Tata Group-owned e-grocery BigBasket has entered offline retail with the opening of its first brick-and-mortar store in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The store, branded Fresho, sells fresh fruits and vegetables. BigBasket co-founder & CEO Hari Menon said the plan is to clock Rs 12,000 crore in sales from 800 Fresho stores across 10 tier-1 cities by the 2026 fiscal.
“The penetration of fruits and vegetables in an organised format just doesn’t exist in the country other than in Chennai. We thought there was an opportunity for us,” he said.The company, in which the Tatas acquired a 64% stake earlier this year, has tie-ups with 20,000 farmers and operates 60 collection centres. “About 85% of what we sell comes directly from farmers and that piece has scaled up very well for us. We will give access to some 50,000 products through a click-and-pick model, where customers can order online and then pick up the order from Fresho outlets,” Menon said.