FlipKart Shocks Competitors by Promising 3 Hour Delivery In The Near Future
What could be more delightful than you receiving your online purchases within hours of clicking on the buy and checkout button? While FlipKart already provides same day delivery in 10 cities and so do some other online stores like Amazon and Snapdeal, Flipkart has taken a step ahead and announced that its team is working hard and finding out solutions to make delivery as quick as possible and get close to delivering your stuff within three hours of purchase.
Currently, it stated that that it was evaluating the pricing and possible locations where it can start rolling out these services by the end of six months, starting now.
Sujeet Kumar, head of WS Retail and Ekart Logistics said that technology pricing had to be thoroughly evaluated as these deliveries will be largely based on necessity driven purchases such as a gift which is immediately required or an equipment or tool which is needed at hand.
What does this mean for the Customers?
- Quicker Service
Ecommerce in India has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. In the beginning, deliveries could take as long as 10 days but that happens very less now. FlipKart already has 13 warehouses all over the country with over 12000 people in the logistics and delivery team. This certainly proves that such a service can be effectively managed by it and the customers should expect a few products available 3 hours away by the end of June or July first week.
As the dice rolls forwards, the customer is bound to get quicker deliveries and more focussed attention.
- Hefty Pricing on this Service
Currently the three largest online retailers of India namely FlipKart, Amazon and Snapdeal offer same day delivery at an extra premium paid by the customer. This premium will be all the more if you are expecting to get your stuff within hours of purchase.
Amazon America offers products like detergents, shampoos and other household items to its consumers in Manhattan, New York within 60 minutes for a heavy fee of $7.99
This certainly means that in India too, the feature won’t be accessible to the masses unless Flipkart figures a way to reduce such costs.
- More time and energy saved
Customers keen on using this service are bound to save more time and energy as Flipkart will become the one stop solution for these people to shop and get what they want as quickly as possible.
- Increased Competition leading to more options
As we know now that Amazon already offers such services in its parent country, we are bound to see such offers from the likes of it as well as others like Snapdeal. This will lead to more competition and hence more options for you.
What does this mean for the Competitors?
There are numerous speculations which can be made. What could the competitors’ move be?
Amazon recently dominated the news with the launch of its drones and Snapdeal generated respect by outsourcing its logistics to Indian Post-men and thus reaching the smallest of urban towns.
Here are some possibilities which might take shape:
- More and more platforms will launch newer services promising faster deliveries at more attractive prices and this may even lead to price wars.
- We could also be in for some symbiotic association. FlipKart may associate with Amazon and its drone technology and provide Amazon with shared logistics and data and collectively accumulate more economies of scale.
One thing which I am most certain about is that the person who will benefit the most is you, the customer who will be the centre focus of all these strategies. You are bound to be more pleased and enjoy a plethora of services and benefits as FlipKart and other ecommerce companies continue to grow and expand with such strategies.
This is also welcome news for digital marketing as these companies will look towards rigorous online marketing to promote their new and upcoming services.
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