BRUNEI-MUARA – It was initially set up to provide the convenience of online grocery shopping, but popular demand has inspired Kadairuncit.com to incorporate a charity element to its platform.
Last week, Brunei’s first e-grocery store introduced its “grocery bundles” — various packs of household necessities — which users of the website can buy, to be distributed to underprivileged families.
The website currently lists five of these bundles — which range from $8 to $39 — and will be distributed to families to help them prepare for the upcoming fasting month. Since the launch, almost 80 packs have been purchased by customers, according to Founder of Kadairuncit.com Aizuddin Fakhri Hj Mohd Nasar.
The Society of Community Outreach and Training (SCOT) will distribute these bundles to the families by the end of this week, before the Ramadhan moon sighting. Kadairuncit.com is collaborating with the local NGO, which aims to alleviate poverty through sustainable means, leveraging on SCOT’s Ramadhan charity drive to distribute the bundles.
The grocery bundles will be available throughout the month of Ramadhan and orders will be delivered on a date of the customer’s choosing.
With SCOT’s experience in community outreach, Aizuddin wants to capitalise on their networks to help other intersections of underprivileged communities, particularly single mothers, with the website looking to showcase products from single mothers with food and beverage businesses.
Products from a single mother of four can already be seen on the Kadairuncit.com homepage, and the online e-grocery store is keen on featuring more in the future.
With the collaboration with SCOT as a starting point, the 28-year-old founder is hoping that their website will become a platform that allows customers to give backs online and companies to contribute to their corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Evolving upon popular request
From what began as a duo sending groceries house-to-house in Belait, the online grocery store has come a long way since it was established in 2017 — it now boasts a dedicated delivery and customer services team to meet rising demand.
“Back in Belait, we would have maybe less than ten orders in a week, but now we sometimes have up to 20 or 30 orders in a day, so clearly our market has grown and we hope that it will continue to grow”.
Now Kadairuncit.com caters to Brunei-Muara and Tutong as well, featuring over 1,500 products, which are available for same day delivery if orders are placed before 12 pm.
Aizuddin said over the past two years, they have received numerous requests from customers who want to be able to donate necessities to underprivileged families and mosques.
From overseas Bruneians buying groceries for their families back home, to good samaritans wanting to donate food items to less fortunate families, these requests kept coming, a trend which took the IT professional by surprise.
“After many more enquiries, we thought it’d be better to create a separate service to cater to this demand and that’s how our charity packages started. Groceries are household necessities and not everyone can afford them, if we can help these people who need them, then why not?”
Prices for items featured on the website are competitive, he said, adding that customers need only pay the delivery charges which range from $5 to $7.
“In the future, we are hoping for an even more streamlined mechanism, so that we are able to create more services that can cater to charity work through our online platform.
“It unexpectedly began from the requests of our customers but we want this to continue, to receive more enquiries and requests from our customer, so we can develop even more new services that would make their lives easier.”
Expanding its reach with new collaborations
One of Kadairuncit.com’s strengths is its system to handle and distribute orders, and Aizuddin wants companies and the public to leverage on this.
“We have developed an organised system in handling and distributing our orders, so if companies want to collaborate with us for their CSR, our online platform will relieve them of the pressure of managing the orders or products themselves.”
When asked whether the service would be extended to other underprivileged communities, especially those living in rural areas, the founder said that they are “always open to new collaborations”.
He said to be able to reach different communities in need, the online grocery store would have to collaborate with NGOs with experience in that area.
On Wednesday, Kadairuncit.com signed a strategic collaboration agreement and memorandum of understanding with five new partners: Sabli Food Industries; Bruneihalalfoods; Cooperative Limited Company of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces; SCOT; and Sharqiaa Hijab Brunei.
Bruneihalalfoods and Sabli products will now be available for sale on the e-store, and as part of the charity bundles, while Sharqiaa Hijab has tasked KadaiRuncit.com to handle its CSR programme.
Aizuddin said the collaborations would enable the company to reach a bigger market demographic.
“We are always open to new collaborations with companies, anyone who wants to utilise us for their CSR or any suppliers who wants to work with us to put their products on our website.