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In the race for dominance in India’s retail market by global and domestic players, the local kirana stores hold the key. Currently, kirana stores account for pulling in a large percentage of the Indian consumers, making them the backbone of the country’s retail industry. However, despite being highly relevant, these stores need to change with the times and embrace digitization in line with the change in the shopping behaviour of consumers. Being an end-to-end food supply chain company that leverages technology, WayCool Foods created a comprehensive program aimed to empower small and medium retailers with the widest range of clean, hygienically packed food products, world class fill-rates, market intelligence, tech and fintech services.
Madhuram, with the objective of becoming a 100 crore brand, had created a clear position for itself in the market using door-to-door sampling as a strategy. This is unique in Staples categories and first-of-its kind. For this, the CPG team at WayCool identified hyperlocal markets within clusters to drive product trials and support repurchase at Kirana stores across key cities in South India. Today, WayCool has piloted 2000 stores for Madhuram, and received tremendous response from retailers across 13 clusters. This will be further scaled to 100 clusters across South India in the coming quarters.
The idea is to create a comprehensive programme under which traditional kirana stores would be transformed into the company’s “Magic Points” (weighted outlets). By transforming their stores into Magic Points, WayCool intends to stand by the kirana store, empowering them with good quality products from our portfolio, backed by solid technology and digital lending solutions.
With WayCool’s advanced supply chain capabilities, when retailers convert their store to ‘Magic Points’, they will be able to leverage WayCool’s product recommendation engine to purchase product variants that are largely bought in the region thus stocking what customers in the area of the store need. WayCool further extends support by giving access to credit solutions that it easier for retailers to purchase stock. Magic Point retailers will also have access to WayCool’s premium branded products sourced through our direct, transparent supply chain, covering over 2,000 SKUs across all major food categories, giving them the ultimate advantage over other emerging and existing players in the market.
Currently, these Magic Points sell Madhuram’s Rice and Dal varieties. Madhuram offers a wide range of rice varieties from across the country and can tailor the product mix at pincode level to suit the palates of the local audience. We are planning on extending the Magic Points programme to our cooking ingredients brand KitchenJi with the aim to add more brands to the basket under the WayCool umbrella.
Growing urbanization, change in consumption patterns, and consumers’ expectations for better quality greatly impacts the Indian retail market. A better insight on the Indian consumption pattern is required, and it is important that this information reaches the local Kirana stores network to help reduce food wastage and food miles.
WayCool, with its vision to help feed more and reduce wastage, seeks to provide higher value to our consumers and players in the retail ecosystem. With this in mind, the Magic Points programme paves the way for the Indian retail industry to grow in an efficient and sustainable way.
With our comprehensive tech stack from soil to sale, WayCool has established deep connections with its consumers, and we further aspire to build a winning combination that will define the future of retail.