Indian Grocery Marketplace ‘Quicklly’, Launches in San Francisco Bay Area
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Indian American-founded South Asian local food and grocery marketplace Quicklly, which is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Nov. 23 announced that it has expanded its reach, opening operations in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
- San Francisco, CA (1888PressRelease) December 31, 2020 - Beginning Nov. 23, customers throughout the city of San Francisco extending south through to San Mateo, were opened up for access to the Quicklly marketplace and delivery site, according to a company news release.
Quicklly, founded by Indian American entrepreneur Keval Raj, connects people with local South Asian markets, restaurants and caterers; allows them to order online; and manages delivery for vendors.
For Raj, the inspiration of Quicklly came from the real-life challenge he faced while studying.
“The difficulty was in finding online ethnic groceries or any marketplace that catered to Southeast Asians,” Raj told India-West. “Generally not centrally located, it takes an average of 15 miles/45 minutes for today’s already time-constrained consumer to drive to an ethnic grocery store,” he said.
Raj notes that customers pay on average 25 percent to 35 percent more for ethnic groceries in regular stores if they can find them.
That led to Raj to launch Quicklly in January 2018.
Most vendors on the Quicklly platform are small businesses that are not on other e-commerce or delivery apps. Customers can shop and place orders from several grocers and restaurants and have everything come in one delivery.
“Our range of product offerings provides the Southeast Asian community a one-stop solution for all their needs. Our key differentiators lie in both the technology and the high level of customer service that we provide. Additionally, our services encourage customers to shop and support local,” Raj told India-West.
The company has nearly 15,000 customers and 60-plus vendors in its hometown of Chicago.
“We’ve had thousands of requests for Bay Area service since our launch in Chicago, from both consumers and vendors,” Raj said when announcing the expansion into the Bay Area. “The Bay Area has a high concentration of South Asian residents, which made it an attractive market for us,” he added.
In its short time since entering the Bay Area market, Quicklly has already onboarded more than 30 vendors, spanning specialty grocers and restaurants, including India Foods, Niligris Cash & Carry, Sakoon, Kabila, Sankranti and Mangoes Indian Cuisine. Customers can order groceries, takeout meals, and even meal kits, the release said.
One vendor, Fremont, California-based India Foods and its manager Krishna Bhupal, is thrilled with what Quicklly has to offer.
“The Quicklly team has been super helpful with the overall store onboarding process, training us on key systems and operational processes to ensure smooth sailing in today’s unprecedented times,” Bhupal said in the release.
“Quicklly’s tech, marketing, delivery, and operations support has been available from day one. We are not only live on their digital platform, but we have been receiving daily orders within the first day of our launch, and our number of orders are growing 100 percent week over week,” he added.
Bhupal went on to say that his company tried traditional delivery apps but their fees were high, their delivery areas were small, and no one was going after a single South Asian ethnicity food.
Quicklly has a much broader delivery area, Bhupal noted, “expanding our reach within the South Asian audience significantly, and also has much lower fees.”
India Foods anticipates making as much in a week with Quicklly as it did in a month with any other delivery apps out there.
Raj told India-West that Quicklly will be expanding beyond the Bay Area in the not too distant future to other highly-concentrated areas of Southeast Asians, hoping to deliver similar success stories to other companies.
“We have the plan to expand in Q2 2021 to New Jersey and Toronto based on the research,” he said.
Quicklly uses proprietary in-house technology, including Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models, to help vendors identify the most popular items to meet local demand.
It also helps vendors diversify their offerings and revenue – for instance, restaurants can also sell grocery items and meal kits. During onboarding, Quicklly helps each vendor tailor its offering for the local market. Traditional delivery apps don’t provide that advice or flexibility, the company said in its release.
To date, the company, which has a smartphone app, has over 7,000 users in its two locations. The app has no fee, and offers free delivery for purchases over $30 with same-day delivery service.
Quicklly also announced recently the introduction of Tiffin Services and Meal Basket. The service is currently operating in Chicago but will soon be in the Bay Area market as well. According to Raj, it is one of the more popular products offered.
Quicklly has grown rapidly since its launch. In 2020, its average order size doubled, revenue grew by 7 times, and its customer base grew by 4 times. Among Quicklly’s advisors are the first investors in Chowbus and former executives at Peapod and Instacart, it said.
More information about Quicklly can be found by visiting www.quicklly.com.
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