Hello Friends.
I had a vision in 2009 on a grocery subscription idea, that clubs every damn subscription into one (food, newspapers, milk, eggs, Airtel, Vodafone, MTNL) and we then deliver the items on a daily basis. The USP of the product – Personalization: The idea is to provide an online nutritionist that tells the consumers what to eat based on their family size, medical history, etc.
Over the years, I kept scratching the itch, got into working with other Niche startups, tried my own – BikeSeeker, had a great experience with the BikeSeeker post (Lots of people still connect with me on the subject through TRH). But I realized that the Health Idea was way bigger. Read some chapters of “How to Build a Billion Dollar App” and realized targeting the masses will be the key to a sustainable business and be a Unicorn (Not ashamed to aspire to be Unicorn cowboy 😉 )
So here is the link – https://healthseeker.in/ , feel free to get back to me with questions, suggestions, subscriptions and anything.
How does it work ?
The HealthSeeker membership works by working with a family as a unit and understanding their grocery+health requirements, this can be done online, at home or through our mobile apps (chat/video conferencing with our Nutritionist).
Once a health plan is created, we start delivering the items daily based on a daily health chart for the family. This will be available as a detailed calendar on our website and the mobile app and consumers can re-plan their calendar one week in advance, so if you consumed a lot of calories one week, our online nutritionist can revise your next weeks plan accordingly.
How is it beneficial to the consumers ?
A typical 2+2 family (including mine) spends upwards of 15,000 rupees per month on Groceries and Food items. With the HealthSeeker plan this comes down to 8000 rupees per month, which is inflation proof.
What is Unique about HealthSeeker
HealthSeeker will utilize technology to improve the food habits of consumers via a combination of Mobile App, Fitness Tracker, Online Forums. There are tons of Grocery companies out there who bombard you with tons of promotional carrots to over indulge yourself, HealthSeeker tells you exactly how many carrots to consume.
How can RodinHooders contribute ?
HealtySeeker is in early stage, I am looking for Co-Founders, Coders, Marketing, Sales guys to join me on this journey. We are still defining a lot of business process, but will launch in the next few months. I have seen a couple of posts from entrepreneurs in the food / grocery space, would love your inputs.
What cities are your covering ?
HealtySeeker is planned to be launched in Mumbai, first (Pilot to be done in Navi Mumbai first) and soon other cities. The idea is to build a global product. Every family is a target.
Thanks & Regards,
asha chaudhry
hi zeeshan,
just one clarification – “A typical 2+2 family (including mine) spends upwards of 15,000 rupees per month on Groceries and Food items. With the HealthSeeker plan this comes down to 8000 rupees per month, which is inflation proof.”
can you elaborate on how the price comes down to rs 8k per month??
Zeeshan Chawdhary
Hi Asha
That is the economy of scale, when we know exactly what to buy and the number of consumers for each grocery item, we will be able to get a wholesale price, instead of the retail price. Hence the 8000 price, also another factor is our product basket, we will not be selling in Kilograms or Litres, it will be based on number of units needed for a day/week/month.
Consider onions, we will not sell onions per kilogram in the membership, but it will be say 5 medium onions for a day. Obviously there will be an option to topup your orders.
asha chaudhry
and which locations are you planning to start this? you might as well add all these details to the post.
Zeeshan Chawdhary
Updated, the plan is to launch first in Navi Mumbai first.
Vinod Kumar Agarwal
Hi Zeeshan,
The Grocery Vision you had in 2009 is every entrepreneur’s first inspiration specially when you are a mumbaikar.
Had you been brought up in a time and era when we had tabelas all around the Western Suburbs, I have fetched Cow’s fresh Milk from a small tabela near Khar Railway Station in my school days.
Lot of things have changed and with that the quiet disintegration of Joint Families.
A single family is left behind averaging out the pack size versus family needs.
Technology has kept up with equal pace, with packets of Dairy Milk / Tetrapacks and number of newspapers and now epaper.
Can’t elaborate on Eggs but same applies there too.
Just to share with you my wife has managed to get delivered One plate of Idli sambhar every morning at about 7.30 Am since more than a year. Earlier she would go out and buy it. (Idli is termed as most nutritious breakfast in the World).
Healthseeker is a great initiative indeed and it will find place in people’s live sooner than we would imagine.
There’s a catch – this sounds as a mini alarm like (Home delivered Pizza) for disintegration of the single family soon.
Good quality Refrigerators have facilitated the home maker or a working couple with many benefits.
Milk in vegetarian families have multiple uses which has missed your team’s kind attention.
We are a marwari family and we use it for kheer paneer dahi lassi chaas ghee khoya cold coffee (for guests) etc (incl tea for house help).
The number of litres in a month may not very much.
Same may apply for a set of Newspapers?
My conclusion as an input for you would be – it will work good for providing alternatives of branded milk (avoiding adulterated plastic pouches with municipal water), and buffaloes milk which gives more Malai, and also the pure COW’s Milk (never guaranteed) and TWICE a day?
Budget Control is a big turnoff, number of Onions and Tomatoes big turnoff.
Any grocery having a good shelf live (supported by good refrigerators) would be a challenge for you.
Do we need a health doctor 24×7 Can’t Say – calls for an avoidable family discussion …!!
Wish you Good Learning in your PILOT to find a better and successful outcome.
My opinions are totally biased and carries a lot of inhibitions, the averages will hold head high.
Good Luck again.
Zeeshan Chawdhary
Thank you Vinod, very valuable insights.
This will be your smartphone mostly, most smartphones these days have tons of sensors which our mobile app will utilize, in basic form it would be the number of steps a person has taken. The idea is to gamify the app, “Family of the year” awards 🙂 , maybe.
Zeeshan Chawdhary
Vinod, One more thing, do you mind sharing the details about the idli wala ? what are his charges. Idli is definitely a good breakfast and everyone who is health conscious spears by it for breakfast.
Vinod Kumar Agarwal
Hi Zeeshan,
My idli wala is a near by Udipi restaurant.
But you must know in Mumbai the
Story of 1,000 idli makers in Mumbai
Google to find out the full story
Keep up your passion and effort.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
I just visited the site and this chart really scared me:
What the heck are those LACS doing up in the first line of sight?
Feedback – just make the signup less intimidating?
Zeeshan Chawdhary
Thanks for the feedback Alok, have made the pricing a bit easier on the eyes 🙂
Still need to work on a few things (actually lots of ), will look into simplifying the signup process, looking at weekly / biweekly options as well.
Japheth Paramanandam
The cost seems rather high to me unless you are tied in with a medical provider that can vet your health plan. You should be able to find someone in the health care space that would be interested in a partnership to do the same where you also provide a free checkup/visit for the family and track their goals via the app that you have mentioned.
Japheth Paramanandam
Just a thought on the pricing model.
As far as the cost goes, how about a group buying program where you have pricing based on who wants to participate in the items of the day so to speak. Almost like an online auction that is quantity based and price comes down based on the # of participants. So you have a membership club that everyone participates in, and prices are based on who participates in the price of the item. So if you have bread, milk, eggs etc, you have an order daily for 1000l and someone pays 10Rs per litre and once it goes to 2000L group price drops to 9 Rs..So you are making a residual on the membership fee, and then everyone participates in the group pricing….etc….
Zeeshan Chawdhary
Group buying has not really worked in India, however this is a feature I am considering in the next phase. it might work for group of families. So relatives can get together and work out a good deal considering volumes.
Cost is still low, assuming the basic plan, it is almost 50% less than the monthly outgo of a small family.