Grofers, bigbasket to the rescue: E-portals save residents from pricey tomatoes

A number of city residents have started buying vegetables online after a recent hike in the prices.

A number of city residents have started buying vegetables online after a recent hike in the prices.

Tomatoes are being sold at a price of Rs 30-40 per kg on e-portals. (HT Photo)

Residents said that the vegetables are at least Rs 15-20 cheaper on e-commerce websites and applications like Grofers, Peppertap and bigbasket than the conventional stores.

The prices of vegetables, especially tomatoes, have skyrocketed in the past few days from Rs 30 per kilogram to over Rs 60 per kg. In several posh localities of New Gurgaon, including Nirvana Country, South City, Sushant Lok and parts of DLF, residents paid around Rs 55 to Rs 60 per kg for tomatoes on Wednesday. The prices are likely to rise as the supply to the Gurgaon wholesale market is down to almost half from the past couple of days.

“I went to buy tomatoes at a local store and the owner was selling tomatoes at Rs 55 for a kilogram. I was shocked as only a few days ago, the price was merely Rs 30. My daughter told me to check the prices online and Grofers is selling it for Rs 31 per kg,” said Meher Singh of DLF Phase 2.

Sagarika Singh of Sushant Lok said, “I ordered onions from Big Basket for Rs 16 per kg. I could not believe the price at first as the shopkeeper near my house is selling onions for Rs 30 per kg.”

Attractive promotional offers, free gifts and home delivery services also lure a lot of people.

“When I ordered one kg of potatoes from a particular website, I got a 10% discount. These schemes are definitely a plus point for us as well as them,” said Shika Gupta of Sector 17.

A senior official of an e-commerce website said they are able to maintain low prices even during fluctuations because they procure tonnes of vegetables in one go, decreasing the per kg prices.

At a lot of places, these portals have direct tie-ups with farmers and they are able to buy vegetables at lower prices without any middle men commissions.