E-Vegetailing helps meet customers demand of fresh farm products
E-Vegetailing helps meet customers demand of fresh farm products

City-based startup E-Vegetailing claims to let customers buy the freshest farm produce directly from the farmer.

Ripe, dew-encrusted tomatoes, cauliflower, brinjals, potatoes, corn are getting home-delivered thanks to technology.

KP Palaniswamy, one of the farmers of Dindigul said, "I had to extend credit as no one has cash on hand. It helps to have an e-platform and online customers."

The idea of E-Vegetailing started in June 2014, when Edwin Rajamohan visited the Ottanchathirum market.

Rajamohan said, "Farmers come there to auction their produce to sellers from Koyambedu. Sellers in turn sell it to other wholesale dealers in Chennai in bulk boxes like 200, 100 and 50. These dealers in turn distribute to warehouses or retail shops, who in sell it to the customer. On average the produce changes hands six times and becomes that much more expensive for customers and farmers, who have to pay a commission to truck loaders."

With E-Vegetailing middlemen are eliminated and farmers can get the full market price for their products.

Palaswamy said, "We have to pay a 10 percent commission to truckers who pick up our goods. Going online has helped our goods fetch better prices at zero commission."

Another differentiator is the startup's revenue model.

Rajamohan said, "We don't charge the farmers, we charge only the customers. So farmers are happy to get onboard our platform. Once customers get a sample of our quality of service, they keep coming back to us."

E-vegetailing currently has partnered with more than 7,000 farmers across five states - Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra - for procurement and distribution. When the company started, it h ad three employees and a handful of pick-up points for vegetables.

It now employs 35 people and has 30 procurement centres. With 20 years of experience in the logistics sector and handing airline cargo, Rajamohan feels that while e-commerce may be a boat everyone is trying to sail on, the difference he brings to the business is his innovations in logistics and professionalism.

Gowri Shankar Subramanian, CEO and Co-founder, Aspire System, said, "A key issue here is the unorganised nature of how farm produce is brought to stores from farmers, wholesale merchants and dealers. As India moves to a more formal economy, there is great potential in investing in a company like this. E-Vegetailing helps both customers and farmers (there is a lot of wastage, when produce changes multiple hands before reaching the end consumer) but this startup employs the right technology and logistics solutions for door-to-door delivery of vegetables."

 
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