Grocery at your fingertips!

Have you ever been stuck in rush hour traffic on your way back from work, recounting the many things you need to get done once home? One of the things on your to-do list is grocery shopping which you would ideally plan to do by taking a slight detour on your way home, but being stuck at the same place for over an hour you now neither have the time nor the inclination to take that detour. Been there, yeah?

Modern technology now provides you with the simplest solution to this problem. Just pick up your phone and order your grocery from one of the many online grocery shopping portals!

You and your grocery both reach home at almost the same time without you having to look for parking, searching the aisles, and standing in long queues for payment!

CHALDAL.COM

A pioneer in online grocery shopping, Chaldal is amongst the most sought after online grocery stores in Dhaka. It has a large variety of products, which can be home delivered to you.

From fresh produce, meat, fish, poultry, dairy products and packaged food items to household and beauty products, they have it all. They even offer home appliances and office products.

Once ordered, the products are delivered to your doorstep within an hour and you have the option of paying cash on delivery or via bkash. You can also choose to pay online with your credit card. They charge only Tk 10 for all orders of Tk 300 and above. For orders less than Tk 300, they charge Tk 29 for delivery.

MEENACLICK.COM

One of the well-known superstore chains in Dhaka, Meena Bazar has made their online presence felt with their newly launched online grocery store, Meenaclick.

Meenaclick is almost as extensively stocked as their brick and mortar store. You can pretty much do your monthly grocery shopping here without having to step into the store.

It has three delivery options, and Meenaclick services cover most areas of Dhaka city.You can either choose the 'convenient' delivery option which allows you to choose the date and time of delivery, or you can choose their quick delivery option that ensures delivery in an hour. They also provide the 'pick-up' option for the goods to be collected from their nearest store.

For convenient delivery they charge Tk 80 as delivery charge unless your bill exceeds Tk800, in which case delivery will be free. For 'quick'delivery they charge a fee of Tk 120 and the 'pick-up' option is free of charge.

DIRECTFRESHBD.COM

Claiming to be Bangladesh's first premium online grocery store, Directfreshbd offers some of the best ingredients from across the world. They offer two delivery options so that you can get your products at a time convenient to you. They provide free delivery for orders above Tk 1000 whereas for orders of lesser amounts they charge Tk 149 for delivery. Currently they deliver to only select areas in the city. Directfreshbd.com encourages customers to contact their helpline if they need orders to be delivered to areas outside of their delivery zone.

DARAZ.COM.BD

Daraz is well known as an online marketplace hosting a wide variety of products across platforms. You name it, they probably sell it. Amongst their many products is the Grocer's Shop. Even though they do not sell fresh produce like vegetables and meat, they do sell most of the cooking essentials, beverages and breakfast items. Daraz also stock a wide variety of canned and packaged goods along with laundry and home care products. Since they cater to many areas in Bangladesh, their delivery time and charge is variable.

If you are the kind of person who needs to closely inspect the products, especially fresh produce, before buying it, then online grocery shopping for is not for you.

Online stores in general require their customers to place a considerable amount of trust in them to deliver quality items. It has to be kept in mind that delivering sub-standard products would affect the overall credibility of the store and result in loss of customers. Having said that, all of the above mentioned online stores have proper return and exchange policies in place incase you face a problem with the products delivered.

For couch potatoes and busy bodies alike, online grocery stores are a dream come true. You can avoid traffic, crowds, long queues and haggling of rates by purchasing your grocery from the comfort of your home without lifting your fingers except to type out your order!

Photo: Collected