Direct2Door: Where household essentials are just a click away from being at your doorstep
It’s a weekly or rather daily routine that people purchase household essentials and grocery items. Technology is just a touch of a button making life easier for people to order things online rather go through the hassle of waiting in long queues.
(L-R) Prashanth and co-founder K. Thibadharshan
Direct2Door, a startup funded by a team of three experts from the Lankan Angel Network, has introduced an online store for people to purchase household essentials such as grocery items, organic vegetables, meat and seafood. The Direct2Door online store is available on android phones, and can be logged into via the website and the platform also equipped with a call centre to place an order.
All grocery items are listed on the online platform where people can pick and choose the products they want with the required volume into a virtual cart. The minimum order value has to be Rs. 1,500 within Colombo where delivery is provided free of charge. Cash or card payments can be made on delivery or online. The minimum order value varies outside Colombo in the suburbs. The delivery is done the same day depending on the time of making an order, CEO and Co-Founder Direct2Door, Prashanth Premakumar elaborated that when an order is received by Direct2Door it is transferred directly to the small time vendors who sell fresh organic vegetables, meat, seafood and other grocery items at the national supermarkets on weekends which we typically identify as the ‘Sunday Pola’. “We have direct deals with the small vendors from supermarkets who have now doubled and tripled their daily sales from the usual Rs. 15,000 income they used to make back in the days,” Mr. Prashanth said.
Direct2Door also works directly with fast and moving consumer good companies such as Unilever, Delmege and some major brands in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Prashanth also mentioned there are at least 1000 products up to 25 per cent discount when you order online via the Direct2Door app. “People are adapting to buying things online where the e-Commerce trust is building slowly in Sri Lanka. More than 2,000 people have subscribed to Direct2Door and the app downloads are increasing on a daily basis. Regular customers get a lot of benefits, cash backs, special gifts, promotional coupons and so on. We want to pass some of the cost benefits to our customers and provide each individual a different approach,” added Mr. Prashanth.
According to statistics on average people above 40 are using the Direct2Door app. Youngsters get familiar with the app and introduce it to their parents and the trend is that the older generation is making orders online via the app. Even children living abroad make grocery and household essentials orders online and send to their parents in Sri Lanka. This helps parents living in Sri Lanka who find it difficult to go through the hassle of standing in long queues and choosing items. There is a 100 percent cash back refund if any product is not up to the standard of good quality and fresh in the case of vegetables, fruits and meat at the time of delivery.
The Direct2Door startup is a seed funding from a team of industry experts from the Lankan Angel Network namely, Stax Inc. Sri Lanka Managing Director Ruwindhu Peiris, Senior Advisor Arj Wignaraja and Director Kumudu Gunasekara. The startup emerged runners-up at the 2016 Venture Engine contest. It’s been more than a year that Direct2Door was first introduced to Sri Lanka.
While the main goal of the company is to bring all household essentials under one platform online and delivering them to the doorstep of the consumers, the startup has introduced laundry services since this year .
The service picks up and delivers laundry at the doorstep of consumers. It’s one of the niche and relevant segments to people in Colombo at large.
For more information log onto direct2door.lk