Chaldal, the leading online grocery startup in Bangladesh, announced that it has expanded its delivery service of the daily essentials to Sylhet. The announcement, which came three days ago, means customers in Sylhet can now order groceries and essential products such as fish, meat, rice, pulses, fresh vegetables and fruits, baby diapers, pet food, etc from Chaldal and get them delivered at their doorsteps.
Previously, Chaldal expanded coverage to Narayanganj, Chittagong, Jessore, and Khulna. With Sylhet, Chaldal is now available in six cities in Bangladesh.
It appears the company has set up a warehouse in Sylhet to ensure timely delivery and customer service.
Customers in Sylhet will have access to standard Chaldal services such as 30 minutes delivery, 3-7 days free return and replacement policy, 24/7 customer support service, etc.
Chaldal is on a roll, expanding into new verticals, cities, and categories. The company says it plans to expand to 15 cities in the coming months. As competition grows in digital commerce, Chaldal is likely to invest more to maintain its lead in online grocery and related verticals.
Chaldal raised $10 million in a Series C funding round in September to expand across Bangladesh, develop other product offerings, expand coverage of its on-demand delivery service GoGo Bangla Limited, and launch a direct-to-consumer pharmacy. The company has since acquired e-pharmacy startup BanglaMeds a month ago and with Sylhet under its belt, expanded into two new cities.
As digital commerce grows in Bangladesh, the online grocery industry is facing increasing competition. Multinational food delivery company Foodpanda and Alibaba-owned HungryNaki have been investing heavily in online grocery. Pathao has also been investing in the vertical.
Chaldal enjoys several advantages. Grocery supply chain is complex, which makes it difficult for any player to build an operational muscle to deliver quality service right out of the gate. Being a first-mover in the vertical, Chaldal has years of experience. The company has built a highly efficient operation around grocery delivery. Moreover, unlike other players, grocery remains the key vertical for Chaldal.
While Chaldal is now looking to expand outside of grocery, it took almost seven years to do so. The company claims that it is currently the second-largest grocery player and the largest e-grocery company in Bangladesh.
Founded in 2013 by Waseem Alim, Tejas Viswanath, and Zia Ashraf, Chaldal pioneered the dark-stores concept in Bangladesh. Chaldal delivers on-demand groceries through a network of warehouses enabled by its technology platform. Customers can select from over 15,000 different products and have them delivered within an hour.
