In India, pass through any market in a metro city and one thing that starkly stands out is the ‘free home delivery service’ every seller offers. It’s like a magic lamp for marketers delighting the desi Aladdin a.k.a consumer base! The concept started with pizza deliveries and slowly but surely spread to other food chains – hi-end restaurants to the local Chinese food-vans. Today, it’s an epidemic! From chemists to laundry services extending their hospitality; banking personnel making house visits to yoga instructors substituting the morning alarm clocks; from ration-walla’s being on speed-dial to vegetable and fruit sellers sending home the loot…‘home delivery’ is undoubtedly the new-age selling mantra. What’s more, with smart-phones galore and the constantly growing ‘app’ market, ordering for home delivery is as easy as updating one’s Facebook status.

Knowing that a phone call or a button is all it takes to fulfil one’s basic needs is highly convenient but is that all this sums down to…convenience? Maybe there is more. Is it the love for V.I.P treatment – feeling empowered and kingly? Or the work-life cycle turning such a convenience from a luxury to necessity? Or does it reflect the need for recognition? (The neighbours might not know you but the shop keeper does) Or are households also running like small-scale organizations now, with a growing support staff?

These speculations are sure to drive home the answer, one day.