Kirana stores have risen to the occasion with their agile and responsive supply chain, easy accessibility to/by consumers, hygienic conditions with ‘limited touch points’ and value-added services

The coronavirus pandemic has taken the world by surprise, eroding almost $500 billion from the market and severely impacting the economy of more than 75 per cent countries in a short span of four months. India has been proactively fighting the pandemic with certain stringent measures such as over a month-long complete lockdown to enforce social distancing and prevent the spread of Covid-19. One of the side-effects of the lockdown is the disruption of production & distribution of goods and services as the manufacturing and logistics operations have been curtailed completely.

However, the traditional mom-and-pop shops, popularity known as the kirana stores in India, have emerged as the lifeline of the country to fulfil the essential needs of 1.3 billion inhabitants. These stores were marginalised in the last decade by modern organised retail and e-commerce platforms, especially in the urban areas, but have flourished again as the modern trade grapples with restrictive Government policies, supply chain issues and non-availability of labour.

Here are reasons why these kirana stores have emerged as winners at the time of global crisis.

Firstly, they maintain a robust supply chain, with inventory replenishment, and frequent deliveries by suppliers. They can cope up with the reduced production and supply as they carry limited product variety, have mostly cash-to-cash payment cycle and have low returns. They are easily accessible by the distributors even if they are in small and narrow streets as most deliveries can be made by the suppliers on smaller vehicles, such as hand-operated or battery-operated rickshaws. Moreover, many store owners/staff go to the wholesale distribution outlets themselves, enabling them to overcome labour shortages. They also enjoy strong and close relationships with the suppliers/distributors because of long-term association and networks.

Secondly, they have lesser safety concerns over Covid-19 infections being spread among consumers as they are visited in less numbers and frequency. Trust has become an important currency with consumers as more attention is paid to stringent health, hygiene and safety norms of social distancing, sensitisation and deep cleaning. Consumers continue to rely on these stores during the lockdown as maintaining stringent safety norms and social distancing of 6 feet are easy to follow in the small shops than in supermarkets.

The customers are served at the door of the store precluding the need of the customer to enter the store. Use of sanitiser or handwash, masks and gloves by the owner and staff members is a more common sight in these stores nowadays.

Thirdly, accessibility has always been a key strength of kirana shops, especially in small towns and villages, which account for 70 per cent retail spending in India. The e-commerce and modern trade platforms are more prominent in large cities and metros. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these stores are leveraging their proximity to the end-consumers to provide enhanced customer service. As main roads remain inaccessible for cars and other vehicles due to barricades put up to prevent movement except to those having e-pass, for many consumers modern trade is out of reach. The kirana stores located in every nook and corner of the country ensure steady supply of groceries and other essential commodities to the households as many consumers do not mind walking a short distance to get daily needs. Many stores have tied up with the resident welfare associations of housing societies to deliver groceries at the specified time slots where individual customers can pick their packets, and make cash/digital payments.

Fourthly, the kirana stores have leveraged their biggest strength of extending credit facilities to the trusted customers in the hour of need. As many customers struggle with reduced salaries, these stores have come to their rescue with the all familiar phrase of, “Never mind, you can pay tomorrow, or I will put it in the register and you can pay at month end”.

This type of customer service is unheard of in the modern retail. They have also been silently transforming themselves over the years with technology initiatives such as offering customers digital payment options, billing and adoption of inventory management systems to ensure better customer service and efficient operations.

Finally, some of these stores are also serving as the extension counters or last mile delivery hubs and pickup points of many e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Big Basket and modern trade such as Big Bazaar. The e-commerce companies have invested in these stores, overhauling and remodelling them with fresh design, pleasing lighting and technological tools and apps.

In return, these stores provide valuable customer purchase behaviour data thus making it easy to track customer purchases at a micro level. Moreover, these stores also provide value added services such as money transfer, phone recharge facilities and ATMs making them first choice for the consumers who have limited mobility in the present circumstances.

To conclude, one important learning for most consumers from the Covid-19 pandemic is to go back to the essential daily-products and fresh produce and the kirana stores have risen to the occasion remarkably well with their agile and responsive supply chain, easy accessibility to the consumers, hygienic store conditions with “limited touch points” and value-added services.

(The writer is Director of CII School of Logistics; Amity University, Noida where she teaches and researches innovative and emerging supply chain models. She can be contacted at anita.kumar@ciisl.org)