Taking on hyperlocal players such as BigBasket, Dunzo, etc, Flipkart has announced the launch of its hyperlocal service - ‘Flipkart Quick’, where customers can have items delivered in 90 minutes or book a 2-hour slot. Flipkart said in a statement that the hyperlocal delivery model aims to tap new consumers by widening the accessibility of products and enabling consumers to order products from Flipkart hubs in their location, ensuring quick delivery.
Flipkart Quick will provide consumers with more than 2,000 products in categories varying from grocery, fresh, dairy, meat, mobiles, electronics accessories, stationery items and home accessories in the first phase.
Customers can place orders anytime of the day, and get their orders delivered between 6am to midnight, starting with a minimum delivery fee Rs 29.
Flipkart Quick will debut in Bengaluru in select locations, including Whitefield, Panathur, HSR Layout, BTM Layout, Banashankari, KR Puram and Indiranagar.
This announcement comes days after Flipkart Group acquired Walmart India’s wholesale business to launch a new B2B marketplace ‘Flipkart Wholesale’ in a bid to leverage Walmart’s wholesale capabilities in India to help meet the needs of kirana stores and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Flipkart said in a statement that Flipkart Quick will use advanced technology for location mapping to ensure faster delivery and will also move away from the traditional model of using a pin-code system to identify the delivery location. This technology, it claims, promises to not only speed up the last mile process, but also bring more accuracy to the address mapping system, hence avoiding chances of mismatch or re-attempts.
Commenting on the launch, Sandeep Karwa, Vice-President, Flipkart, said, “Hyperlocal capabilities can be described simply as building connections between locally available products and consumers in a particular area. This is a great model for India as households of all sizes are already used to their neighbourhood Kirana stores. In fact, Indian families are so comfortable with what we call the ‘hyperlocal context’, that there is a tendency to develop deep, familial ties with vendors, shopkeepers and service providers - now with the convenience of e-commerce."
"While we start with our dark store (no-walkin) model, wherein we enable sellers to store inventory close to the consumer; this model has the potential of encouraging local entrepreneurship and enabling new business strategies and partnerships. Today, with Flipkart Quick - our Hyperlocal capability, we have the potential to bring together the whole network of neighbourhood Kirana stores onto our platform with just a click," he added.