Flipkart brings festive cheer to Bharat with

 Flipkart brings festive cheer to Bharat with pan-India
supply chain expansion

• Expands last-mile reach with more than 3,000 facilities, strengthening presence in tier-III cities and beyond
• Infrastructure expansion will support new livelihood opportunities, help bring MSMEs, Sellers & Artisans closer to market

To cater to the growing needs of millions of new and existing consumers coming online and to support market access for lakhs of MSMEs, Sellers, Artisans & Kiranas, Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has significantly expanded its supply chain across the country. This massive infrastructure  investment is aimed at bringing the festive cheer to Bharat consumers’ doorstep ahead of the festive season and BBD (the Big Billion Days) festive event. As part of this process, it has increased its last-mile reach with more than 3,000 facilities across the country to provide a fast and efficient e-commerce experience to consumers this festive period. This expansion will also help lakhs of sellers, MSMEs and artisans from smaller towns to connect with a pan-India consumer base through Flipkart’s supply chain.

Overall, Flipkart has added over 3.4 million square feet space across its supply chain assets including fulfillment centres, mother hubs and delivery centres throughout the country. These large fulfillment centres, spanning across an area of up to 5 lakh square feet each, are crucial to ensuring a seamless movement of goods between sellers and buyers. These fulfilment centres along with mother hubs or sortation centres and delivery centres also contribute to large scale creation of direct and indirect employment across the country. With this addition, the total warehousing space for Flipkart now totals to over 18 million square feet in addition to lakhs of square feet of assets from partner brands. This has been further strengthened with the onboarding of over 50,000 kiranas across the country which will help manage a higher number of shipments during the festive season.

 

Amitesh Jha, Senior Vice-President, Ekart and Marketplace, Flipkart said, “Flipkart has always been committed to bringing consumers online to ensure equitable distribution of the benefits of e-commerce. The pandemic has  accelerated the expansion of our supply chain across the country, particularly smaller cities, to meet growing demands for e-commerce services. Also, keeping in mind the growth of e-commerce over the next few years, this expansion will enable us to connect millions of consumers across the country with lakhs of sellers and artisans in a fast and efficient manner. During the festive season, this additional space and infrastructure investment will also boost local employment, particularly for people who went back to their hometowns due to the lockdown, and create opportunities for local businesses to scale up their operations significantly with Flipkart.”

 

This expanded network of supply chain assets is important to serve the millions of new consumers from smaller cities who are coming online to experience the value and convenience of e-commerce. It also helps strengthen Flipkart’s presence in metros as well as tier-II, III cities and beyond such as Ladakh, Bishnupur (Manipur), and Dimapur (Nagaland), while creating thousands of local job opportunities. This festive season, Flipkart is creating nearly 70,000 direct jobs and lakhs of indirect jobs through its pan-India supply chain.

 

The COVID-19 induced pandemic has brought about tectonic shifts in consumer purchase patterns and has accelerated sellers’ transition to online platforms across products categories as they look for an enhanced role in e-commerce in their lives. From essentials such as groceries to grooming products, WFH furniture to home appliances, e-commerce has become the preferred choice for consumers and sellers across the country. While metros accounted for a large percentage of this trend before the pandemic, the pandemic has accelerated the transition of consumers and sellers from tier-II and tier-III markets to e-commerce. Flipkart’s expansion of supply chain in these regions ahead of the festive season will create a win-win situation for consumers, sellers, artisans and other ecosystem partners.

 

The expansion of the supply chain is in line with the large-scale employment Flipkart is creating with the upcoming festive season and the Big Billion Days. This will also contribute to making e-commerce more inclusive with broader participation of women across Flipkart’s supply chain.

 

Over 50,000 kiranas partner with

Over 50,000 kiranas partner with Flipkart to deliver festive cheer for India

• Kiranas from across the country to benefit from digital upskilling while also augmenting their income
• Number of kiranas joining the program have doubled since last year

In preparation for the festive season and the Big Billion Days, Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has significantly expanded its kirana onboarding program to make deliveries to customers in more than 850 cities. With more than 50,000 kiranas onboarded, Flipkart aims to provide a fast and personalised e-commerce experience to millions of consumers while creating opportunities for digital upskilling as well as additional income for kiranas.

To help kiranas onboard and be active participants in the festive season, Flipkart’s team initiated contactless onboarding of kiranas through online application forms where kirana partners directly uploaded details along with required documentation. This enabled seamless onboarding without them having to step out during COVID19 times. Following a detailed verification check, the kirana partners were brought into the program. before they can deliver shipments. The team has also organised digital training on various tools including app-based dashboards and digital payments, helping kiranas transform their business from traditional general trade stores to modern convenience stores.

The kirana program has been further expanded to remote and far away cities across the country including places such as Tinsukia (Assam), Agartala (Tripura) and Kannur (Kerala), making e-commerce more inclusive by connecting kiranas and consumers to the country’s fast growing digital commerce.

Kiranas have a high consumer satisfaction score and this program provides an opportunity to generate additional income for them while also building on consumer centric skills, resulting in a win-win situation.

Amitesh Jha, Senior Vice-President, Ekart and Marketplace, Flipkart, said, “Flipkart believes in technology-enabled inclusive growth by taking all the ecosystem stakeholders with us and our kirana partners are an integral part of this ecosystem. As one of the oldest retail formats in India, kiranas have one of the highest penetration and showcase effective management of the supply chain drivers such as facilities, inventory, information and sourcing, as well as in maintaining a long-standing relationship with consumers. Through a combination of their hyperlocal presence and innovations by Flipkart, this program has become a great enabler in strengthening the kirana ecosystem in the country. We are pleased to witness the increasing participation from kiranas across the country to reinvent themselves and align with the fast growing e-commerce industry.”

Partnering with lakhs of sellers and MSMEs, Flipkart delivers millions of shipments every day through its robust supply chain across 100% of the serviceable pincodes in India. Flipkart is expanding the physical and digital infrastructure, strengthening its supply chain capabilities while working with multiple ecosystem partners and traditional businesses. These include freelance delivery executives and kiranas, thereby complementing their incomes and bringing more convenience to e-commerce consumers. Last year, kiranas collectively delivered over 1 million shipments during Flipkart’s The Big Billion Day while offering a stellar e-commerce experience for the consumers.

The kirana program is part of Flipkart Group's efforts to drive growth for millions of kiranas across the country. This also includes Flipkart Wholesale, a digital B2B marketplace with an aim to connect local manufacturers and MSMEs with retailers and other businesses and bring a wholesale marketplace to their fingertips using technology.