Flipkart may add quick commerce to cart

Potential launch in next couple of months; to take on Blinkit, Zepto

Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart is gearing up to launch a quick-commerce service in the next couple of months, according to sources. It will compete with firms such as Zepto, Swiggy’s Instamart, and Zomato’s Blinkit.

“Flipkart is working on this service and may launch it in the next couple of months. The firm is also setting up several dark stores in the country to provide this quick service,” said a person familiar with the development.

Entrackr was the first to report the development.

According to industry sources, 15-20-minute deliveries provided by players such as Zepto, Instamart, and Blinkit are taking a major portion of the sales of products away from Flipkart and Amazon.

“At Flipkart, customer-centricity is at the core of everything we do. We constantly work towards delivering a wide range of products to customers with speed. Over the past few months, we have made several investments to enhance our delivery capabilities, including adding same-day delivery in 20 cities. This covers mobile phones, essential items, electronics, home appliances, fashion, books, and lifestyle products,” said Flipkart in response to a query about its foray into quick commerce.

“We are committed to meeting evolving customer expectations and delivering excellence in value, selection, and speed, with more initiatives expected on this front in the coming months,” said the company.

Flipkart recently introduced same-day delivery of products across multiple categories. This move will enable the Bengaluru-based company to deliver products to millions of customers across 20 cities, including both metro and nonmetro regions.

Some of the non-metro cities include Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Indore, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Siliguri, and Vijayawada.

The firm would further scale it in the months to come, covering more cities, including Tier-ii and TIER-III locations and categories.