Online retailer Flipkart and Amazon are competing head-to-head. In a latest, the Indian counterpart has launched its first online grocery category Supermart in Bengaluru to expand its portfolio.
The firm has been talking about tapping the online FMCG segment for a while now. A few months back, it had started grocery services in Bengaluru on a pilot basis, which was exclusively for its employees, reported Economic Times.
"We have done a soft launch for grocery categories at Flipkart. Currently, it is available to select customers in Bengaluru. In line with our aim of transforming e-commerce in the country through technology, we want to make shopping for everyday essentials convenient for our customers, we intend to scale it up to all customers in Bengaluru and take it to other cities in future," the company spokesperson told the business daily.
The new Supermart section in the Flipkart app lets you order groceries for a minimum of Rs 500 and will offer free of cost delivery for orders above Rs 1,000.
The company is providing options such as 'open-box delivery', with which the customers can verify products before acceptance and 'doorstep returns' which provides customers with the discretion to return the product right during the delivery if faces any issue.
According to reports, Flipkart has built a dedicated supply chain for its grocery service so the segment runs seamlessly. The new initiative is to take on the likes of grocery delivery app BigBasket and Grofers.
The company had earlier started grocery delivery service through its app Nearby in 2015, but shut the business after running it for some months.
Grocery has been a point of focus for most e-commerce platforms; Amazon India offers food products through Amazon Pantry in a few cities and same-day grocery delivery on Amazon Now app through a tie-up with retailers such as Big Bazaar and Hypercity in some cities.
Alibaba-backed Paytm Mall is also looking for expansions in the online grocery space and the company is also reportedly in talks with largest grocery etailer BigBasket for buying a significant stake in the latter.
