Detailed Business Plan for ABC Grocery Ltd E-Grocery Startup

This report presents a detailed business plan for ABC Grocery Ltd, an e-grocery startup in India. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the need for online grocery services due to time constraints. The introduction outlines the business concept, emphasizing both physical and online sales with home delivery. A literature review discusses the significance of the retail food industry and the rise of online grocery shopping. The plan analyzes market opportunities, including marketing strategies and target customer profiles, such as families and students. The products and services offered are listed, along with an analysis of the competition, including Walmart and Netgrocer, and the competitive advantages of ABC Grocery Ltd, such as organic products and targeted marketing. The report includes a management team overview and an implementation plan, covering securing office space, obtaining licenses, sourcing stock, website development, staff recruitment, and client acquisition. The conclusion emphasizes the growth potential of e-groceries and the importance of understanding customer characteristics. References are provided at the end.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1
Business Research Methodology
Name
Date of Submission

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2
Executive summary
The need for buying fresh grocery products is quite common for all shoppers globally.
However, with limited time factors, most shoppers have little time to go to shop physically to the
supermarkets. Majority of the consumers have welcomed the concept of online groceries (Zhu &
Semeijn, 2015). Considering the fact that the consumers are not always able to physically pick
the products, the grocers are tasked with convincing the customers that the online-ordered
grocery products are of high quality.
Introduction
On most occasions, starting a business can be confusing and a complex process for
business people (Kolvereid, 2016). The food industry is still in great demand for entrepreneurs as
the globe is faced with increased population as well as complex tastes and preferences of the
consumers. The e-grocery store is the proposed project for this research to be set up in India. In
the past, groceries were owned by small families who managed supermarkets and all the
management tasks involved and most businesses fail to thrive due to financial problems. This
company will be involved in physical sales and home-based delivery of grocery products to the
people who cannot access grocery shops (Machackova et al., 2018). In this case however, the
grocery product orders will be sourced using mobile phone calls and company websites.
However, the customers need to pay for the cost of the groceries as well as an additional amount
for the service delivery to their premises. In order to attract more clients to the new business,
special discounts and other offers will be given to the target population such as families and
college students, all who are likely to be potential and frequent clients.
Literature Review

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3
The significance of food is universal and thus the retail food industry forms a vital
economic activity in business globally. Considering the case of Americans, all food is supplied
from the super and hypermarkets, where customers go to these traditional stores to make
purchases. The emergence of grocers who offer online ordering and subsequent home deliveries,
grocery shopping has become quite significant (Visser et al., 2014). The new start-up groceries
are out to compete with established players. The online groceries employ various operation
strategies and business models; although there are significant failures in this industry. In the
modern world, online grocery shopping has been embraced because people have less free time.
As a result of competing demands based on work, home chores and limited time, most people
have adopted the online shopping strategies like online groceries. For those who must insist on
the physical inspection of the goods, the ABC grocery Ltd, will still have physical stores at the
city center. Therefore, this proposed business will encourage both online and physical grocery
shopping to meet the customer needs (Cagliano et al., 2014).
The electronic channels in business offers various business alternatives to the physical
stores. In most cases, the selection of items in a physical store is so limited due to space, but
electronic channels overcome this drawback. The electronic platforms provide unlimited space at
a relatively cheap cost offering customers a wide range of product selection options (Kurnia et
al., 2015). For the case of a grocery store, the online business platforms might not provide an
opportunity to inspect the goods physically. The online stores only display pictures and product
descriptions and customers rely on reviews by previous customers. However, the ABC grocery
Ltd will offer free home deliveries for orders above $50. This will save the customers the need to
travel to the supermarkets to purchase the groceries.

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4
Market opportunity
The common methods that will be used in this proposed business are use of posters,
online adverts and use of social media like Twitter and Facebook. Some other times, broadcast
will be made on the local radio and Tv stations, magazines and newspapers.
Product and services
The products which will be offered by this new business include milk, eggs, yoghurt,
kales, spinach, cabbages, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, plums, potatoes, berries, oranges,
mangoes, bananas, onions and meat. The services will include home-based delivery of the
grocery products to the customer premises at a costs. The e-grocery platform service will also be
offered to help customers make their orders and payments online. In this case, the customers who
want to buy groceries online will use the zip code of the delivery address on the company
website.
Customer profile
Majority of the shoppers in India have a secondary level of education and more than half
of the city residents are internet users. Since most of them are employed or self-employed, aged
between 18-60 years, and have busy lifestyles which makes online shopping tools quite
convenient for them. The three categories of people who can be classified as online grocery users
are the affluent pressed for-time, disabled, and families with young children, which is the
common characteristics of the residents of this city.
Competition
However, this business is likely to face competition from other big players in the same
industry. For instance, the Wal-Mart enjoys a huge and famous brand name which increases its
fame. Walmart has a high customer base due to the long period of time in which they have been

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 5
in operations. This company at the moment owns and also distributes groceries into the grocery
shapes to avoid the function of middle men. The increased social media following makes it less
expensive for advertisement campaigns. Another example is the Netgrocer whose products are so
inexpensive. The weakness associated with Netcgrocer is that it is unknown by many people and
has a less brand selection. On the other hand, the weakness of Walmart is that the grocery store is
not properly advertised, and it is unable to focus well on groceries because they deal with a
number of product categories. Therefore, if ABC grocery can take advantage of these
weaknesses and be able to overcome them, then the proposed business can do very well.
Competitive advantage.
Strength
Our company is unique since it will offer special packages to specified groups of people,
a step that the competitors have not taken (Saeidi et al., 2015). This strategy will offer a quick
buying process bearing in mind that most people lead busy lifestyle and have no enough time to
go to the groceries (Hübner et al., 2016). Additionally, the grocery products to be sold will be
sourced directly from the farm and grown using organic methodsHowever, a weakness that
worries our startup is whether the customers will abandon the big grocers like Walmat, and
decide to shop with us (Yuan et al., 2016). This is because there are some shoppers who are
more into class and the type of businesses that they are associated with.
Opportunity
However, we will overcome this challenge by providing an online presence where clients
can make orders and we will deliver to them. A big opportunity for our business is that we are
geared towards offering health lifestyles through healthy food. Considering that the people are
conscious about healthy living, the organic aspect of our products are likely to attract big sales.

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 6
The concentration of ABC grocery Ltd to Fixxy city will also offer a competitive advantage
since it will show the customers that the business is committed to meeting the needs of customers
at the local level.
Management team
The ABC grocery Ltd will be owned by Apurr and Sarah (the directors), who hold a
Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the university of Toronto. These two people
have worked for a number of years as business consultants in different food companies (Bloom
et al., 2015). Due to their heavy work-load and the overall business management process, the
company will hire a full-time manager to oversee the daily operations at this business. Moreover,
there will be branch managers who will be responsible for the other branches within the city.
Implementation plan
Securing a physical office- this will be assigned to a real estate agent and should take two
weeks.
Obtain licenses- the major legal licenses before the business starts will be obtained from
various legal bodies within one month.
Buying grocery stock- from farmers as well as beginning production from our business
farm- this will take two weeks.
Website- a web developer will be contracted to create and attractive website for this
business to create online presence.
Recruitment of staff- to be done one month after securing office space.
Recruitment of clients- once everything is ready, clients can start purchasing grocery
products and services from ABC grocery Ltd.
Conclusion

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7
As a result of the advancement in technology and internet services, the e-groceries are
getting popular. Therefore, for them to be financially worth of investment, more customers
should adopt these services. This is because they cater for the busy customers who cannot get
time to go to shop physically at the supermarkets. At the same time, investors should study the
customer characteristics in a given area before investing in e-grocery. It is expected that this
business will perform well and with time, it will establish operations in many more towns.
References

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 8
Bloom, N., Sadun, R., & Van Reenen, J. (2015). Do private equity owned firms have better
management practices?. American Economic Review, 105(5), 442-46.
Cagliano, A. C., De Marco, A., Rafele, C., Bragagnini, A., & Gobbato, L. (2015). Analysing the
diffusion of a mobile service supporting the e-grocery supply chain. Business Process
Management Journal, 21(4), 928-963.
Cagliano, A. C., Gobbato, L., Tadei, R., & Perboli, G. (2014). Its for e-grocery business: the
simulation and optimization of urban logistics project. Transportation Research
Procedia, 3, 489-498.
Hübner, A., Kuhn, H., & Wollenburg, J. (2016). Last mile fulfilment and distribution in omni-
channel grocery retailing: a strategic planning framework. International Journal of Retail
& Distribution Management, 44(3), 228-247.
Kolvereid, L. (2016). Preference for self-employment: Prediction of new business start-up
intentions and efforts. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation,
17(2), 100-109.
Kurnia, S., Karnali, R. J., & Rahim, M. M. (2015). A qualitative study of business-to-business
electronic commerce adoption within the Indonesian grocery industry: A multi-theory
perspective. Information & Management, 52(4), 518-536.
Machackova, M., Giertlova, A., Porubska, J., Roe, M., Ramos, C., & Finglas, P. (2018). EuroFIR
Guideline on calculation of nutrient content of foods for food business operators. Food
chemistry, 238, 35-41.
Saeidi, S. P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S. P., & Saaeidi, S. A. (2015). How does corporate
social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 9
competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Business
Research, 68(2), 341-350.
Visser, J., Nemoto, T., & Browne, M. (2014). Home delivery and the impacts on urban freight
transport: A review. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 125, 15-27.
Yuan, M., Pavlidis, Y., Jain, M., & Caster, K. (2016). Walmart online grocery personalization:
Behavioral insights and basket recommendations. In International Conference on
Conceptual Modeling (pp. 49-64). Springer, Cham.
Zhu, Q., & Semeijn, J. (2015). Antecedents of customer behavioral intentions for online grocery
shopping in Western Europe. In European Retail Research (pp. 1-19). Springer Gabler,
Wiesbaden.