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alcutta, Jan. 21: Bigbasket, the Bangalore-based online supermarket, is now ready to serve the eastern market.

"Calcutta is the first city in the east where we have become operational and so it is significant to our growth plans in this region," said Hari Menon, co-founder and CEO of Bigbasket.

Customers can place orders on Bigbasket's website or through a mobile application. The company follows an inventory-owned model, which means it stocks products in its own warehouses. The model differs from the hyperlocal format where companies tie up with local shops near a buyer for faster delivery.

To start with, Bigbasket will stock its inventory in a 35,000 sq ft warehouse in Taratala. But the company has identified a 70,000 sq ft warehouse in Sankrail, Howrah.

"We will give up the warehouse in Taratala once the Sankrail unit becomes operational," said Menon.

As of now, Bigbasket operates in seven tier-1 cities - Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi-NCR and Pune. It is also present in eight tier-2 cities.

The online grocery player said it was targeting a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by the end of this fiscal, a 354.5 per cent growth over its last fiscal's turnover of Rs 220 crore.

In the 15 cities where it now operates, Bigbasket offers 15,000 products. In Calcutta, it will start with 9,000 products and after a month will take it to 15,000.

The launch of Bigbasket's services in the city has been delayed by three months as it could not find a suitable warehouse.