Meesho fires 300 employees, shuts down grocery business, here’s why

New Delhi: Meesho, a local social commerce company, reportedly closed down its grocery division in India. The service, known as Superstore, has been discontinued in more than 90% of Indian cities (aside from Nagpur and Mysuru), leading to the loss of numerous jobs.

A report claims that nearly 300 Meesho employees have lost their jobs as a result of the closure of Meesho Superstore.

The company has not yet responded to the news.

Meesho rebranded Farmiso to Superstore in April to emphasize its continued focus on meeting consumer demand for daily essentials in Tier 2 and beyond.

During the same month, the company laid off more than 150 employees, the majority of whom were from Farmiso, in order to integrate its grocery business into the core application.

During the first wave of the pandemic, the social commerce platform laid off more than 200 employees.

According to the report, this time "low revenue and a high cash burn was the reason behind the startup's decision to wind down operations in most of the cities."

Meesho Superstore operated in six Indian states: Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

According to the report, Meesho provided a two-month salary as a severance package to those laid off.

Meesho's Founder and CEO, Vidit Aatrey, stated that the company is looking forward to integrating Meesho Superstore with its core app.

"What began as a pilot project in Karnataka is now gaining traction in six states. The integration, driven by our user-first mindset, will provide millions of Meesho users with a unified shopping experience, while also providing us with an opportunity to drive stronger synergies across areas such as customer acquisition, technology, product, and talent "He stated in a statement.

Meesho launched a pilot programme in Karnataka to make online grocery shopping more affordable, with the goal of expanding Superstore to 12 states by the end of 2022.

The Meesho marketplace gives small businesses, such as small and medium businesses (SMBs), micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and individual entrepreneurs, access to millions of customers across over 700 categories, as well as pan-India logistics, payment services, and customer support.

Meesho recently surpassed 100 million active users. According to the company, since March 2021, the platform's transacting user base has increased 5.5 times, while the assortment has increased 9X to 72 million.