled zones
• achieve real-time inventory management and synchronization to avoid stock outs and reduce/eliminate obsolete inventory
• split orders by the nature of product mix
• intelligently capture the delivery slots for the customer orders and help in calculating the priority of picking, packing and shipping operations to meet the customer expectations
• integrate with their webstore and owned GPS in-vehicle navigation and tracking system (MapMyIndia)

“In the food & grocery business, the backend, the warehouse, the procurement of inventory, order management, picking, packing & shipping are the lifelines of this business,” said Dinesh Malpani, Founder & CEO, Urdoorstep

“I could see that a company which got an understanding of retail or retail backend operations will be a good starting point for us and Vinculum scored on all these aspects from day 1 and we could build a strong relationship as we started,” he added.

Vinculum offered UrDoorStep a customized and a seamless SaaS-based solution, Vin eRetail, which helped them:

• Improve business processing time – Timely and accurately pick, pack, ship and track all the orders
• Increase On-time delivery rate to 99% for delivering superior experience to the customers
• Improve Fill rates of FMCG products to 95%
• Increase Line item fill rates for order to 98.5%
• Avoid Stockouts and Overstocks
• Provide high-quality food products – by tapping multiple zones against a specific temperature to create an ambient temperature for all the product

Using Vinculum has been a great decision, he mused – “Vin eRetail has got great functionalities of order management, particularly the picking, packing, and shipping aspects, which are very strongly built. The best part which I like about Vinculum is their ability to stand by the client through thick and thin, to adapt and ensure that solutions are being given to all problems.”

“I am very very happy with the relationship and wish to take it a long way forward from here” he stated.

Watch the full story here –

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O2O for Retailers: How to Explore and leverage the new Avenues for Revenue, Globally

“Consumers demand more and retailers must respond. The only way to do so while remaining profitable is having a complete view of inventory across all channels, DCs, stores and in-transit.” – Tom Enright, Research Director at Gartner

The increase in the number of channels has resulted in customers who have the flexibility to ‘buy anytime, anywhere and anyplace’. Today’s consumers expect their retailers of choice to provide convenience across all channels.

The gap between the Omnichannel ideal and the reality of retailers today is ever increasing.

Source: Customer Desires Vs. Retailer Capabilities: Minding The OmniChannel Commerce Gap by Forrester Consulting

To stay competitive, the most significant channel that retailers need to be present on is online.

Retailers’ sales from online channels have grown over the past few years, and are set to rise in the coming times.

It’s time Retailers have an inclusive strategy across channels.

O2O (Offline to Online) can provide retailers the means to provide a seamless experience to their customers, across multiple channels, like mobile apps, online store, brick and mortar store, etc.

New revenue streams to increase profitability:

Ever heard these terms?

• Pick up from the store.
• Click and collect.
• Reserve and collect.
• BOPIS – Buy Online Pickup In Store.

These are fulfillment options gaining popularity with stores and shoppers alike. They allow a shopper to buy online and then collect the purchase from the store. Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc. are not considered as competitors anymore, but partners in a win-win strategy.

The options offer benefits to you – the retailer, as well as to the customer. Customers get to choose a time convenient to them, doing away with the frustration of waiting for an order to get delivered and get to save on prices – since the delivery costs are not added to the final price. Retailers get to save on logistics costs, drive up their in-store traffic – enabling them to create opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell products.

Going online opens up new revenues for retailers to explore, such as partnering with marketplaces, selling on own web-stores etc. to increase profits.

Retailer imperative 1: Fulfil online orders via inventory in store:

Increasingly, retailers are employing their in-store inventory to fulfil orders placed via online marketplaces. This is a win-win situation for retailers as well as marketplaces, who are finding this a convenient and profitable partnership.

Retailer imperative 2: Partner with marketplaces orders through inventory in stores:

As a Retailers, you can opt to partner with online marketplaces, increasing their customer base to include online users.

How can Technology help you achieve O2O transformation?

Bringing the Omnichannel experience to your customers is not easy. However, with the right systems, you can transform your retailer’s business model across channels and enable:

•  Real time update of inventory of offline stores to online channels
•  Fulfillment of online orders from single/ multiple stores
•  Online tracking of all the orders
•  Consistent information across channels and applications

The basic requirement for online operations is setting up an eCommerce website and/or listing the products on marketplace(s). The next step is the implementation of different pieces in the O2O suite to ensure a smooth integration with ERPs, 3PLs, store systems, eCommerce front-ends, and marketplaces.

 Vin eRetail O2O Suite provides Real-Time View of Inventory with Powerful Order Management functionality and ready integrations with 75+ leading global web stores, marketplaces, and last-mile fulfillment companies.

To know more – Request a demo today!

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