In conversation with Aastha Almast, Co-founder, The New Shop to know the insights of the business.
If you had to pen down your top 3 learnings from 2021 then what would that be?
Communicate quickly in concise form
Omichannel is the future
Every adversity can be an opportunity, if you decide to see it that way
What is your vision for 2022 for your brand?
- A brand that’s synonymous with quick, convenient and affordable
- We want to build India’s answer to 7Eleven, CircleK, Indomart, Casey’s Jabsons in our own desi way, so that The New Shop is the convenience brand within every Indian’s walking distance and also provides instant doorstep deliveries.
- Unifying India with standardised convenience retail
How are you laying the bricks for growth and success in the New Year? Is it going to be an omnichannel journey or putting action to digital transformation or accelerating processes with technology or something else? Tell us your thoughts.
It has been omnichannel all the way for our brand. We are rapidly expanding our phygital footprint in India, with help of our mass scale real estate partnerships, our exceptional tech and soon to be launched mobile application with our own delivery fleet, to also make ordering daily essentials, groceries, hot food, live cafe items prepared in real time at the stores, and beverages, only a few taps away, available 24/7 in under 30 mins.
How much has the company grown under your leadership in the pandemic period?
We grew 6000x from September 2020 to September 2021; overachieving our projected targets for March 2022 in June 2021 only. Infact, we will do 5X of the revenue that we had projected for March 2022. Currently, we are now at 51 stores and operating in 5 cities of India – Delhi NCR, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Indore and Bangalore and a strong team of 320 members. We are targeting 250+ stores for 2022.
We are being supported by big India conglomerates like Adani Airports, Cube Highways, Indian Railways, Bangalore International Airport and many other entities.
Elaborate on the initiatives ( marketing and digital) which were a success in this period?
There is no bigger marketing than actually identifying and solving a latent need of customers especially during difficult times, and then they themselves are proud to be your brand endorsers. In 2021, we grew organically 70 per cent month on month by being the standardized convenience store in the vicinity of neighbourhoods, transit points and corporate offices, open 24 hours, serving everything that customers need from grocery, OTC, tobacco, home care, pet care to freshly prepared café food, desserts and beverages; and also delivering to their doorstep within 30 mins, 24/7.
Our other brand endorsers were our real estate partners and franchise partners who realised great returns from their investment in our brand and were proud to spread the word and do more business with us.
