How humble Indian kirana shops went digital
The Hindu
In the chaos of the first lockdowns, trusty neighbourhood grocery stores had to suddenly shift online, while juggling inventory and frantic sales. They did it in true kirana style, as those in business explain to us
Chennai’s Grace Supermarket chain has been online for over two years now, even before the COVID-19 lockdowns hit. But its website was a backburner project, a very small part of its operations. The chain’s dozen physical grocery shops across Chennai have always been its mainstay, till the first nationwide lockdown of 2020 flipped the tables completely. Suddenly, the website was handling most of their sales. “We were also delivering to customers who placed orders over phone calls or WhatsApp,” says Subramanian Sundaram, manager and head of operations.
To announce that they were available online, they put their website on their delivery vans ferrying goods around the neighbourhood, thus attracting even more cutsomers.
With the clock ticking down to the Lok Sabha election counting day on Tuesday, opposing fronts are perceptibly edgy and poised to continue the rancorous skirmishing that marked the campaign season in Kerala. The United Democratic Front, led by the Congress, is seemingly basking in the “interim victory” granted by various exit polls. The UDF discerns that its poll strategy of turning the polls foremostly into a damning referendum on the Left Democratic Front government’s perceived failures rather than BJP’s “divisive politics” at the national level stood a fighting chance of paying off.