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An alternative for crowded stores and late delivery e-commerce groceries
During the launch of SUPERBOX, Herath affirmed that “the Covid19 pandemic fuelled the already steady growth of e-commerce in Sri Lanka. During the lockdown period, we witnessed the urgent requirement for a reliable, safe, and fast supermarket service. Hence, we worked on the idea of creating the ideal solution to offer convenience, speed, and safety to customers”.
Further, In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Morning Business, Herath stated that this initiative was needed in the present situation as most of the online grocery stores are directly linked with their operating stores such as Keels and Food City.
“This is a disadvantage because if an offer is to be provided to customers at online platform, then it is also required to give that same offer at their operating stores where else, SUPERBOX online end-to-end fully-integrated online supermarket does not have such restrictions for giving discounts or offers to the customers”.
According to Herath, this online service only took about four to five months to be fully launched to the public. “Most of the time was spent settling up the warehouse facility and suppliers lined up where else the technical aspect was very simple,” he noted.
When inquired about the investment involved in starting up the online platform, Herath stated that they are not disclosing information about investors and the amount of investment to the public general public as of yet.
What’s the status?
At present, SUPERBOX is operated by a small team of experienced industry professionals to serve customers with proficiency, insights, and professionalism. According to Herath, it’s a 10-member team of employees including the top management.
However, other services such as warehouse, supply chain, delivery, marketing, etc. have been outsourced. “We have outsourced the delivery to Grasshoppers, warehouse management to Logicare (Pvt.) Ltd. In a small team, outsourced services is the strength of the company right now,” Herath mentioned.
Commenting further, he said that one of the unique components of SUPERBOX in comparison to its competitors is pricing followed by Maximum Retail Price (MRP), discounts and promotions, the delivery service, and also the wide range of product choices we have kept in the platform.
“It is a wide choice, in every category you will find something from fresh, chilled, frozen, and dry categories whether its toiletries, imported meat, or anything you can ask for from a normal supermarket,” he said.
SUPERBOX is currently covering almost all parts of the island, however, Western Province is the main targeted location that will have fast and fresh delivery services in comparison to other provinces.
“We want to expand fresh delivery islandwide,” Herath said.
Further, he also mentioned that even though a wide range of products is available from gourmet products with the freshness of fruits and vegetables and other grocery products, SUPERBOX is also planning to expand into other segments and “might later go into electronics and all other consumer goods as well”.
With reference to the press release, Herath had stated that SUPERBOX is strengthened by a tier-1 warehouse management system, world-class ERP solutions, a top-tier e-commerce platform, and unparalleled last-mile delivery by industry expert professional organisations with plans to reach out to customers across the island while also packaging with fully hygienically and adhering to the strict guidelines to ensure safety and delivered in sealed boxes.
Challengers
Even though the website was just launched like any business SUPERBOX has also faced challenges during this pandemic period. According to Herath, one of the key challenges currently faced by SUPERBOX is that people are still adjusting to the online platform, and it will take time for them for people to start purchasing from the online store.
Online grocery market in Sri Lanka is still growing. Hence, the demand is still growing in which we have to push it harder by using a lot of marketing strategies. During Covid-19 the demand was high however now it has come down by three times which is the biggest challenge we are currently facing,” he explained.
Further, he stated that it is not possible to tell the customer base as it’s still at the early stage.
Goal
Focusing on the SUPERBOX goal, Herath stated that the company is aiming to get a market share of 5% within two years’ time under the modern trade.
Accordingly, the targeted customers are medium and upper-class customers. “We want the same customer to keep ordering from us after they purchase for the first time. We want a ‘compounding effect’.”
Platforms were launched by various organisations, business sectors etc. in order to support people during Covid-19. However, not many were held for a sustainable period of time, especially when the market is unstable as they tend to generally produce a niche product with higher prices.
During the launch, Kodikara mentioned that: “We believe that business ventures should transcend beyond mere profit to build social and environmental capital. Striving for environmentally friendly business practices and helping communities are essential ingredients in building a sustainable business.”
This indicates a promise to people across the country in order to provide the essential and nonessential anything and everything as per the requirement of the customer while providing the best quality present at hand.