BigBasket didn’t imagine consumers will adapt to quick commerce in this manner, says promoter K Ganesh

K Ganesh

K Ganesh, promoter and founder director of BigBasket, said that while the online grocery platform needs to catch up in the quick commerce space, it has inherent supply chain benefits that will help it beat rivals Zepto, Blinkit, and Instamart in the long run.

His comments come at a time when BigBasket is gearing up for an IPO over the next 18-24 months and is on track to double its business year-on-year by March 2026. The e-grocer will have to compete with quick commerce rivals Zomato’s Blinkit, Swiggy’s Instamart, and  IPO-bound Zepto on the bourses.

Currently, it has the fourth-highest market share in the quick commerce segment, Ganesh said. “In the last two years, what has happened with the quick commerce industry has stunned and surprised everybody, including large incumbents like BigBasket. Consumer behaviour has completely changed.”

“Nobody, neither BigBasket nor any of us, imagined that consumers will adopt to quick commerce in this manner. I still don't understand what is the need for a 10-minute grocery or 10-minute iPhone is when in a place like Bangalore, where I come from -- it takes one hour to travel 10 kilometres…The concept of BigBasket of slotted deliveries and same-day delivery has got disrupted. Same is true with Flipkart or with fashion,” he told Moneycontrol.

Ganesh believes that quick commerce is here to stay. To be clear, Tata Group owns 66 percent of BigBasket, and Ganesh is no longer on the board of the e-grocer.

BigBasket had last raised $200 million from Tata Digital, valuing the company at $3.2 billion in 2022. Nearly 80% of BigBasket’s revenue comes from quick commerce business at present, CEO Hari Menon said recently.

BigBasket’s supply chain

Ganesh emphasised BigBasket’s farm-to-fork supply chain network of 60,000 farmers and over 40 percent of its sales coming from private labels, of which it has full control over backend integration.

“Big Basket has got unique, unbeatable strengths for them to win. They have a huge amount of supply chain advantages in the grocery space because of what they have done. They have entire Tata Group companies (brands such as Starbucks and Croma), which is part of the inventory,” he explained.

Ganesh said, “Big Basket is an e-grocery business. The strengths of Big Basket are the deep integration with farmers, full understanding of the supply chain. So those strengths make it a very strong player in the e-grocery segment.”

He added that BigBasket’s farm-to-fork strategy gives them full control of the supply chain and its quality, which is not true in the case of dark stores that are used by most of its rival quick commerce competitors, helping the former keep costs in check.

BigBasket is rolling out its quick food delivery service too in 2025 to compete with Swiggy’s Bolt, Zepto Café, and Blinkit’s Bistro. The company will also start medicine deliveries via Tata 1mg.

The forays come at a time when quick commerce companies are entering new sectors to push up average order values (AOVs) and improve their profitability.