How to Start an Online Grocery Business in Australia?
Countries across the world have experienced a sudden increase in the number of people adopting eCommerce. COVID-19 outbreak did what we were expecting to happen after a few years.
E-commerce spending in Australia has seen a 29% month-on-month increase from March to April this year when lockdowns began. The same trend has been seen across the globe to varying degrees. Much of that shopping includes groceries and household essential items.
Isn’t that a great indication that you should start investing in the eCommerce industry as early as possible? Especially in an online business like Grocery eCommerce.
Let’s understand what is the current state of online grocery shopping in Australia and how can you start your online grocery business.
Scope of Grocery eCommerce Business in Australia
Australia has the most vigorous grocery store and supermarkets in the world making eGrocery one of the rapidly growing industries. But why is it so? It’s because of the changing lifestyle of people. And as a consequence of changing consumer habits, the grocery retail industry in Australia has experienced rapid change over the past few years in terms of digitalization.
“The market size of the Online Grocery Sales industry in Australia has grown 29.7% per year on average between 2015 and 2020.” — IBISWorld
Key Players of Online Grocery Business in Australia
Let’s take a look at the two industry giants who together account for more than 80 per cent of the Australian market.
WOOLWORTHS
Woolworths is an Australian chain of supermarkets and grocery stores owned by Woolworths Group.
It specializes not only in selling grocery items such as vegetable, fruits, meat, processed food but also in selling magazines, health and beauty products, household products, pet and baby supplies and etc. It has around 1000+ stores currently operating in Australia. Woolworths Online (formerly HomeShop) is a “click and collect” and home delivery service for Woolworths supermarkets.
COLES
Coles is an Australian supermarket, retail and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of the Coles Group. It provides everything from groceries to household products. Coles Online is the company’s online shopping (‘click & collect’ and home delivery) service.
Founded in 1914, Coles along with Woolworths forms a near-duopoly of Australian supermarkets, accounting for about 80% of the Australian market.
Here, I am listing a few other online grocery stores based in Australia:
THE FRUIT BOX GROUP
The Fruit Box Group is Australia’s original and largest office fruit and milk delivery service with 20 years’ of experience. From hand-picked seasonal fruit, fresh dairy and plant-based milk to other big-brand tea room essentials like bread and coffee, they have always something healthy for you.
The company offers 50% off on the orders for the first two weeks. Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, they also started offering contactless delivery.
DOORSTEP ORGANICS
Doorstep Organics delivers fresh, certified organic, Australian produce right to your door. Currently, they are delivering to thousands of homes each week throughout Sydney, Wollongong, The South Coast, The Central Coast and The Blue Mountains. They are continually expanding their delivery areas and product range.
AUSSIE HEALTH CO
Aussie Health Co. deals in a slightly different segment. They offer tested natural health products made from premium eco-friendly materials. The offerings include probiotics and enema supplies for detox, therapy & cleansing needs.
How to Start an Online Grocery Business in Australia?
The steps of launching an eCommerce grocery platform are similar across the globe. The only that might differ is the legal requirements and formalities.
Here I am sharing how to start your online grocery business:
Market Research
Market research is the primary and the most important thing to do before starting any kind of business. You should always have an in-depth knowledge of all the aspects of the product or service that you are planning to offer. It can help you identify how your potential customers might view your business.
You should have a clear vision of the audience you want to target. Once you know WHAT you want to offer, you should also know WHO needs it the most and WHERE.
Identifying a target market can also help your company develop effective marketing communication strategies.
Choose The Right Business Model
When it comes to grocery eCommerce, there are several business models to choose from. But here I am sharing the details about the most common business models used by online grocery businesses:
- Online Grocery Store — Single seller
- Online Grocery Marketplace — Multi-seller
Related: Different Business Models To Launch An Online Grocery Business
Building an Online Grocery Website is an important step if you are planning to start an online grocery business. It is important to find a solution that has all the necessary features like BOPIS, Multi-cart feature, Cart sharing feature, Multilingual & Multi-currency functionality, etc.
Software Solution For Online Grocery Store
If you already have a brick and mortar grocery store or warehouse, then you can simply take it online using a ready-made grocery store platform.
For that, you can go for Growcer Lite — a readymade online grocery store solution developed by FATbit Technologies. Here are the highlights of Growcer Lite:
- Easily take your Offline Grocery Store Online
- Ready to use Online Grocery Solution & Buyer App
- Holistic Marketing Module
- Free 1-year Technical Support
Software Solution For Online Grocery Marketplace
The other option is to launch an online grocery marketplace where multiple vendors/sellers from your locality can sign up and start selling online through your grocery website.
There are ample of software solutions available in the market but, I am suggesting another ready-made solution by FATbit Technologies that is highly customizable and scalable — Growcer.
It is a Turnkey Ecommerce Grocery Multivendor Solution used to build multi-seller grocery websites with,
- Effortless Storefront Administration & Management
- Readymade Grocery Buyer & Delivery Apps
- Fully Customizable & Free 1-year Technical Support
It’s easy to get started with an online grocery business with the help of Growcer Lite and Growcer. You can easily build eCommerce websites like The Fruit Box Group, Doorstep Organics and Aussie Health Co with the help of these software solutions.
Navigate to their homepage and check the demo today!
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