Startup interview: Slava Bocharov, Co-Founder and CEO, Buyk
RTIH gets the lowdown on Buyk, a new service promising grocery delivery from dark store to doorstep within 15 minutes. The venture has just soft launched in Manhattan, with ambitions to expand across the US and beyond.
RTIH: Tell us about Buyk
SB: Buyk gives our customers back time to do the things they love most.
One of the most important resources we need as humans is food and, until now, you had to either spend an hour or two going to the supermarket or wait several hours, or even until the next day, for delivery.
Real-time retail dramatically changes this system to make this burden a thing of the past.
Just as we no longer have to go down to the well to fetch our water – this is simply the next step in our societal evolution. It is fundamental infrastructure for 21st century living, and we do it better than anyone.
A first class customer experience is key, and we achieve this via our dark stores and technology. Orders are placed via the Buyk app, with dark stores closed to customers and serving only as fulfilment centres.
These stores, optimised to ensure speed of order picking, are stocked with between 2-3,000 SKUs and are strategically located to enable maximum coverage in the quickest possible time.
This is ultimate convenience and gives people the freedom to live their lives to the fullest, without spending hours on end driving to and from the supermarket and traipsing up and down aisles.
RTIH: Could you give an overview of the tech that powers Buyk?
SB: Our in-house technological expertise has produced a proprietary tech platform that automates both customer facing and internal processes, from receiving the order and pricing it, to putting that order together and delivering it to the customer within 15 minutes.
On the delivery side, our routing technology enables us to deploy our riders in the most effective way, which includes batching orders whenever possible. This allows us to keep our delivery promise of no minimum order and no delivery fee – making this service more affordable and open to everyone.
We are also strong proponents of hyperlocality – a tailored and personalised approach to each small area surrounding a single dark store.
Each area has its own characteristics and demands, and our tech allows us to optimise our SKUs at this hyperlocal level to ensure each dark store’s assortment is customised to the wishes of customers in that specific area.
Our personnel are also local, with our riders employed in the boroughs where they live. This not only improves delivery times and efficiency, as they know the local roads, but also boosts the customer experience as they are served by friendly, familiar faces from the area.
The company was founded by myself and Rodion Shishkov, and we are experienced players in this industry. Our previous firm, Samokat, is one of Europe’s fastest growing ultrafast delivery services and the largest operator of dark stores among on-demand grocers outside of China.
Buyk is a new challenge, and we are determined to crack the US and global market. Unlike our competitors, we are seasoned operators in this sector and have the know how to scale the business into a real profit making enterprise.
RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?
SB: Studies show that Americans spend an average of 53 hours per year grocery shopping.
Buyk returns this time to them, so they can spend it doing something truly important – spending time with their loved ones, pursuing a new hobby, getting fit, or simply kicking back and getting some much-needed rest and relaxation.
We see this concept in our cities and towns – they are set up to ensure a seamless experience and to save you time. You have your water, your gas, and your electricity.
The garbage collectors come each week. Public buses, trains and metro services transport you from destination to destination – it all works like clockwork.
But somehow, grocery shopping still runs on an outdated model, where we are expected to take an hour or two long break from our lives to trudge out to an over-sized supermarket once or twice a week. It’s a chore, placing an unnecessary burden on consumers.
By the same token, traditional online grocery delivery doesn’t solve this issue. Next day delivery options still require planning and don't deliver the instant result you need.
Imagine if you tried to pour yourself a glass of tap water, but the water didn’t start flowing until the next day – no one would accept this, so why should we be forced to for groceries?
This is why we consider Buyk to be more than a company – we are infrastructure, providing what is now an essential service in our busy lives.
RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?
SB: Buyk has just soft launched in New York, with a few test stores opening in the run up to our full roll-out. Feedback so far has been very encouraging and we are excited to bring Buyk to a wider audience in the near future.
On an industry level, everyone is aware of the money and hype currently surrounding the ultrafast grocery market. In New York, where we have just kickstarted the Buyk journey, new startups are appearing almost every month.
The money is following, and some of our peers have raised substantial sums at eye-watering valuations. However, unit economics are the key to this industry. Simply put - you must know how to turn a profit.
Unlike many of our peers, we possess the necessary industry track record to do this, having turned Samokat into a profitable outfit in some cities after just two years of operations.
With our skills and a technological platform that has been tried, tested, and refined since 2018, we can roll out our operations quicker and more effectively than our rivals, rapidly gaining market share and fuelling further expansion.
Our advantage in this regard will become clear quickly after our launch and we expect this to be reflected in interest from key industry investors.
RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the grocery sector right now?
SB: I see two key main challenges for companies in this sector.
The first is onboarding customers and seizing market share. With so much capital flowing around and no dominant players in this new market, the fight is on to scale as rapidly as possible and claim the currently up-for-grabs customer base.
Every company in the sector is doing this right now, and it is crucial to onboard your customers and build brand loyalty before someone else does. This is the current battleground.
However, as the industry matures in the next year, unit economics will emerge as the new key challenge. Those who have managed to attract and retain customers will need to show they can turn this into cold, hard cash.
The few who can, will rise to the top, while many, many firms will fail. At this stage, consolidation is inevitable, as the cream of the crop try to round out their portfolios via the acquisition of their unprofitable rivals.
RTIH: What can we expect to see from you over the next 12 months?
SB: We have huge ambitions for the future, with NYC as simply our first step into the market.
The Institute of Grocery Distribution values the US grocery market at $1 trillion, and we believe we can penetrate up to 40% of this sector, taking market share from both small and medium sized food retailers.
The next 12 months will see expansion, with the aim to cover all NYC boroughs by the end of 2021. Other major metropolitan areas will follow in 2022, as we seek to bring Buyk to Americans across the country.
International expansion is, of course, also on the cards in the future as we seek to make Buyk a global household name and the personification of speed, reliability, and most of all, convenience.
