Indian Social Commerce Platform Meesho Closes Grocery Business

Social commerce company Meesho has reportedly shuttered its Indian grocery business Superstore.

Superstore has been closed in over 90% of the cities in India, with the only remaining hubs being Nagpur and Mysuru, and job losses came with that – almost 300 employees had their jobs cut, a report from Livemint says.

The report notes that “low revenue and high cash burn” were the primary reasons for the decision. Before this, the company had planned to further expand Superstore by the end of the year.

Meesho did not respond to a request for comment from PYMNTS.

Meesho rebranded its Farmiso grocery service into Superstore in April, focusing more on fulfilling consumer demand for daily essentials.

But the company did lay off over 150 employees, primarily from Farmiso, as it was trying to integrate its grocery app into the core app of the business. The company also laid off 200 people as the pandemic was beginning.

Meesho’s marketplace service provides smaller businesses access to millions of customers from hundreds of categories as well as logistics, payment services and customer support capabilities.

Earlier in the year, Meesho partnered with Cashfree Payments in order to allow instant refunds for cash on delivery orders, PYMNTS wrote.

Read more: Meesho and Cashfree Payments Partner to Provide Instant Refunds

By integrating Cashfree Payments, Meesho customers were promised a better shopping experience with less need for manual intervention.

Cash on delivery has been a preferred payment method in India and cuts down the time to process refunds, boosting customer experience and trust in eCommerce. The partnership reportedly provides refunds in less than two hours and reduces glitches from tech failures or bank downtime. It also helps automate supplier payouts and allows for UPI payout.

Meesho chief product officer Kirti Varun Avasarala said Meesho wants to address pain points for customers and get closer to becoming “the preferred shopping destination” for more Indian customers.