How Online Meat Delivery Is Changing The Retailing Model In India

The online meat selling start-ups have changed the way India buys meat. These firms sell custom cut, marinated and ready-to-cook meat products and are a boon for people sitting at home and wanting to enjoy a non-vegetarian meal without the hassle of cutting and cleaning.

- Deepanshu Manchanda

According to industry research, the size of India’s meat market is close to $30-35 billion, which is further growing at around 18-20% every year. This implies that over 70% of the population in India eats meat. Over the last few years, the start-up ecosystem has brought a trend shift in the meat selling industry and has occupied a fair share of the meat delivery market. However, the meat delivery market in India is still dominated by the unorganised meat sellers who control almost 99% of the space. So far, consumers have trusted the local butcher shops for buying meat and have been compromising with quality and convenience. Most of them are still not cognizant of the fact that the meat bought from butcher shops is sold in an unhygienic manner and the products are not fresh and lack quality. The meat sold at traditional butcher shops is openly displayed and is also vulnerable to pollutants and insects or flies.

In the traditional meat selling market, there is no standardization of price, quality and freshness. The unorganised players follow an inefficient supply chain, which further degrades the quality of the products and makes it unhealthy for consumption. According to experts, the meat sold in India has the highest level of antibiotics. The investment in both meat industry and livestock for meat purpose breeding is low. Inadequate infrastructure is another major concern area.