Retail giant Future Group has officially launched its direct selling service called Big Bazaar Direct which will allow customers to directly place orders with appointed Big Bazaar franchisees, reports Business Standard. The service was started as a pilot program in Nagpur in July 2013 and is expected to be rolled out nationwide in the next two months. How this service works is Big Bazaar appoints company franchisees and provide them with tablets called 'Big Bazaar Direct Tablet' which will feature more than 1,000 deals from Big Bazaar, as per the company claims. These franchisees can then visit customers who can browse through the catalogue on tablets, purchase products of their preference, get the order confirmation via SMS and then pay the amount to the franchisees. It looks like customers can request for franchisees to visit their homes through a phone call or by providing their phone number on the Big Bazaar website to allow franchisee call them. Franchisees will get commission for each order, although the company hasn't disclosed any information on the exact commission offered to these franchisees. The company claims that the order will be delivered to consumers within 3-7 days, which we feel is a bit on the higher side, considering that people generally shop for daily need or instant need products at Big Bazaar. Citing a source, the report however notes that Big Bazaar plans to offer 24 hours delivery in metro cities and 48 hours in smaller cities. Through this service, the company is probably targeting customers…
