‘Get Baqala’ will change the way people do grocery shopping
Manama : Everyone goes to the supermarket or hypermarket to get their grocery shopping and so far it has been a necessity to do so. Amjad Puyali and his team from Get Baqala, wants to change this habit by promoting online shopping for groceries. With their app, ‘Get Baqala’, they have already convinced 12 supermarkets to offer their products online. The app acts as a portal for grocery shopping from multiple outlets and in a few clicks the shopping gets done without any added charges. They hope that soon all supermarkets, hypermarkets and cold stores will be available on the app. In an interview with DT News reporter Mohammed Zafran, Amjad explained how he plans to take the entire supermarket sector of Bahrain online. Excerpts from the interview.
How did you get the idea of creating the app?
Think about getting your groceries every week to your office pantry or home - it’s a such a painful process. I hated getting those same items myself and my staff doing this - it’s not productive at all. Well, this is when we thought - we get everything these days delivered with a push of button from taxi to food - but why not your household essentials? This is what we started working on Get Baqala - to solve the problem shopping groceries. We want to make grocery shopping fast, simple and convenient.
How many partners do you think you can tie up in the next five years?
We have number of partners, ranging from local supermarkets to hypermarkets, the corner cold store to big FMCG brands, distributor to manufacturers. Within five years, we believe that we can have the entire grocery eco-system moved to digital - and we will ensure that everybody benefits from the digital journey in the years to come.
How do you spread awareness of your app?
We have very simple philosophy when it comes to spreading awareness, that’s word of mouth. Our current consumers are our main growth drivers and awareness creators. Once a customer uses Baqala App, they definitely share their experience with their friends and families - so word of mouth is best driver so far. Responses are so far very positive and we have customers using the app to delivery their groceries every week.
Has this been useful for retailers as well?
Baqala helps retailers in many ways, number one being acquiring new customers who are not coming to you store regularly. The concept of going to store is going to fade away - this is where retailers have the opportunity to go to the customers wherever they are, and what’s best channel to reach them - mobile. Retailers used to bet on real estate to win the market - now the biggest real estate you can win is in the home screen of customers’ mobile app. Imagine you can open a store in their mobile phone - and offer all your products with the tap of a button while they are on their couch.
Eliminating the physical aspect of getting things done by constant digitization adds convenience, but is it promoting a lazy lifestyle?
No, not all. We want to give back time to our customers so they can utilize it for something productive. Let’s say you enjoy cooking, learn a new dish while we bring the groceries. People can take their children to park or watch movies while we get their groceries. Retailers are currently going through a tough time, and hence they have to find new ways of connecting and transacting with consumers. If you are thinking about leveraging omni-channel retail strategy in future and mobile is an area you want to explore - let them talk to us we can help them to fulfil this through Get Baqala app. We are focused only on mobile app and we are deep diving to make this experience ten times better to the alternative.
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