[vsrivatsa]

Apart from the brief pause that occured - Amazon Pantry has resumed services in my area and that is a relief. The orders I had placed just prior to the lockdown got delayed by 10 days but was eventually delivered.

Flipkart also worked for me twice before Amazon opened up services to my Pin Code. We were about to run out of the all important Dishwasher Tablets and Flipkart accepted the order and delivered it

Amazon Pantry: Order Placed: 22nd March, Delivered: 01st April
Flipkart: Order Placed 24th March, Delivered 6th April
Flipkart Supermart: Order Placed: 24th March, Delivered: 11th April

In the meanwhile I went to the nearby grocery store - it took me 1hr 20 mins each time I went and stood in the line and it was not a experience I want to repeat.

[khanmaj]

I have been mostly relying on Flipkart for my groceries and essentials even before the lock down. My orders have been delivered by them per the schedule except one which was extended for more than 2 weeks in the beginning of the lock down. The local stores and super markets also have enough stock of almost all the essentials in area (south-west Delhi). Here are the details of my last few orders on flipkart.

Orders Delivery
22/3/2020 23/3/2020
24/3/2020 8/4/2020
9/4/2020 10/4/2020
12/4/2020 16/4/2020 (scheduled)

[karan0009]

Originally Posted by DaptChatterjee

Milk Basket was not delivering a week ago here in sector-55. Have not tried BB daily, do they operate independently of the usual Big Basket? I have seen the options available in Zomato. I will probably try one for Vegetables and fruits.

BB daily is a different app altogether which operates independently. Daily grocery needs are delivered at doorstep before 7 am everyday. Due to lockdown they don't accept more than 10 qty per order.

[vigneshnr]

Originally Posted by mazda4life

Our local MP (Bangalore south ) has a Whatsapp / call centre based grocery delivery system. You can order over phone or app and mention your shop name ( local shops ) and the grocery will be delivered and you pay the guy and moreover there are no delivery charges. My uncles who are aged and stay alone utilise this service and are real happy, issue is that there are too many volunteers to help them for their sparse needs.

I came across this govt initiative recently.. I was part skeptical - a general bias towards anything govt, i suppose. But I am glad that you posted about it. Very happy to know that the service is working well. This will be useful to those with limited access for sure.

In my case, our apartment (300+ flat) has an active core group to manage the supplies of essentials. The small store inside the campus has turned in to a hub and the tech savvy residents created a google form for online ordering. Based on the requirements, the shop owner makes procurement. And time slots are provided twice in a week to collect the goods. And generally all the residents used to a running account with the shop.. say kids pickup a snack etc used to be added up. Now due to the large quantities flowing in, all of us have moved to ready payment on delivery. All things coming together to work in sync.

Just to add, residents have taken the initiative to prepare food for all the staff like house keeping, security etc. This is done on a rotation basis. And we now run on slightly reduced force.

[speedmiester]

I have had no problems visiting the nearby grocery stores along with Reliance Mart near my residence. Most of my visits are for vegetables and fruits, all grocery items are bought up earlier. Reliance Mart gets fresh vegetable and fruit delivery every day in the morning, this helps a lot.
Earlier I used to order on Bigbasket, but with long delivery times, it doesn't make sense to use them now.

[nandadevieast]

Natures Basket:
We ordered lots of stuff, duly delivered. But most oil was about to expire and pulses had insects (daane daane pe likha hai, khaane waale ka naam). Muesli was about to expire. We called them many times but to no avail. They said you give it away, we will refund the money to the wallet, but even that hasn’t happened.

Local grocery stores are turning out to be real friends. A friend in need is a friend indeed And online stores are like rats who are the very first to abandon a ship.

All this said in good humour, but is perhaps true.

Anyone tried Dunzo app? Then there is wefast app. These folks pick up your stuff from any shop and deliver it to you for a fee. Dunzo shows you the open shops in the city and vicinity and wefast is a pure courier service. You tell the shop, and they will get it.

[jd10ent]

I usually do my monthly grocery shopping for major staples from DMart. Beginning of April when I went this time, they had a queue system and allowing 10-15 people in at a time and that too for only 15 mins per batch. That was way too less to do any serious shopping.
I am lucky enough to have a kirana and dairy shop in the building I reside in and a well-stocked vegetable & fruit vendor across the road. So I just walk down once in 2-3 days and get whatever I need. No hassle. Just out of curiosity I checked BigBasket, Amazon Pantry but either all slots are full or delivery dates are way off in the future.
The local kiranas shops have done a wonderful job in ensuring all essential food items have been available for the general population. Kudos to them!!

[sinharishi]

My elderly parents in Mumbai:

- RWA has arranged for a vegetable vendor inside the society. Time slots allotted to residents as per their wings (A/B) to make sure people do not crowd at once. Total 6 wings, vendor comes every alternate days.

- Nearby placed are sealed, grocery has been a challenge for them. My Uncle has delivered 2 months of basic essentials at their doorstep. Both are 60+ and I've strictly asked them not to step out.

- Online? Father tried Big Bazaar (the only one taking order for the locality). Paid all amount online, got a message few mins later 18 items cannot be delivered. No refund till date, 10 days have gone by!

- Medicines: Mother is diabetic and has high BP. Netmeds is doing a great job. Medicines delivered on time.

Me, stuck at my In-laws in Greater Noida (NCR):

- Its business as usual here. There are 7 general stores, 4 vegetables/fruits shops, 3 medical shops, 2 ATMs and 2 supermarket inside the complex. I step out once a week to stock on essentials, I make sure I am going out after 12pm or before 4pm to avoid queuing up in those circles. These shops are also delivering at home.

- Most of the residential complex in NCR are managing with their in-house stores.

- We get Milk delivered at doorstep. We rely on a vendor for drinking water, he delivers 2x 20 Litres Bisleri bottles at doorstep, comes every 3rd day.

- Online orders: Had to order pet food for our dog along with some treats, ordered from Petsutra, delivered within 2 days. Ordered coffee from sleepy owl, delivered within 2 days. Ordered meat from Freshtohome, delivered in less than 24 hours.

- Dominos/Zomato has started delivering food here.

[sandeepmohan]

Reporting from the Southern Hemisphere.

Its not been too bad actually. Delivery of groceries is an option but we've been going to the super market to pick up things. They are limiting the number of people entering the super market at a given time. Queues are seen outside the super market. People maintain a good 10 feet distance from each other. A guard mans entry and reminds you to sanitize before and after you shop. A dispenser has been provided. While cash is accepted, the super market prefers contact-less, pay wave via debit/credit card/smart watch.

We miss the usual vegetable market which operates on weekends, where farmers brings fresh produce. Not all Indian vegetables are available at the super market. Tomatoes are 5x the cost at the super market!

Our local butcher started contact-less delivery. They drop cut meats on our door step, knock and leave. We wire transfer payment.

Cold cut meats (bacon, salami, etc), fresh fish and prepared salads were not available for purchase in the last 3 weeks so managed with processed, tin food.

To avoid queues, we've identified specific times of the day (Lunch hour, early evening) when queues are non existent and shop during the times. We try and avoid weekends as that's when queues are long.

Our Indian super market has run out of smaller quantities of grains. We usually buy a 5 kilo bag of sona masoori rice and ITC atta. When we went yesterday, they were out of 5 kilo bags. Minimum available was 10 kilo.

The days of over filed shopping carts have reduced. Most people are buying what they need and leave.

[vivek_lm]

Big basket all the way! They haven't failed us yet. We've been ordering twice a week for the past 3 weeks with a delivery rate of > 95% (only the occasional odd perishable had got undelivered). Maybe being their "bbstar" customer helped, not sure. Yes there were the initial hiccups regarding app crashes and no delivery slots etc. Even now the slots are hard to come by, so you need to keep checking very frequently.

As for medicines, again home delivery by Apollo pharmacy.

Meat (regularly) and fish (rarely) from freshtohome.

Bottom line, we haven't had to step out of the house after 21st March.

[alphadog]

My family, including my parents are based in Thrissur, KL. So far, we have not faced shortage or difficulty in getting our groceries. The nearby street corner shops are open for the essentials - milk, eggs, bread and vegetables. We have a gardener cum handyman who gets the stuff home for us. For some other purchases we place the order through whatsapp and the local supermarket delivers the items home, in a large cloth bag. Also, my parents have a home organic vegetable garden and most of our veggie needs are taken care by that. As a family, we have made a decision not to consume any white or red meat during this time and hence, have not tried to procure it.

I have heard that the ration shops have been utilized quite well, to provide the essentials to the not so well to do people as well. There are various volunteer groups as well which are delivering essentials to elderly people and such like who cannot step out from their home.

For the purchased and delivered stuff, we are of course following the usual precautions of washing the items as much as practically possible and thoroughly sanitising the containers, cartons and bags.

Cheerio!

[VJ05]

Being a Supply Chain Professional, I think e-retailers like BigBasket, Grofers etc. have messed up their supply chain big time during the current period. With all the VC fundings and government support (essential services pass), these guys are not able to continue delivering what they are supposed to. In the last month or so, whenever I checked their apps, slots were full. According to few of my family members who were able to order from Grofers, they have limited slots which get full very fast. They have also increased the threshold for shipping charge and increased the price of most of the items.

In this situation, local Kirana Store has proved to be boon supplying all the necesssary items and supporting the community in these tough times.

[Vegitocat]

Although Amazon Pantry has started delivery now, I had to rely on an entirely new set of hyperlocal delivery apps for essentials. Both Big Basket and Amazon went belly up when the lockdown began and I usually shop from them. DUNZO and SUPR DAILY have been the mainstay of all my shopping since the lockdown began and I have not stepped out to buy anything.

[Abbas]

Hello All,

We have had similar experience where Big Basket and Grofers have failed big time in our city Surat. And seeing that many BPL people have lost their livelihood, we started our own grocery delivery portal almost overnight. its www.burhanisuperstore.com

The concept is that when an order is placed online, we are contacting the nearest kirana store and having the items delivered thru people who are looking for work. (these delivery people were earlier driving Autos or selling samosa, etc. on kart). We then pass on the amount received by the customer directly to the delivery person, who then buys it from the nearest kirana store and delivers to the customers. We coordinate over the phone sitting at our homes. It started as a mere timepass, but now its turning out to be quite a task, since order volumes have increased tremendously.

Daily we keep adding items to the menu as and when people ask for it. Like recently, We added under Home Services, "At Home Medical Testing & Consultation Service" Where we have tied up with couple of doctors who are giving home consultation and medical testing services.

In the end, we are keeping ourselves busy and empowering people who have lost their daily wage job work, instead of handing out free food, etc. We have currently 7 people earning through this initiative of ours.

They now say us that "Sir, please continue this even after lockdown ends." That's very satisfying.

[Lazy Driver]

Milkbasket in Gurgaon is doing pretty well! I stay in a far-off locality & though I do have a store in my apartment complex, it doesn't stock everything. Milkbasket is able to deliver most things. Really loving them & they have made me a fan of their services.