‘Speed is everything’: Australian e-grocery looks to reinvent local e-commerce with 20-minute delivery promise

08-Sep-2021 - Last updated on 08-Sep-2021 at 02:30 GMT

Australian online supermarket Geezy Go has big ambitions to reinvent local e-commerce in the country by committing to deliveries within 20 minutes or less. ©Getty Images

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Australian online supermarket Geezy Go has big ambitions to reinvent local e-commerce in the country by committing to deliveries within 20 minutes or less, whilst also offering consumers the same product range as conventional supermarkets at more competitive prices.

Australia’s online shopping sector has had a bad reputation for a long time concerning issues such as missing items and speed – this has seen an improvement in the past year due to increased needs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but local online grocer Geezy Go is hoping to take this a step further.

“In Australia, it is common for people to have to wait at least three to four days for deliveries and experience a lot of frustration due to the lack of efficiency – that’s what we aim to change,” Geezy Go VP of Growth and Strategy Dhruv Kohli said.

“To us, speed is everything, and the promise is to deliver groceries within 20 minutes – at present our average delivery time is 11 minutes. There is no minimum order needed for this, and delivery costs are standard at A$3.99 (US$2.92).

“We have ensured that the range of products we provide is similar to those in any big supermarket, from Coca-Cola to Red Bull, and also have the added advantage of being to offer more affordability due to our setup.

“All big supermarkets including Woolworths and Coles incur a lot of expenses whether due to hiring people or real estate costs or so on, and these costs are often passed on to consumers. For us, we operate via ‘dark stores’ - these are stores closed to consumers that function more like warehouses – that each service about a 3km radius via delivery riders so the spend is much lower and our prices are comparable or lower to those in physical stores.”

Geezy Go’s product range currently stands at over 2,000 products, and this is rapidly expanding with more brands expressing interest, especially from a marketing point of view.

“Brands are very interested in the digital marketing aspect, such as having a direct link to purchase their product on a Instagram or Youtube ad – it could be via a ‘Try It Now’ button, which the consumer clicks to purchase and buys the product right away, as opposed to waiting for them to make their next trip to the store to buy it,” said Kohli.

“Oftentimes we also get brands giving us sample products to hand out along with our deliveries, which is a nice touch, and we are also keen to let young startups showcase their products on our platform without needing to worry about the hefty fee or months of waiting needed to get onto Coles or Woolworths shelves.”

Rapid expansion

Speed is also the name of the game when it comes to expansion for the firm – it just launched in Sydney Australia in early August, but already has plans to launch in Melbourne by mid-September and Brisbane by end-September.

“The idea is to go fast, fail fast, learn fast – and at any rate we already have the brands and logistics in place, so fast growth shouldn’t be a problem,” said Kohli.

“Geezy is also present in New Zealand, the UK, the US and India right now, also growing rapidly, and our next targets are Singapore and Malaysia.

“We are aware that consumer spending power is different in different countries though, so we do adjust our fees and products based on the country and demographics – in India for example, the delivery fee is just INR10 (US$0.14) to INR20 (US$0.28) – it’s important to localize, and we’re able to do that with a team in every country we are in.”

Continued growth expected

When asked whether there are any fears about the online shopping trend reversing and affecting Geezy Go’s strategy once the COVID-19 pandemic situation passes, Kohli was positive that recovery will boost business instead.

“Right now it’s true that people are buying online because many have no choice – but what has happened is that this has now become not just a trend but a habit for many consumers, which is likely to continue even post-COVID,” he said.

“The other thing is, when people are back to office and can only get off work at 5.30pm or 6.30pm, the last thing they will want is to wait in supermarket lines especially as everyone will be getting off work at a similar time too.

“So by that time, the value proposition will change, such that they can order their groceries from us at work or on the train or the taxi – and their groceries will have been delivered by the time they get home.