Vegetable hawkers gear up against organised retail

Facing the onslaught of organised retail with its air-conditioned ambience and rock bottom prices the country''s vegetable hawkers are revamping their operations.

The hawkers will soon sell fresh fruits and vegetables in the National Capital Region in refrigerated trolleys under an experimental project called Infrachill Direct-to-Home conceived by the Delhi-based ACME Cold Chains.

The project is being launched this summer in the National Capital Region and envisages tapping the potential of vegetable distribution through the portable mobile cold chain to vend fresh farm produce.

A pilot will be run for three months and based on the feedback a national rollout is planned in a phased manner.

ACME Cold Chains will invest Rs1 crore in on the pilot test consisting of the cold chain linking the distribution centre with the hawkers through IT logistics for enabling them to retain the farm freshness of the produce.

Dedicated Mobile Trading Zones will be identified in the cities for the hawkers to vend their products under the brand name `All Fresh''. ACME would source the produce directly from farmers and distribute to the hawkers.

ACME will also help with financing of the carts and depending on the response, micro-finance facility will be tapped. Each of the trolleys would cost about Rs10,000.

In another doorstep delivery initiative, Wadhawan Foods Retail is planning to introduce the doorstep non-store delivery format through HLL''s Sangam Direct before it launches its Spinach stores in new markets.

The company intends to add categories such as frozen foods and fruits and vegetables to its list of doorstep deliveries.

Having set up multi-channel distribution systems, Wadhwan Foods would be exploiting the synergies between its store and non-store formats. For instance, it would now have the call centres operating on behalf of Sangam Direct to direct calls to its nearest Spinach outlets to service customers.

Instead of contacting the warehouses, the call centres would contact the nearest Spinach stores, saving on delivery time. Company officials said the biggest challenge in non store formats included achieving scale and competencies.