10 - Minute Grocery Deliveries: Why is everyone so outraged?

Seeing and reading on a lot of chatter around -

'Why do we need 10 minute grocery deliveries?'

Reminds me of what a fellow economics professor used to tell us in college -

'The problem with all of you is that you don't know that you don't know.'

At first, I feel this 'cancel culture' mentality has to go. Just because something has come up and you don't agree with it or need it doesn't mean it should not exist in the first place.

A company has been delivering saturated fat on a dollop of dough for ages!

And we all can't stop dancing till the time that fresh loaf of cholesterol arrives at our doorstep.?

I mean, what is the big joy of getting it delivered in less than 30 minutes??

But hey - we've all been doing it ??♂??

So how did this evolve?

30 minute deliveries are now 20 minute deliveries and we are all loving it.

But that's not why I started the article. The article was on what is the big deal with 10 minute deliveries?

As a keen observer of things around me and trying to filter out insight from anything and everything I see, here is a big takeaway I have had for myself.

Technology leads to disruption which causes hard policy push.

This impacts us in ways we can't even imagine!

So simply put - tech leads to disruption which leads to hard policy push.

The policy push often creates tangible impact in our lives.

Let's first start with Food - Tech.

Did India not have restaurants?

Did we not eat food?

Was life so complicated?

What problem has food-tech solved?

We all get pretty excited when someone drops words like 'formalisation of economy' and 'double-digit GDP growth'.

But as much as both are correlated - how is one going to drive the other?

A better question to ask should be - Who is going to drive formalisation?

Millions of restaurants, eateries and even roadside stalls are able to record transactions and 'formally' comply with taxation (provided they cross the threshold) just because consumer behaviour has driven us lazier to order food on an app.

In fact, thousands of 'gig-workers' who probably had no records of how they make money and what they do with it are now getting 'formalised'.

Riding requires a smartphone - probably a set of wireless headphones to co-ordinate directions if required, Who would have thought?

Here's what I see -

- Better GST & Taxation compliance

- Formalisation of 'Gig-Economy'

- Better Products to Consumers

- Policy Push: RBI framing LSP regulations

- PM Svanidhi Scheme: roadside eateries to get enrolled on platforms and make them a part of new economy

- FSSAI registrations pushed to ensure safety standards of food items are kept in check

- Restaurant partners choosing better vendors who are FSSAI compliant

(Similar to how GST registered vendors deal with vendors who are GST compliant)

Let's now move to the 'cab-ecosystem'

For years, there has been a colossal failure for citizens to ensure that if they want to go from Point A to Point B, they rely on the 'taxi'.

Problems galore -

1 - Won't go

2 - Won't go

3 - 'Didn't I say, I won't go?'

Enter the app aggregators -

- Everyone wants to drive

- Existing Drivers want to switch

- Huge Incentives to draw people in (faded out over time)

- Ecosystem built for lease financing

- Small aggregators could 'formally' run fleets

Second order thinking on Policy Push -

- Catch hold of the aggregator and mandate EV adoption

- Probably start with 15-20% and scale it up

- Already seeing this play out in a few cities

- Would probably have been difficult in the existing scheme of things

Now let's come to 10-minute grocery deliveries!

Arguments I read and hear:

1 - Why do we need it?

2 - I don't need it.

3 - Why not Ambulance?

4 - It is a non-issue issue

5 - ROAD ACCIDENTS

Let me start right away with accidents. The big argument is - delivery partners are incentivised to deliver early, so they drive recklessly and cause a scope of increased road accidents.?

Great.?

But if you've ever driven in any city, that is not even the issue ??♂??

You see, any footpath you see anywhere, you will observe that more often than not there will be so many hawkers, shops etc. that forget walking on them, even the adjacent road is always parked with some 2-wheeler or car or cycles.

From the perspective of a car owner, you will rarely find a street where you can drive your car properly.

- 2 wheelers and 3 wheelers will keep flip-flopping on lanes

- since there is commerce happening on both sides of the street, there will be people

- Add to that the fact that every car keeps honking as if they have to rush to race on a 100m dash or catch their helicopter with Putin as their co-passenger?

As a tax paying citizen or even as a resident of a particular locality, no one has really pushed this question ??♂?

Here's how I see quick commerce (QC) evolve -

1 - Urban centres will get crowded, access to groceries will be trumped by convenience - QC offers both

2 - As more and more riders ply on the street and do deliveries, we might see '2-wheeler' lanes coming up in cities

3 - Mom and Pop Kirana stores are 'not' going to get replaced, for all you know they might just get 'formalised' too - better compliance on taxes, inclusion under the GST ambit etc.

All startups need not try and solve making the next vaccine or cure for a disease.

There are going to be companies that offer convenience, does not mean everyone has to access it.

Now let's come to the point of 10-minute ambulance deliveries.

Well, even if you are at a 1km radius from any hospital, you are probably not going to get it in 10 minutes.

Why you ask?

Read Above!

Where is the ambulance going to drive?

Life is not a zero - sum game.

Of course, as citizens we all deserve 10 minute ambulance calls as much as getting groceries in under 10 minutes.

Both of them can co-exist!

Life is a positive sum game. There need not be a winner takes all company or entity. We can have multiple winners.?

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