The Walmart owned e-commerce retailer Flipkart is unwinding an ice-breaking debut of 90 minutes Hyperlocal delivery offer to stand out in the online retail market.
You might be intrigued by the term “Hyperlocal” here. Yes, it is a striking word used to denote the proposed 90-minutes fastest delivery system by collecting the goods from nearby local stores and also from the company’s own fulfilment centres.
The ardent online retail player Flipkart is specialising in the hyperlocal category to make a remarkable impression in the market amidst its peer competitors; Reliance owned JioMart and the e-commerce behemoth Amazon Pantry who are let out to the offline retail environment. The Flipkart plans to start with the grocery delivery services to gain strength in the fastest delivery offering.
Flipkart’s strategy of Hyperlocal delivery is formulated by partnering with the Indian logistics startup Shadowfax which raised $60 million in the latest round led by Flipkart. The Bangalore based startup has so far raised $100 million in total. The logistic startups is much expected to shoulder the efforts of Flipkart shortly with the last mile delivery network across the country.
Flipkart initiated a series D funding to this four-year-old Bengaluru based logistics startup Shadowfax who is guaranteeing a full functional India’s fastest delivery system.
Whereas the proposed plan is just a month away, but there is a long term prospect to deliver all kinds of goods in the 90-minute timeframe, as per the sources.
Furthermore, Flipkart and Shadowfax did not like to comment on the procedure of operation but as a point to start this venture, both the companies would begin with the delivery of goods from Flipkart’s warehouse and the neighbourhood stores. Also, there are plans to slowly expand the potential to contemporary retailers in a specific area, as per the sources on anonymity.
This COVID19 crisis is now creating the ‘new normal’ in every industry. As far as the retail industry, the offline and the online trades are collaborating to achieve the best in this challenging situation.
Earlier in the lockdown phase by March, Flipkart was about to restart its grocery delivery service with its Supermarket services. But it was done with strict guidelines issued by the government on the transit of goods and services. Even in May this year, Flipkart was planning for online sales to recover the losses accrued during the lockdown phase. Now, after some relaxation from lockdown, this brand new industry-ready program is proposed to arrive in the great feat.
The popular businesses are hugely involved with the online channels as a long term strategy to accelerate demand and cogency in this tough situation.
The move by Flipkart is being seen as a counter initiative to JioMart which is expected to leverage on Facebook-owned WhatsApp after the recent investment of $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms by Facebook. However, JioMart is caught in delivery challenges and has halted its operations. Flipkart apparently wants to make the most of the situation and would like to capture the market before JioMart starts operating with full force.
This proposed Flipkart hyperlocal delivery service is expected to launch in Bengaluru first as a pilot project until the company’s very famous Big Billion sales scheduled by October every year. And later on, maybe it can be expanded to other capital cities of the country.
