The last time we caught up with the honestbee of organic food, Sproutfore, we learnt that they were launching their marketplace platform for farmers to connect with local consumers using QR codes and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Come July, they’ll be a part of Singapore’s largest farmers’ market, Sprout 2018, organised by Suntec Singapore, and Sproutfore is the official e-marketplace partner.
The Freshest Produce Brought To You
Sprout 2018 is a ‘farm-to-people’ festival that will be happening on 7 and 8 July 2018 at Suntec Singapore Convention Centre, Hall 406. Admission is free.
Over 55 curated exhibitors ranging from farm growers, urban farming, and artisanal and specialty food, will be part of this first-of-its-kind event.
The festival has six interactive zones, namely, Sprout & BUY, Sprout & GROW, Sprout & EAT, Sprout & PLAY, Sprout & COOK, and Sprout & LEARN.
The first three zones are essentially what you can expect to do there; shop for groceries, learn how to grow your own urban garden, and have meals prepared by farm-to-table restaurants using locally-sourced ingredients.
As your kids have fun participating in educational and interactive activities at the PLAY zone, you can watch a live cooking demonstration by Chef Violet Oon at the COOK section, or get down and dirty with a hands-on workshop at the LEARN area.
Sproutfore launched the event’s official e-marketplace for the event, with 15 merchants who have been onboarded onto the platform and who will also be exhibitors at Sprout 2018.
Customers can purchase these exhibitors’ fresh produce and quality supplies through Sproutfore’s e-marketplace and have them delivered to your home – so you don’t have to lug all your shopping home from the event.
Founder of Sproutfore, Kenneth Tan said that Sproutfore wants to give visitors a more efficient and flexible shopping experience.
“QR codes of exhibitors can be found at the event where visitors can scan with their smartphones to know more about the exhibitors. We hope more people can tell the difference between an Online Grocer and Online Farmers’ Market in which we are the latter.”
He added, “Sproutfore supports local farmers and specialty merchants as our priority. Also, we would like to raise awareness on local farmers and specialty merchants to encourage more millennials to join the industry.”
Suntec Singapore has also partnered with Fave, formerly known as Groupon, to be Sprout 2018’s official mobile payment partner, offering an e-payment solution for all the exhibitors, and to provide a great alternative for visitors to go cashless during the event.
According to a Suntec Singapore spokesperson, Fave will be providing an exclusive event promo code to be used during event days that gives customers S$3 off with a minimum spending of S$6 on the event’s e-payment platform.
Scan To Know, Know To Buy
Since the last time we spoke, Sproutfore has welcomed 20 more merchants onto their platform since their launch last year and now has a total of 31 merchants and over 1,000 products.
Kenneth noted that there are still some onboarded merchants who haven’t yet launch their products, and shared that they aim to have 40 merchants on their platform by the time Sprout 2018 happens.
The company has also remodelled the business into an online-to-offline, offline-to-online (O2O) model, and has partnered with a logistic solutions provider to scale their delivery capacity.
“We are adopting an asset-light business model which allows us to remain sustainable. All our delivery is on last-mile concept, so Sproutfore does not keep inventory. Our logistics partner will collect in the morning of delivery,” Kenneth explained.
“Nothing beats our freshness when the produce is being harvested in the morning and gets delivered on the day itself. We are the new ‘Level of Fresh’!”
Since they adopted the O2O business model, they have expanded from eight to 11 product categories to “bring offline farmers’ market online, and online consumers to offline’.
That offline part refers to their ‘Activities and Services’ category which allows customers to book farm tours and workshops via Sproutfore’s platform and earn loyalty points just like when they shop on Sproutfore.
On top of their unique approach to the online farm-to-table concept, they kept their food traceability feature which lets customers trace the product’s origin back to its farmer or merchant and even allows them to see their faces!
They have also launched their Schedule Box service, where customers can “group-buy” groceries with their families, friends, or neighbours, and have them delivered on a fixed schedule.
A location fee will be charged for each location they need to collect from.
It starts from $2.80 per location for the first $50 and $1.80 for orders above $50. Any orders above $100 will have the location fee waived off.
Using the Schedule Box service will save customers delivery cost as there’s only a $3 administration fee, but they have to meet a minimum order of $200 or a minimum of $40 per scheduled delivery.
For more information about Sprout 2018, visit their website here. Enjoy free delivery when you checkout with promo code ‘SPROUT2018’ from 1-31 July on their e-marketplace here.
Featured Image Credit: Sproutfore