During the coronavirus pandemic, e-commerce has become prevalent among Asians. People living away from family have often booked delivery for their elderly parents, when physically they have failed to drop off parcels at their doorstep.
The change in shopping pattern has caused retailers to adapt quickly too. Though this could create long term challenges, the e-commerce business is booming, with more and more people shopping online.
40-year-old Preeti lives in Fulham. Before the lockdown she had never used an online portal to shop for her Indian grocery. “I liked to go to Ealing, Southall or Wembley to pick up my regular Indian shopping. We are a family of five. My children love South Indian food. It is rather easy to drive from home and go to West or North West London to shop for our Indian grocery. We occasionally walk into the Indian restaurants around and visit temples too.”
After the coronavirus pandemic, Preeti and husband who are both IT professionals, decided to shop online for grocery and required Indian spices. This was their first interaction with Red Rickshaw, UK’s number one and first ever online Asian grocer.
Red Rickshaw employs a global staff serving thousands of international customers and was founded by Jyoti Patel. After university, she worked at the London Stock Exchange, but food was always her hobby. It was 2009, when e-commerce businesses were booming, and she thought of Red Rickshaw, now the largest online Asian grocery store in the UK, and a top wholesaler to Michelin-starred restaurants.
Speaking to Asian Voice, a mother of two, 39-year-old Jyoti said, “Mid March before people anticipated the lockdown, there was almost a panic a food shortage. We were inundated with orders. It has further impacted now, and we have worked on our capacity to service everyone purchasing now. The biggest challenge now is the shortage of stock. Whilst we are getting the delivery, we get sold out very quickly. With global supply chain being impacted, manufacture was effected, and we were also impacted. It is still taking a bit of time to get the volume of grocery in. A lot of grocery come from India, if they cant come to this country, there is a scarcity. Even if we dispatched delivery on time, some of the courier companies were held in their depot. But it’s getting much better.”
They use contactless deliveries like DHL courier, which leaves it at the doorstep, specially for vulnerable. Red Rickshaw provides grocery and recipe boxes for NHS staff at a discount.
Speaking about competition, Patel said, “There are so many companies, now even Cash and Carries who are delivering. Many manufactures are struggling with stocks, but those have surplus, who used to deliver to restaurants, have now turned into retail.
“Traditionally people liked to touch and feel their vegetables and so it is difficult to trust someone else to pick the best of the bunch for them. However, we have found that our customers praise the quality of our fruit and vegetables as it is fresher than what they find on the high street shops. We sort through them, clean them and ensure we only dispatch the best quality of groceries.”
Cocofina online sales grow by 4000%
Exporting organic food and drink to 28 countries, Cocofina Ltd is based across London and Kent, with a shop in Ickenham. Employing four people in head office, and providing employment to more people indirectly in production and logistics, the coconut experts produce staples like coconut oil and coconut water, as well as specialist products.
However, coronavirus has meant the raw material for Cocofina’s range of products has become harder to source, though their online business has grown by 4000% overnight. Owner, Jacob Thundil, discussed how his company’s structure changed overnight into a buzzing e-commerce wholesaler. “Coronavirus has affected our supply chain in ways we could not imagine. Although we produce most of our products in the UK, the availability of raw material has caused a lot of issues. We had numerous shipments in transit and getting paperwork to clear the shipments was challenging, although I was pleased with the amount support offered by the ports to avoid disruption.
“We have followed government advice and closed our shop. As a result, we have had to adapt quickly to meet changing customer demands, and ensure existing customers are not left disappointed.
“Our online sales have grown by 4000%, so overnight our business has transformed from a predominately ‘brick and mortar’ retail and wholesale business to a buzzing e-commerce business. This has changed the cost structure and staffing, and we are now constantly evolving, connecting and speaking to customers through a range of digital channels.
“Through the business support schemes available, we have been successful in receiving a Small Business Grant for our retail premises, and a 100% business rates reduction. Hillingdon Council made the process easy.
“We believe at the end of this period we will emerge as a stronger business - if there is a stress test for a small business, this is it!”
