The stumbling blocks on the road to digitisation of kirana stores

With over 90% of Indian FMCG market being fragmented and dominated by kirana stores of all sizes, the FMCG players such as brands, wholesalers, e-commerce players, foodtech players etc. have realised they need to partner with kirana stores if there want to drive growth for their respective businesses. While there are many areas (last-mile delivery, supply optimisation, omni-channel presence etc.) in which they can partner with kirana stores, it can happen only if these kirana stores get digitised.

While most of the kirana store owners have expressed their willingness to get digitised, there is a trust deficit among them that these FMCG players are out to take away their businesses; they are concerned that:

1. The FMCG players will use the inventory data of the kirana stores to set-up their own dark stores and eventually directly compete against them
2. The FMCG players will the data relating to the customers of the kirana stores to sell products directly to them

Hence it is imperative that these FMCG players have to show that they are here to protect the interest of these kirana stores if they want to build a long and successful partnership with them. It is not only about what they will do for these kirana stores but also about they will NOT do to these store owners (i.e. take away their consumers)

What the kirana stores need today is a partnership with a neutral platform – a player who does not have an exclusive contract with a particular FMCG player and has no business in selling products directly to the consumers. They need a partner who will protect their data relating to both their consumers and their store.  They need a partner who can be a White Knight to them and not a Trojan Horse.

This is the reason why SnapBizz has been able to gain the trust of the kirana stores owners to use our solution. We are a technology player/platform that is not into the business of buying and selling of supplies but rather facilitate the transactions among the players within the FMCG ecosystem.