Grocery buying at your convenience

Dubai - Online grocery store el Grocer has around 2,750 brands on its marketplace

When your vision comes calling, all you do is persevere to fulfil it. This is precisely what Nader Amiri, founder and CEO of el Grocer, did by quitting a high-flying job at Coca-Cola to start his own venture - el Grocer, an online grocery store.

The startup has around 2,750 brands, leading to over 40,000 products. El Grocer raised its first round of funding through crowdfunding with Eureeca (eureeca.com) and hit its target of $300,000 in just four weeks (from a 12-week campaign) and raised $570,000 (190 per cent over-funded) in just 10 weeks. Besides Eureeca, the venture had funding from two other institutional investors in the same round, bringing the total to just over $1 million raised in June 2017.

"At the moment, we are in discussion with a few reputable and visionary investors for our Series A and we hope to be back next year to tell the story of our new chapter. We believed and continue to believe that if we show strong business fundamentals to investors, along with the right ambition and innovative ideas, those with the vision will see that with our effectiveness and efficiency, the potential is huge once they pull the trigger and decide to scale us quickly," added Amiri.

El Grocer has a vision to evolve grocery shopping habits in the Middle East. Amiri said there is a constant need to keep evolving in order to deliver better experiences to users, retail partners, brand partners and investors.

"We created a work-for-all synergistic platform that fulfils the needs of retailers that struggle to get into the online space, brands that struggle to get in front of buyers during 'purchase moments' in the age of one-tap 30-second orders. That is el Grocer, that is the future that deserves investing in. If you want something simple, if you want to be 'invested in' the e-grocery space, then you should just buy some Amazon or Walmart stocks, like everyone else. It's a safe standard option - one you would invest your pension in."

The venture plans to concentrate more on customer feedback in the second half. Amiri said: "At el Grocer, we don't believe in over planning - we focus on listening and evolving. I know 'not planning' may sound as counter-intuitive and scary to many but because of the mindset we operate with, and that is to get better every month, every week, every day, we are continuously updating our plans to be more ambitious and sharper as we uncover more insights. You can't plan evolution, it's based on feedback.

"I would say our key plan is how to be faster at planning and execution. To grow but stay agile, flexible and fast. Obviously, we also plan to stay focused and keep delivering on our promises to our investors, partners and customers - but we got their trust by being fast and responsive to their needs, so changing that and resting on our previous accomplishments by planning slow and predictable deliverables would be a mistake."

Endorsing the positive sentiment, Raed Hafez, managing director, Nuummite Ventures, said: "As an investor, you look for a fantastic team to invest into or for a fantastic idea. With Nader and el Grocer, we got both. The grocery industry is ripe for disruption and specifically the grocery industry within the Middle East. The consumer habits and the industry structure show clear willingness for a service model akin to el Grocer. Further, when Nader and the team presented the idea, it was clear that the team had a detailed understanding of the market landscape and all the current issues facing the consumer. The team knew all the market players from large retailers to principal suppliers. The technology part was clear and it was all about execution."

Amiri cautioned that in the Middle East, many traditional investors unfortunately see startups as mere numbers without trying to understand the innovation and potential behind the business. There will always be someone that will dump more money into an easy-to-implement 'copy-paste business' and do what you built in years in a month. "That's why we sell our team, intangible assets, experience, development and partnerships to investors," Amiri said.

"Let's be frank, just starting an online grocery business isn't hard - with some Excel experience and woocommerce, you can sell your corner store groceries. But nobody is willing to buy in a woocommerce site, they can just make their own. That's the marginal advantage, that's the difference between being a company that someone just copies or buys out to close it and becoming a strategic partner in your space."

Marcel Lupei, marketing manager, el Grocer, said: "It's a team of excellent individuals that are led by a CEO with immense ambition but not at all costs and this makes results sustainable. I've been around the block enough to understand how rare team plus ambition mixes successfully. You've all been there at some point: working in a cosy workplace where you know you will probably die a slow death. Some of you have been in the opposite position, high-strung boss, the pieces are falling off the boat but the bosses are just glossing over issues congratulating themselves over ever shrinking marginal returns. Nader made it - we get numbers and we do it together as a team. This attitude trickles down to the team and creates a balanced internal culture. We push one another daily but we support one another as well. We're all ambitious but also kind and supportive."

- sandhya@khaleejtimes.com