Cutting edge shop.chotuchaiwala.com allows Bandra residents to order tea from local vendors; over 500 people are currently using the service
To a true blue Mumbaikar nothing can be more refreshing than a cutting chai. If you get it in just nick of the time and that too at the click of a button it is like icing on the cake.
Well, shop.chotuchaiwala.com is doing exactly that. Launched in July, the website supplies chai on a weekly or monthly basis when ordered online. Currently, the service is available only in Bandra.
It has been created by Zepo.in which creates e-commerce platforms for small and medium businesses. While a weekly subscription costs Rs70, one has to shell out Rs140 for two weeks of service, Rs280 is the subscription fee for a month. A customer has to pay Rs100 extra for conveyance. Over 500 people are currently using the service.
"The reason to get the chaiwalas online was to see the impact internet has on the working of an unorganised sector. It was both an experiment and a CSR exercise for us. We do not earn anything out of it. We have just created the website and the profit goes the to tea vendor only. We did take Rs250 from each chaiwala while opening the website but that was it," said Varun KR, marketing team member at Zepo.in.
Varun said the reason why chai can be sold online is because usually people do not save the vendors numbers whereas it is easy to remember a website's name. He says it makes sense to sell tea online because the office-goers do not have to waste precious time at the stalls, and can get tea delivered at their desks.
"It was easy for us to convince the vendors as most of them had smart phones and were familiar with the internet. If we are successful with this venture, we may introduce more varieties of tea and biscuits too. We chose Bandra as it is a commercially active place. We are in talks with the chaiwalas in Lower Parel and may begin to cater to the office going crowd there as well," said Varun.
He said they check for hygiene, sourcing of raw material and child labour aspect before taking them onboard. They have named it Chotu, but no child is employed, he added.
Raman Mishra has bought 5 new flasks for his stall behind National College in Bandra as in the last four months his business has gone up from 500 cups of tea a day to 1,000 cups. He gets an SMS on his phone about online tea subscribers and then sends the cutting chai to its destination.
The 50-year-old tea vendor said, "Initially, I was scared as I did not understand how will people buy tea online. However, I agreed as I was not investing anything. My business has only grown and people now recognise me from my online presence. Selling tea online is more profitable than selling it at the stall."
Customers too are happy. Nisha Nayar, 23, says she liked the concept as does not prefer to visit a tapri as she can not stand smokers. The management graduate said, "I can enjoy the tea in the ambience I like without the hassles of an unknown crowd and at no extra cost."
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