My DMart Ready experience so far (Hyderabad). Hope this is of some value. Note: The word store here implies DMart Ready pickup centres in this post.
- The website is excellent in my opinion (https://www.dmart.in/), especially when it comes to usability. There is attention paid to subtle but important details, which we observe as we use it more. I used big basket website, but I feel DMart Ready website is easier to locate items of my interest and look at alternative brand or alternative quantities. Of course, a lot more can be (and will be) improved further. There is also an app, which is okay, nothing to complain about.
- I also notice that the DMart Ready stores are increasing around. It used to be a 4-5 km travel for me to pickup, and after few months an additional store came up within 2-3 km. I could not say they’re increasing these stores rapidly, though. As of now there are 14 such stores in Hyderabad. One can get the list here. Though there is a regular dmart store on the other side for about the same distance, I prefer dmart ready as I could avoid the crowds. I haven’t figured out dmart’s basis of selecting an area for dmart ready store in relation with the location of regular store.
- Regarding the assortment of the items, dmart ready has most items, but I think the regular dmart store has much more items in some categories like toys and games, plastics, etc. It is interesting to think about why not all the items are made available through dmart ready. It is possible, we purchase some of these items only after physically seeing them. That’s only my guess. There may be other reasons.
- It looks like, dmart is very selective about offering home delivery. It’s been more than 6 months, yet dmart has not made home delivery available to my pincode even though they can charge for home delivery. Only self pick up from the store.
- The store is usually on the side of the main road, clear DMart Ready branding makes it easier to locate. There is no dedicated parking, as the customer is not expected to spend more than 10-15min. The stores are spacious enough to keep several oft-forgotten items that we usually forget to add to the grocery list like light bulbs, cleaning towels, etc. Since there is no rush, we tend to browse the store for some time and pick an item or two which can be paid separately. As with dmart, the prices are cheaper for these items, but I think these are of higher margin items compared to staples for sure.
- The store is air-conditioned and there are about three staff members at the store. Two of them take care of moving the delivery boxes, and one at the computer to recheck the items during the pickup and billing. From my observation, one person seems to be experienced and like a mentor for the other two.
- Interestingly, there are no temptation items at the store like chocolates, mints, etc. It seems dmart is trying to help the customers get those occasionally required items, not to trick them to spend more that may make one regret later.
- It’s nice that there is refrigerator for freezer items till we come and pick up. The glass bottles (pickles, etc) are packed with extra care.
I don’t know if the prices at dmart ready are any different from the regular dmart store. I expect them to be mostly the same (Please let me know if you find out otherwise).
Going through this thread, I sense there is (or was?) one concern for dmart sceptics, that of the impact of ecommerce competition in dmart’s revenue and future. There are also interesting discussions on the valuation of dmart. DMart Ready is probably at the intersection of these concerns.
In DMart Ready, they’re definitely building a solidly grounded ecommerce wing. If profitable, this can give the ecommerce players very tough competition. What is the value of dmart when it is profitable and successful in both B&M stores and in ecommerce? I have no idea. However, I think this interesting combination should now be kept in mind for valuing DMart as it plays out.
Having said that, as far as management is concerned, DMart is simply a low-cost retailer. B&M store and DMart Ready are just two avenues to that end (pun unintended!).
Disclosure: Invested