News: Local vendors gear up to face retail giants

(BL 11/05/2007) Bangalore - The country's ubiquitous vegetable hawkers, faced with the threat of losing out to the big corporate retail chains, are set to appear in a new avatar. Armed with a branded portable retail format, the hawkers will soon sell fresh fruits and vegetables in the National Capital Region in refrigerated trolleys under an experimental project called Infrachill Direct-to-Home.

The project, conceived by the Delhi-based ACME Cold Chains Private Ltd, is being launched this summer in the National Capital Region. It envisages tapping the potential of vegetable distribution through the portable mobile cold chain to vend fresh farm produce.

Mobile trading zones

A pilot will be run for three months and based on the feedback, a national rollout will be planned in a phased manner, said Avtar Singh, General Manager, ACME Cold Chains.

An initial investment of Rs 1 crore will be made on the pilot consisting of the cold chain linking the distribution centre with the hawkers through IT logistics for enabling them to retain the farm freshness of the produce.

Dedicated Mobile Trading Zones will be identified in the cities for the hawkers to vend their products under the brand name `All Fresh', said Singh. Singh said ACME would source the produce directly from farmers and distribute to the hawkers.

ACME will help with financing of the carts and later depending on the response, micro-finance facility will be tapped. Each of the trolleys would cost about Rs 10,000.

Singh said: "With the direct-to-home service, efficiency in delivery of fruits and vegetables from producer to consumer attains acceptable levels for the first time in India. The integration by Infrachill will provide greater security to every stakeholder in the chain - producer to trader to retailer, hawker or vendor as well as consumer."

Singh said Infrachill would offer seamless opportunities to hawkers, who can also stock cheese and butter.

An estimated 35 per cent or Rs 55,000 crore worth of fresh farm products suffer losses due to lack of cold chain, Singh said, adding that ACME was betting on leveraging its Thermal Management System to maintain the temperatures at different levels for retaining the freshness of the produce.