Start Online Grocery Dark Store| What is a Dark Store?

Dark Store concept is the newest in the field of grocery retailing & is picking up momentum faster than expected across every country in the world. The problem of the past, of insisting your nearest mom & pop stores to deliver at home, is solved by these online grocery dark stores where the app becomes the single point of contact right from surfing for products available, placing orders, making payments until tracking orders and receiving them! Sounds convenient?
Indeed, it solves one of the major problems of getting essentials delivered to home within minutes!
Let's understand, What is a Dark Store Model? What is the meaning of dark store?
A dark store is a distribution and fulfillment center, only meant for deliveries, from where goods are delivered to a particular locality or an area, within the shortest span of time, usually a few minutes.
As the name suggests, these are “Dark Stores”, and not for the customers to walk in and buy. These are usually located in thickly populated areas, where there is a space for loading & unloading, to facilitate faster deliveries.
How to set up a Dark Store? Or How to start a grocery delivering company?
Here is a consolidation of “04 Steps to Set up dark store”, which is a proven way of launching your dark store or grocery delivery business.
Step 1: Business Plan for Dark Store
Before you begin, it is important to “Budget” your Investment and be prepared for how much funds would be required and when. Capital Investment, Operating costs, breakeven sales, ROI, ROC, Sale Projections, Marketing Budgets, Technology Budgets, and Margins, all of these need to fall in place to build a viable business model. Since the margins in the Dark Store business are thin, you need to be extremely precise and vigilant while building it, to avoid any surprises later.
Step 2: Dark Store Layout
The layout is the heart of the business and needs to be structured to make it most efficient in inwarding, receiving the order, picking, packing, and handover to the delivery partner.
Step 3: Organogram & SOP Designing for your Dark Grocery Stores
The next step is working out your Organogram, which includes the number of team members required to run the Dark Store business, the division of their responsibilities & their key performance indicators. Designing SOPs is of utmost importance to abide by the stringent delivery timelines and ace customer experience. Grocery Dark Stores Standard Operating Procedures must be defined for all the functions including Order Management, Inventory Management, Procurement, Accounts, Last Mile Delivery, HR, IT, and Customer Service until the supporting functions like Housekeeping, Maintenance & Security, etc.
Step 4: Mobile App. development & Software Integration
This involves the entire interface from the front end to the back end for Mobile App (Front end) and the grocery delivery app (back end) . Designing the mobile application, its UI-UX, integrating this app with your ERP, with the last mile delivery partner app to track the deliveries, with your CRM & Loyalty Program.
These are the inevitable 04 Steps for launching your dark store business model and your team needs to be persistently trained for implementation at the ground level while you operate and develop a dark store grocery business model.
As we have witnessed the peak of digitalization post covid, “Dark Stores” (also called "Dark Shops")have evolved as one of the technologically advanced extensions of buying groceries at Hypermarkets and Supermarkets. So, for brands operating their own hypermarkets and supermarkets, “Dark Store” is not a choice for expansion but is a necessity, to retain existing customers
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__Timestamp__
0:00 - Intro
0:31 - What is a Dark Store?
1:05 - Define Dark Store
1:29 - How to set up Dark Store
1:37 - Step 1
2:06 - Step 2
2:27 - Step 3
2:59 - Step 4
3:30 - Conclusion
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[@g.trisha7554]

Never knew businesses like instamart or Blinkit are called Dark Stores. Helpful video

[@yourretailcoach]

Glad it was helpful!