Grocery retail major, BigBasket is eyeing acquisition in smart vending machine startup Kwik24 in a bid to expand its offline presence and strengthen its position against existing players Flipkart and Amazon.
The reported development has come just after Alibaba backed company announced a pact with Kwik24 to deploy smart vending machines in five apartment buildings in Bengaluru.
A source familiar with the matter said,
The strategy is to have Kwik24 work full-time on customised vending machines for BigBasket as they look to scale up this model. The response to these pilots was positive with over 90% of repeat customers.
Meanwhile, a news had surfaced earlier regarding Big basket eyeing major stakes in milk delivery company RainCan. The idea behind this acquisition is to increase the frequency of the customer.
The vending machine has been installed under the Big baskets‘ BB Instant Service. Customers can select fresh fruits and vegetables or other FMGC products the vending machine. Kwik24 has installed the machines over 30 corporate locations in Bengaluru, apart from the residential deployments through BigBasket.
Kwik24, founded in 2016 by Samir Duggal and Neeraj Ray, is a patent-free smart store that has the vision to transform food retail market via its stores in apartments, colleges, offices.
BigBasket has successfully raised $300 million funding led by Chinese coglomerate Alibaba Group. It is in the process of expanding its portfolio through a integration with Paytm Mall and is also reported to venture into private cosmetic labels and meat.