I started off by going through their website and trying to understand what the company does fundamentally. I was a bit confused on the business model and its profitability, the recent operational losses were confirming my confusion.
But I thought to myself that this could make a good question to ask if at the end they give me an opportunity to ask them something.
Brushed up on my CV once, read a little more about the company’s upcoming projects and after ‘number standing’ their financial data, I was all done from my side.
The D-day dawned upon me with a fish market-y Group discussion about political issues, but with a little bit of confidence and smart cross-questioning, I made it to the final interviews.
Now, my interview experience was one of a kind because I was the only applicant who was called in for two interviews - Yes, the head HR entered during my Marketing Interview and told me I will have another round after this one.
Still a bit abashed from this, I went in for the second interview, excited about the strange opportunity but definitely a bit apprehensive about the whole thing.
This was when I saw my mentor for the first time. A focused man who knew what he wanted. Apparently, I was called in for this second interview because of some analytics points I had in my CV and there was a Marketing analytics role which I could fill in.
The interview went smoothly, I was able to justify my interest in analytics even after being a commerce graduate and they did give me an opportunity to ask my question about the business model’s longevity.
The wait for the results after the process felt long, but they finally happened. I was in.
A happy me went home that day.
Fast forward a couple of months, it was day 1 of the Internship.
It began with induction and introduction sessions, with amazing lunch and a lot of excitement to work.
Over the first week, we were taken to BigBasket’s distribution centre for a whole day and learned a lot about how the model works with its nitty-gritties and subtle intricacies.
Week two was more of our mentor telling us all sorts of things about the Retail & FMCG Industry, the e-Commerce world and how everything connects to create an atmosphere of efficiency.
The third week is where my work began, my project was on the Replenishment Process, Productivity & Improvement of the B2B Model at BigBasket.
I took the week to understand how currently the process was functioning and made points on where there was a scope of improvement if any.
During this week and the next, I also learnt a lot about Category management and Vendor Handling for BigBasket and how it all ties up smoothly to the technical side of the company.
The next few weeks were spent in me developing a model for replenishment process smoothing and improving their overall efficiency of the process. During development, I went through various versions of the model and inputs from my mentor and people working in the B2B department really helped me shape the model to accurate relevancy.
My first-year studies in Statistics and Quantitative aptitude proved to be of great significance in developing the model too.
The final week was when we were going to present to founders of the company: the work we had done.
The presentation was smooth, and the incredible inputs from the founders and my mentor really helped me look at things and processes in a more business-y way, especially being a fresher.
My contribution through the model will be implemented in their replenishment system after some refinement to it, this was very motivating to know.
To my juniors, my advice will be to learn things outside your studies; take up courses, take part in competitions and be pro-active. Balance fun & personal development and there will be no one to stop you from achieving great heights!
Throughout this journey, my mentor was one of the most influential person I got to know. His dedication towards the entire team of interns in the B2B department really helped in terms of motivation. I look up to his personality and hope to learn and implement a lot from him.
Overall, I was really satisfied from my Summer Internship and look forward to final placements!
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