PepperTap’s collapse shows everything that is wrong with India’s young internet companies

[Arpit131]

India’s third-largest grocery delivery service is no more.

On April 22, PepperTap, a 17-month-old Gurgaon-headquartered startup, said it will shut its grocery delivery operations. Promoters Navneet Singh and Milind Sharma, who had earlier worked together at logistics startup Delhivery, will now focus on expanding PepperTap’s own logistics business.

Founded in November 2014 by Singh, an Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad graduate, and Sharma, PepperTap was built to deliver groceries from local stores to neighbourhood customers within two hours. Orders could be placed through the company’s mobile app or website.

Like most business-to-consumer (B2C) startups in India, PepperTap was in hyper-growth mode in the first year of its life. By October 2015, the company had expanded business to 17 cities and was delivering an average of 20,000 orders per day. Operating on an inventory-less model, the startup was capital-light.

Despite the “intoxicating” momentum, several things didn’t quite add up, Singh said in a post on YourStory.


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[Kate]

Reminds me of Webvan :D

 

[inforg]

Lots of folks have tried and failed in this endeavor. Margins are just too thin on groceries and customers aren't willing to pay the upcharge that would make it viable.

Hey, it worked as long as we had sales and lost money on every delivery! I'm happy they at least figured it out before they spent all the money and owed creditors a ton of cash they didn't have.

 

[DNScholar]

I think this was a problem of inventory and marketing.