City start-up bridges last mile e-tailing divide in rural India

The rural e-commerce firm — whichhas been operational since 2013 and caters to 3 lakh villages across 16 states — takes pride in counting its local connectas its strength.

“The rural market is vast and most people do not understand it,” says co-founder Ramachandran Ramanathan said. “Contrary to popular beliefs, the population located across rural India is extremely aspirational and has disposable income to purchase white-branded goods. But the way they need to be approached is different,” he added.

For example, the average call time recorded for customer service is 11 minutes. “Unlike consumers from urban areas, they do not like to get straight to the point. They are more reticent and polite and hence our customer care executives take more time to interact with them,” Ramanathan said.

This local connect also comes handy during delivering products. The company follows an assisted sale model with the help of local affiliates who have access to the Boonbox app.

These affiliates place the orders on the consumer’s behalf and collect the money. The products are then sourced from original equipment manufacturer and delivered by Boonbox through their huband spoke method straight at the customer’s doorstep.

“We employ local teams from villages and taluks in the logistics as they have more knowledge about the area irrespective of the postal address. We ask the consumers to help us with landmarks and since we have their phone numbers, it becomes relatively easy for the local partners to ensure that the products are delivered on time,” said Ramanathan. Using local teams also helps in establishing trust amongthe consumers, he added. Currently, Boonbox claims to have 10,000 affiliate app users.

Speaking about the role of technology, he said the company uses an app to save the routes already taken by delivery partners for future referencing. This becomes helpful especially in areas where even Google Map does not have sufficient information. “We use a route optimisation engine and all the delivery routes used are saved in the app. Hence, when the same customers place more orders, deliverybecomes a lot easier,” said Ramanathan.

Interestingly, most of the products that are ordered off Boonbox are electronic household appliances such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, kitchen appliances, and mobile phones. “The demands from this segment have been quite specific. For example, if they want a washing machine, they know which model they want from a particular brand and in which colour,” Ramanathan said.

“About 78 per cent of the people in these areas use smartphones. They are brand-conscious and only buy products that they have seen on television. But, their demands are usually unfulfilled, because other e-commerce players stop their distribution networks in rural areaswith 20,000 people, which is where we step in,” he added.