new delhi online grocery delivery platform bigbasket on tuesday said the number of new customers on its platform grew by 84 per cent in july this year as compared to the month of january an indicator of the strong growth seen by ecommerce platforms during the covid19 pandemic the number of new customers has increased by 84 per cent versus precovid levels and the retention rate by 50 per cent bigbasket said in a statement the total number of times a customer visited the bigbasket websiteapp is 55 per cent higher than before and the number of households ordering on the platform has gone up by 44 per cent it added advt in terms of consumer behaviour this means a lot more customers are now shopping for groceries online for the first time and these customers are shopping for their monthly grocery basket as well as topups it said this shift is also reflected in bbdaily bigbaskets milk and daily fresh delivery app which has seen a growth of 139 per cent driven by customers choosing it as an option to buy milk fruits and vegetables and other fresh items all in one place it added the company however did not disclose the total number of customers on its platform seshu kumar tirumala national category head of bigbasket who also heads the brand intelligence function said there has been a significant change in consumer behaviour since march 2020 given the unmatched convenience and safety that home delivery offers we have experienced an 84 per cent increase in new customers accompanied by excellent retention rates and basket sizes he said we work on the principles of trust and customer satisfaction and this growth has reinforced these principles we will continue to closely understand customer behaviour and make relevant products available with unmatched convenience he added according to bigbasket fruits and vegetables category grew 13 per cent while beverages snacks and branded foods and bakery cakes and dairy grew 14 per cent 23 per cent and 25 per cent respectively advt households added various indulgence options to cart for home consumption with lockdown shutting external options fruits and vegetables were also added to the same cart to reduce multiple external touchpoints it noted as customers are staying at home much more than before indulgence categories such as chocolates cup noodles namkeens and savoury snacks registered 50 per cent to 140 per cent growth compared to february it said soda and cocktail mixes became a fastgrowing category with a 125 per cent increase in penetration versus february driven by customers wanting to prepare drinks at home it added customers have also been buying a lot more products from categories that relate to family time hobbies and experimentation for example colours and crayons category has seen a penetration increase of 354 per cent and gardening tools has seen an increase of 100 per cent it said pti published on sep 2 2020 at 0808 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one