Not just cash, cards, also use Sodexo to buy grocery online

We assume if you are reading this story online, you are net savvy. Probably you’ve shopped for airline tickets to railway tickets online. Maybe you’ve bought a few books online, a few clothes or a mobile or a laptop. But what about onions? Would you buy those online? Whether you want to or not is a different thing, but you can as there are a number of grocery portals that have mushroomed of late. Especially if you are in Mumbai, New Delhi, Banglore or Chennai, you certainly are spoilt for choices.

What’s out there: There are a number of portals which offer a wide rage of products. For instance Bigbasket.com, Ekstop.com, Mybaniya.com, Omart and Satvikshop.com

[caption id=“attachment_792025” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The range of category of products go beyond regular fruits and vegetables (including exotic and organic kind), to groceries and staples. Pic: aaramshoppro.com/[/caption]

What’s the range: The range of category of products go beyond regular fruits and vegetables (including exotic and organic kind), to groceries and staples like pluses, oil and ghee and other dairy products and bakery items. Some online portals also allow you to buy over-the-counter medicines to beverages, personal care products to towels, brooms and dusters. Then there are portals that also offer meats, confectioneries and household products such as shoe polish and all this you can shop online. There are portals dedicated to selling Ayurvedic medicines.

Modes of payment: Most portals allow you to pay via net banking, credit cards and debit cards. You also have an option of paying cash on delivery. “A lot of the corporates give their employees Sodexo food coupons, we also accept this mode of payment,” said Sumat Chopra, co-founder and CEO for Ekstop.com. In fact, many online grocery portals today accepts food coupons like Sodexo. This might really work out well those who are unable to redeem such coupons at their malls and co-operative societies as they have stopped accepting food coupons.

Return and refund policy: We suggest that you read the return and refund terms and conditions before buying. This is because you may want to return veggies, fruits and bakery items since when buying online you do not get to actually see and feel the product as you do in a kirana store or mall. When shopping online, you have to decide by just checking the picture of the items. Some portals such as Bigbasket.com have a “no questions asked” return and refund policy. If you return a product at the time of delivery as you are not satisfied with the quality or freshness of the product, you would get a credit note, which you can redeem at the next shopping.

Time of delivery: Most claim to deliver the good on the same day, based upon the time slot within you placed the order. Each portals needs to shop items worth a minimum amount, to qualify for home delivery.

Firstpost take: If you are comfortable shopping online, you might as well give grocery a shot, to see if this mode works for you. Remember, these portals not only offer you convenience, but also have discount schemes from time to time. Also we recommend you shop with reputable portals who have been around for sometime now. May be you could place a smaller order first and check them out before placing a huge order.

And, do let us know about your experience.