An Indian social e-commerce platform called Meesho, provided socialcommerce solutions to people who wanted to launch a new business without requiring a large initial investment or incurring start-up costs. It launched Meesho Superstore, an online grocery business, in April 2022 in six states, with a plan to have Meesho Superstore in 200 cities. However, due to intense competition from big players like Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket, Blinkit and other competitors, Meesho Superstore drastically cut back on its grocery operations, closing ninety percent of its stores in a matter of months. This resulted in the loss of 300 jobs. In 2024, Meesho was eager to return to the grocery industry! According to research, only five percent of grocery sales in India were carried out online. Given the size of the market that could be reached, this presented enormous growth potential for Meesho Superstore. On the other hand, high storage and delivery costs, and the possibility of large operating losses due to perishable goods made inventory management difficult for e-grocery business. This case questions whether or not Meesho Superstore should re-enter the e-grocery business.

Learning Objectives

• Analyse the pros and cons of e-grocery business in India
• Explore strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of e-grocery business
• Understand the challenges and opportunities of contemplating diverse businesses
• Analyse strategic factors to understand possibilities of diversifying into the e-grocery business