Building a Kirana social network for India

Conversation with Aishwarya Jain, Co-Founder, Kirana Club

If you've taken a cab to Bangalore airport, you may have noticed your driver talking on the phone throughout the journey. They usually talk to other drivers or family. Talking to family helps them feel less lonely, while talking to other drivers makes them feel like they belong. This sense of belonging makes their job less painful.

The same applies to many jobs in India. Running a Kirana store is a thankless and lonely job. With thin margins and multiple SKUs, it is a challenging business to run without appropriate systems and manpower. Yet, most small Kirana stores are individually or family-run.

Kirana Club app is a social networking app for small grocery store owners to connect and share their opinions with each other. I caught up with the founder, Aishwarya Jain, to learn about the challenges of building a specialized social network and retaining users.

How did the Kirana Club start?

Yeah, so to give you some context, Anshul, who's also my husband, started a company called Retail Pulse in 2020. They got it funded by Entrepreneur First (EF) and started a SaaS product for FMCG companies because they wanted insights and analytics from the shelves of grocery stores, which is largely unknown to FMCG companies. 

FMCG companies never sell directly to grocery stores. They give items to super stockists, then super stockists give them to distributors, who then give them to grocery stores. They don't know what's happening on the ground level or what the (retailer’s) shelf looks like. One thing FMCG companies understand is that if their product is visible, it will sell more. So they care a lot about what's happening on the shelf, and we were giving them those insights. They were making that SaaS product, and at that time, I was involved in a limited capacity. I was working with MoneyView and then joined Fampay. Anshul was doing this alone. 

We planned to use weekly sales visits by the representatives to capture shelf photos at retail stores. By analyzing these images, we aimed to provide FMCG companies with insights about grocery store shelves. Of course, we had checks and balances like the photo can't be taken from any other camera; it can only be taken from our app. It can't be uploaded etc. There were a bunch of things to ensure that no fraud was happening. This way, we were working with Unilever and PepsiCo, to name a few. 

But soon we realized that the sales guy was becoming a blocker in the whole billion-dollar business we were trying to create. His main work is to get the orders from the grocery store. He doesn't care about the things happening on the store shelf. He does get some incentive, but his main goal is to get his order booked because that's his KPI. Hence, he was a little demotivated to click pictures. That's when we realized that if we want it to become a big business, this person can't be a blocker. That's when we realized we had to take the photos ourselves. Then we thought, "How about we get the source on the platform?" The source being the grocery shopkeeper, because he wants extra incentives, he has his own shop, and he has time. 

There are not just insights of shelves; there is a lot more that we can sell to FMCG companies because, in the end, I knew the problems that an FMCG was facing. That's when we thought about the different ways of getting a grocery shopkeeper on a platform. We experimented with a few. And if the platform is going to be the hero now, then I think I can play a significant role. That's when Anshul said, 'Why don't you come on board?' And I joined as a co-founder in 2022. 

You have worked with India 1 and India 2 segments. What do you think are the differences in building products for them?

In simple terms the difference lies in the way they use product.  We are very much evolved in India 1. Design has now reached a level where just solving functional needs is not enough. You have to delight. When you deal with India 2, the functional aspect takes over, right? The things that are obvious to you (India 1) might not be obvious for them (India 2). For example they (India 2) don't scroll horizontally in the app. They just don't. 

You have to show everything right there. You have to make everything big and bold, right? You have to use voice search versus, say, text. I think in India 2, functional improvements are a work in progress, whereas, in India 1, I feel it doesn't cut it if you just build functional things. They need to be delighted. Why are you better than that? Because I know 10 other apps who are doing something similar to what you are doing. I know 10 other UPI apps, right? How do you make me feel like 'wow' versus where you are like, 'Solve my life's basic problem'? 

Grocery store owners are the hardest to reach and convince, even with incentives. They're the most difficult to recruit. How did you approach them, and what was your MVP like?

We had a bunch of idea before we started Kirana Club and finally decided we wanted to build a community, thru our research we found that kiranas are working in silos leading to lack of the right information. We thought we could make SaaS because they also have a lot of inventory management, accounting, and other related tasks. But we realized, after doing a lot of phone calls to understand if they even needed SaaS solutions? For example, when it comes to making bills, a shopkeeper said that when a customer comes to his shop, they don't wait for him to give them a bill. And it's not like they have help. Most of the grocery store owners that we are dealing with don't have help. Family members sort things out one by one. That is the majority of India. So we were moving towards this business community idea. We created a Facebook group and grew it organically. We had to seed some content on the Facebook group initially because every community has a cold start problem. So we seeded content based on the limited understanding and conversations we had with grocery store owners.

 What was the value prop of the Facebook group? What did you tell them to convince and join?

So we said, 'We are making a group where you can seek help from other kiranas. There are a thousand or a hundred people like you who can  help you. If you have any questions related to the market or FMCG, you can talk to them and discuss it. We are making a digital social group.' And everyone has familiarity with Facebook. In fact, the majority of the users we have acquired are via the Facebook group we created. So, on Facebook, people agreed to join with low friction. We had to feed some content, and within no time, we saw conversations around Jeera, Chanaa, Parle G, Tide, Surf Excel, and also about distributors. People naturally started interacting. They were discussing things related to the grocery business and started seeking for information about various things. That's when we realized that if we enable this on my app, people should be able to use it given we replicate this experience..

Other than this, we ran an experiment called Kirana Premier League. We told people, that ' You will get a list of the products, if you have any of it, click a photo & submit to win rewards. We will generate a new list daily, if they send photo of the products to us religiously, they will show up on the leaderboard. The best users will be rewarded. The list was of grocery items, so it was attractive to grocery store owners because only they had the products. This game went viral, and YouTubers made videos. A lot of people started participating because it was fun & easy. Their shop has a lot of products, so they thought, 'Let's see what comes today, I'll click a photo and send it. I'll get something.'"

But this was to drive additional engagement, larger aim was to create a community to help kiranas with the right information and eventually get brands to the platform so that they get access to the right schemes & margins/offers from the source which is happening today as we have partnered with all big brands

Kirana Club - Home feed

Kirana Club could have continued to be a Facebook group. Why did you build an app?

As I mentioned earlier, my initial goal was to connect FMCG companies & kiranas plus build a business in this process, & doing that on facebook has its limitations as the product only allows you to do so much 

A lot of them who might be reading this newsletter might not be understanding the world of market and Grocery stores, right? If you could help them understand in simple words, what is this mandi and what are these rates and what are these conversations about?

When referring to the "mandi," they essentially mean the commodity market. There is a place where all the wholesalers and AMC (Agricultural Market Committee) wholesalers sit together. Grocery store owners go there to understand what is happening with the prices of various commodities such as cumin, garam masala, dry foods, lentils, oil, etc. They want to stay informed about the fluctuations in the rates of these products because, unlike packaged products, the prices are not decided by the companies themselves. Instead, the market determines the rates.

The area where grocery store owners go to purchase these commodities, conduct research, and explore is called the "mandi." This term is used so frequently and extensively that it has become a part of their everyday language. 

Do rates differ for different states and cities?

Yes, it does. different areas get access to different quality of output/ production leading difference in prices +  cost to transport also varies.

I noticed that when installing the Kirana Club app, users are asked if they are a grocery store owner, thinking of starting a store, or a distributor/sales representative. How did you arrive at these specific options, and what was the decision-making process behind them?

The thing is, if we want only grocery store owners to use this platform, what are the ways to achieve this? we have to stop them during onboarding. We were very clear that they can't come inside and create unnecessary noise. we want to cut the noise. So, what are the ways? we could ask them to do KYC and provide some certification. These are some general ways to increase the barriers and get the right people. But we were not selling products like other b2b commerce, where people will go through KYC hassle. We are a community app, so we need to keep it light. we decided not to tell them anything and just give them three options. Are you a grocery store owner, a wholesaler, or a consumer? I won't give any explanation; I will just a simpel ques. If you select 'grocery store owner,' you're naturally a grocery store owner. Otherwise, why would you lie? There's no incentive to lie, and you will move on. If you're a consumer, select 'consumer.' If you're a wholesaler, select 'wholesaler.' The moment you select 'consumer,' the app gets blocked for you.

This was just a way to filter people. for consumers, there's nothing. If someone selects the wrong option by mistake, we give them a form where they have to upload all the certificates, and only then does the app get unblocked for them. Otherwise, a consumer is not allowed inside.

I noticed that grocery store owners can update their own rates on the app, but there's a warning about potential consequences for uploading wrong rates. How did you arrive at this design decision, and did you anticipate a lot of incorrect data being entered into the platform?

This was largely done to ensure people don't spread fake news to win rewards. 

You mentioned that you developed a reward system during your time at FamPay. What's the difference between building rewards for teenagers versus grocery store owners, and why do you think the rewards section works for Kirana Club?

Interesting question. I think the philosophy was the same when we were building both reward systems. I will break down the intention at both places.

At FamPay, when I joined, we were facing some challenges with activation. Activation for us means when people do their first transaction, whether it's UPI or card. I realized that people were not doing that first transaction. It's not like they weren't purchasing; they were buying vada pav, drinking tea, buying registers, and all kinds of things were happening, but not from our app.

My simple thought process was, how about we facilitate the first transaction. Once they see the value, they will naturally do the second and third transactions. We added 50 Rs in their wallet, enough to do 1 transaction. Fraud wasn't a big issue coz it was KYC’d user

After that, we saw that retention and activation skyrocketed. Every transaction gave you certain coins, and coins gave you access to spinners that could unlock cash or other things. You could buy tickets for an iPhone lottery, sneakers, Nike, and all sorts of products. The whole system was built in such a way that every action you take gives you certain points and essentially takes you up the ladder in your access to rewards.

When I talk about what we did in Kirana Club, we were solving a cold start problem. There was a lot of content being made, but we realised that grocery store owners have limited time in their lives, and they were putting effort into making all this content and helping others. We thought, what if there was some gratification?

We came up with "Punji '' which means wealth. A reward for the effort done to help the community. So everytime you contribute in the community, yo get punji/points which can eventually win you prizes like cctv, weighing machine etc 

The idea was to motivate people to do more because, in the end, we have to understand that a grocery store owner makes a limited amount of money and has limited time. If he gets rewarded for his hard effort with aspirational things, like CCTV,it can be very motivating.

I noticed that you have something called Kirana Awards. How did that come about, and are people able to relate to it? What was the incentive behind creating these awards?

Favourite kirana creator Awards was essentially a way to reward all the creators throughout the year who worked for us and for the community, so to speak. There are a lot of people who are tirelessly creating content, sharing commodity tips, building good content, and if something worked in their business, they would quickly make a video about it and put in that effort. So we thought, of course, we're giving them rewards, but rewards take time to materialise due to the levels and all that, but how about we make it emotionally exciting for them to feel honoured?

Think about it like this: a grocery store owners doesn't get much recognition. It's not a glorified job. So if there's suddenly a platform that is essentially saying that their work is award-worthy, their motivation shoots up to do more and to do better.

This was initiated by the content and community team that we have. We have so many people doing good work, and because of them, we have a solid community and so much  engagement today.

What is the business model for Kirana Club? 

Our mission is to become one platform for brands & kiranas to find each other. 85% of grocery sales happens through kiranas but FMCG today don't have a direct line of connection with them. 

They need on ground insights, sampling for new products, trade marketing, schemes promotion all of that is dependent on the sales rep today, which is neither efficient nor scalable. Given 20Lk+ kiranas engage on our platform we are very well placed to help the brands 

It seems like you're also building a consumer insights company, specifically a grocery insights company. Is that how you see it?

No we are not just an insight company, but since our community is pretty vocal it helps us generate insights for the FMCG companies .

What's your vision for Kirana Club in the next five years?

We aim to have a thriving community of grocery store owners who are getting the right information and access to the right products. Right now, we have information, but soon we plan to enable commerce. We are also integrating with ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) which will allow them to buy from brands & wholesalers on the platform. So, commerce enablement is the next stop.

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