RedMart: A Pioneering E-commerce Startup of Singapore

Singapore’s leading online supermarket RedMart that delivers home essentials and groceries door to door was founded in December 2011 and co-founded by Roger Egan, Vikram Rupani and Rajesh Lingappa. This startup provides a platform for manufacturers to bypass retailers and directly engage with the shoppers, it is not a traditional retailer. It provides pioneering marketing capabilities and data analytics to manufacturers. RedMart is one of Singapore’s online leading supermarkets that offer an unparalleled selection of quality fresh food, premium speciality products and household essentials with doorstep delivery convenience.

RedMart is a pioneering e-commerce and logistics company that has developed cutting-edge technology to deliver an exceptional customer experience. On Nov 2, 2016, RedMart was acquired by Lazada, an online shopping and selling destination in Southeast Asia. The startup is fully owned by Lazada Group, which is majority-owned by Alibaba Group Holding Limited. On Jan 31, 2019, the online supermarket RedMart announced that from midnight of March 15, 2019, it will be moving all its operation on its mobile apps and website to the Lazada platform.

RedMart’s Funding and Investment:

To date, RedMart has a total of 7 rounds funding of $ 55.1 million and an undisclosed amount of funding from 19 investors. Aug 19, 2015, was its latest funding from a Series C round:

RedMart’s Funding:

Date	Round	No. Of Investors	Amount	Investors
Aug 19, 2015	Series C	5	$26.7 million	Sea
Jul 14, 2014	Series B	6	$23 million	Sea
Jan 23, 2014	Venture Round	6	$5.4 million	Eduardo Saverin, Jani Rautiainen, Meng Weng Wong, Steve Melhuish
Jul 17, 2013	Series A	6	–	Sea
Mar 8, 2013	Seed Round	6	–	–
Jan 12, 2012	Seed Round	1	–	–
Dec 1, 2011	Seed Round	2	–	–

Investors:

Visionnaire Ventures
Sea
Softbank Ventures Asia
Far East Ventures
Eduardo Saverin
SoftBank Capital
Ohad Gilad

RedMart and It’s Unique Technologies:

RedMart is one of the world’s first online grocer that is delivering perishable goods to its customers and also it is not using any refrigerated trucks at all. The startup is practising a model which is significantly saving the extra cost of the business and cutting down its environmental footprint as well. The company experimented more than 1000 of various cooling technologies and insulation material and then decided to go with the more sustainable solution, which is using regular delivery trucks by fixing delivery totes with reusable insulation and industry-grade ice plates that could maintain the optimum temperature for up to eight hours for groceries.

RedMart has made is in sync with one of its corporate social responsibility pillars as an environmental footprint for other startups. The startup tried to meet the customer’s end-to-end requirement by providing them with the order in the best possible condition. RedMart is constantly striving for innovative ways to minimise its total amount involved in packaging so they use reusable plastic trays and pallets for their delivery and also encourages its suppliers to use. In Singapore, the company has more than 173,000 products, the widest range of groceries and also delivers special dietary needs of people.

Do the Customers Like This New Selling Platform Lazada instead of RedMart?

Lazada acquired RedMart in 2016 but it takes almost 2 years to integrate it on its site as it did not want to sacrifice any single part of the (RedMart) experience. The grocery market in Southeast Asia is expected to be worth US$309 billion by 2021, with shoppers doing groceries online more than twice a month. It also claims that in Singapore, seven in 10 people who buy their groceries online already do so on RedMart, according to Lazada backed by Alibaba. Lazada is aiming to cater to the rising demand for supermarket shopping as the consumers are increasingly converting to shopping grocery online.

“We want to drive the evolution of grocery shopping in the region by combining our unparalleled assortment of products and superior logistics network to transform the way customers get their daily essentials and fresh produce,” Jing Yin, co-president of Lazada Group said.

RedMart’s consumer didn’t like the new Lazada website as they are facing lots of trouble in placing the orders. Consumers are posting various complaints and criticism on the company’s social media account regarding their terrible experience on Lazada website. Consumers are getting a lot of trouble in using the Lazada website as they have to login every time whenever they are visiting the site and the site is very slow in comparison to RedMart site. People are ordering groceries on home address and they’re receiving the order on their office address. It is not clear when RedMart-Lazada will upgrade its web services. Yet RedMart has twitted that it will add all its original websites key features will be back on Lazada by June.

Potential of RedMart-Lazada:

By 2021, the South-east Asian grocery market is prospected to worth some US$309 billion (S$416 billion) as the shoppers prefer online grocery shopping more than twice a month. Lazada is looking to expand in at least one other city of the South-east Asia part and going to launch its grocery and supermarket from the second half of the year. RedMart has a direct retail offering and a marketplace platform for independent brands to sell whereas, Lazada has no prior experience on grocery it offers electronics, beauty, apparel, home and living items and it is on their way now to become an all-in-one marketplace.

Lazada has to work on its website to resolve the customer’s issue that they are facing while using their website. RedMart has great potential and innovative technology which Lazada can successfully use on their end. To stay strong against their competitors they have to work on the loopholes and create a better friendly user website. In Singapore, the grocery market has great potential and RedMart has created its own brand name in the country which can proffer an extraordinary benefit to Lazada.

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