Walmart-owned Flipkart has launched a hyperlocal 90-minute delivery service called Flipkart Quick in Bengaluru across categories including grocery, mobiles, electronics and home accessories.
With this launch, the company has also forayed into fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as meats and milk on its platform. These new business verticals will also be operated through partnerships, for instance, for fresh fruits and vegetables, the company has partnered with Ninjacart.
The move comes at a time when India’s ecommerce battle is being redrawn with Reliance JioMart’s plans to leverage its telecom reach to propel online commerce.
The online retailer has started a pilot in parts of Bengaluru where consumers can choose to order in the next 90 minutes or book a 2-hour slot starting with a minimum delivery fee of Rs 29. Shadowfax is the firm’s delivery partner, but over time, Flipkart plans to move to a hybrid model by leveraging kirana stores as well as its own logistics arm Ekart to fulfil orders.
On June 17, ET was the first to report that Flipkart is preparing to launch a separate business vertical for 90-minute delivery of goods. The company said it will expand to six other cities in the next few months.
“Six months back the conversation was about convenience… Now it’s no longer about just convenience, this is the need of the hour…This is a great model for India as households of all sizes are already used to their neighbourhood Kirana stores,” Sandeep Karwa, vice-president of Flipkart, said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to faster convergence between online and offline commerce, with traditional businesses now increasingly collaborating with online channels as a long-term strategy to generate demand.
While the company will start with using its own hubs for delivery, it aims to bring together the whole network of neighbourhood Kirana stores over the next phase of expansion.
Hyperlocal delivery, a model of picking up goods from neighbourhood stores, warehouses, and supermarkets, had gained widespread investor interest a few years ago. A bunch of startups had launched ventures to ride the boom and subsequently raised venture capital. Those models, however, failed due to poor unit economics. This time around though, the tie-ups between online firms and brick-and-mortar retailers, especially the larger, organized ones, are favouring offline retailers.
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