BigBasket sees 300 pc revenue growth over past year, to become profitable by March 2018

With people becoming comfortable buying even milk and bread online, e-grocery platform BigBasket today said it has seen 300 per cent growth in revenue in the past one year and expects to cross the Rs 2,000 crore-milestone by the fiscal-end.
According to a PTI report: With four million registered customers, the Bengaluru- based firm expects to become profitable by March 2018.
“In the past year alone, we have seen over a 300 per cent growth and continue to grow by 10 per cent on a month-on-month basis. We hope to triple revenues to Rs 2,000 crore by March 2017,” Co-founder, BigBasket, Vipul Parekh was quoted by PTI as saying.
“However, these numbers do not include the impact of demonetization that has in fact, pushed our sales up by 25-40 per cent. We are still to assess the total impact on the annual revenue,” he was further quoted by PTI as saying, adding that the numbers will be north of Rs 2,000 crore.
BigBasket has a presence in over 30 cities across the country. It processes over 50,000 orders a day.
“Overall in the past five years, BigBasket’s average monthly customer spend has grown from Rs 500-800 in December 2011 to over Rs 2,500. The frequency of purchase has also gone up from once a month to 3-4 times a month,” he was quoted by PTI as saying.
Asked about profitability, Parekh said the company has achieved break-even in about half of the cities of its operation.
“In the next year and a half, say by March 2018, we will be profitable across our business,” he was quoted by PTI as saying.
BigBasket was founded in December, 2011 by a team of five — VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari. The company has raised about US $220 million so far from investors including Abraaj Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Growthstory, Helion Venture Partners, IFC and Sands Capital.
Parekh said the real strength of the company is in its inventory-led delivery model.
To ensure freshness of produce in categories like fruits and vegetables (18 per cent of BigBasket’s business), it sources 60 per cent of its sales directly from farmers. Direct sourcing has increased margins by 6-7 per cent.
BigBasket is focused on growing its organic produce and private labels and is expecting to see this business grow to 40 per cent by next year from 35 per cent at present.