WayCool Foods announced the launch of "Magic Points". The program is aimed to transform neighborhood retailers (kiranas) in Southern India into Magic Points - new-age retailers stocking the best of products and backed by Waycool's tech-enabled direct supply chains.

BP Ravindran, chief business officer (Consumer Products), WayCool Foods, said, "Retailers play a vital role in the food supply chain. Magic Points is a comprehensive program aimed at empowering small and medium retailers with the widest range of clean, hygienically packed food products, world-class fill rates, market intelligence, and tech and fintech services. We have piloted in 500 stores and have received tremendous responses from these food entrepreneurs in 5 clusters. We will have 2000+ by March 2022 and further scale up to 100 clusters across South India."

Elaborating on how 'Magic Points' will transform Kirana's, he added, "When retailers convert their store to 'Magic Points' they will be able to leverage WayCool's deep supply chain capabilities to stock themselves up and buy what they need. They will be empowered with WayCool's product recommendation engines and access our credit solutions. Magic Point retailers will eventually have access to Waycool's premium branded products sourced through our direct, transparent supply chain, covering over 2000 SKUS across all major food categories. This will give them a competitive advantage over all kinds of players that are now emerging. Currently, these Magic Points sell our 'Madhuram' rice varieties. We offer every kind of rice from across the country and can tailor the product mix at the PINCODE level to suit the palates of the palates the local audience. We will also extend our cooking ingredients brand 'Kitchenji', and shall continue to add to the basket."

Karthik Jayaraman, co-founder, WayCool Foods, said, "'Magic Points' are our way to empower and back thousands of food entrepreneurs who have been doing 10-minute deliveries for 10s of decades without the benefit of hyper funding - our very own kirana stores and Annachi kadais. By transforming their stores into Magic points, we intend to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, empowering them with our products and our technology offerings and our fintech solutions. I firmly believe that with our comprehensive tech stack from soil to sale and their deep connect with their consumers, we will build a winning combination that will define the future of retail, as against "transplanted" and often incongruous global models."

WayCool operates a highly efficient food supply chain with next-gen tech. With advanced AI, deep learning, it has developed strong capabilities in predictive demand forecasting, sophisticated inventory management and planning, optimized delivery routes, and automated and highly productive warehousing. Given the availability of high-quality produce in the country coupled with WayCool's expertise, consumers will be assured the highest quality and hygienic products for their consumption.