BigBasket Automates CapEx Procurement with Custom ERP Built on Zoho Creator, Saves INR 3 Crores in Six Months

Zoho Corporation, the Chennai-headquartered global technology company, has announced that BigBasket, India’s leading online supermarket, has successfully implemented a custom-built CapEx procurement ERP software using Zoho Creator, the low-code application development platform from the company. The cloud-based custom ERP has helped BigBasket enhance its operational efficiency, streamline its processes, and significantly cut costs, resulting in tracking savings of almost ₹3 crores in just six months. With this solution, BigBasket has reduced the time taken to complete tasks by 50% It aims to utilise Zoho Creator’s AI capabilities for the larger digital transformation and to replicate the solution for its operational expenditure model soon.

Before implementing the custom ERP solution, BigBasket used conventional ERP software for approval and Excel sheets to prepare purchase orders and send PO’s by email to suppliers. The company processes around 5 lakh orders per day, and this manual intervention resulted in limiting visibility into the projected budget versus the actual budget.

That’s when AorBorC Technologies helped BigBasket create modules of the CapEx procurement ERP with Zoho Creator. This removed the need for manual intervention, integrated business systems, and enabled better automation. The custom-built solution resulted in significant process improvements and assisted the company in creating a scalable modern ERP software for the organisation.

Vinayaka Gangavati, Head of Procurement at BigBasket, said, “One of the biggest challenges BigBasket faced was that we were using multiple software for the CapEx management process that needed a lot of manual intervention. However, we automated everything with various modules obtainable with Zoho Creator, including PO creation, vendor management, invoice processing, real-time dashboards, etc. The custom-built solution drove significant process improvements and assisted us in creating scalable modern ERP software for the company. Moving forward, we want to replicate Zoho Creator for our operational expenditure model because currently, we are using it for only CapEx.

We want to utilise all the AI capabilities that the platform offers for the larger digital transformation of BigBasket, creating an impact on all our business operational areas.”
Zoho Creator enables businesses to build applications for their unique needs with advanced visual workflow editors, automate and integrate business systems, consolidate information, and streamline processes at significantly lower costs. The apps built on the web run natively on PCs, tablets, and both iOS and Android mobile devices.

Bharath Kumar, Head of Marketing & CX – Zoho Creator, said, “Becoming a part of BigBasket’s digital transformation journey has been an exciting experience for us. Zoho Creator’s low-code platform has enabled BigBasket to build a custom ERP that aligns with their internal processes and business needs, resulting in substantial cost savings. Our platform is designed to provide businesses of all sizes with advanced visual workflow editors, automated and integrated business systems, and streamlined processes that solve complex problems. We are thrilled to see the impact that Zoho Creator has had on BigBasket’s operational efficiency and look forward to supporting them in their future digital transformation initiatives.”

Key CapEX modules built onZoho Creator include:
Budget planning: The budget planning module helps the procurement team create a budget for each financial year for each store across locations and then submit it to the management for approval. This allows for better planning and allocation of funds for large capital expenditure projects.

Automated inventory management with a bill of materials: This module maintains the master database of items and a supplier list. Every stock is identified by a unique SKU (stock-keeping unit) code that is mapped to the vendors who supply those items.
Purchase requisition with centralised CapEx approval: This enables the procurement team to create purchase requests for the entire facility in one click and share it with vendors immediately after approval. Whenever a purchase request is created, the workflows restrict costs as per the approved budget.

CapEx purchase order creation: The purchase order form has fields that capture detailed data points, thus preventing wrong shipments, and can be generated quickly with autofill. In case, a purchase requisition has multiple categories, or items that need to be procured from multiple vendors, this module splits the purchase request into multiple purchase orders based on category, vendor name, or vendor location.

GST master: When a purchase order is prepared, the CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax), IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax) and SGST (State Goods and Services Tax) rates get calculated automatically, saving time by avoiding manual calculations.

Vendor portal: The vendor portal is a self-service portal where the vendors can register to see their payment details, requirements, quotations, and the status of their invoices. Vendors can upload e-invoices directly into the portal and also cancel tax invoices. This has created a fully transparent system for the vendors.

Invoice processing: Once the delivery of goods is confirmed, the application itself tracks its status with no hassle.

Real-time dashboards: The analytics and dashboards built using Zoho Creator’s drag-and-drop dashboard builders help the stakeholders keep track of purchases, orders, and costs, analyse vendor performance metrics, and compare budget scenarios to actual revenue, costs, or profits.

Roles and permissions: The visibility of sensitive information is managed using the roles and permissions module, even when multiple departments are using the same application.