Flipkart takes a second stab at hyperlocal delivery with Quick

Four years after pulling the plug on its grocery delivery platform Nearby, ecommerce major Flipkart said it has launched hyperlocal delivery app Flipkart Quick in Bengaluru.

The service, which claims to deliver products within 90 minutes, has a minimum fee of Rs 29 and operates between 6 am and 12 am, as per a statement. It offers over 2,000 products in categories such as grocery, fresh produce, dairy, meat, mobiles, electronics accessories, stationery items and home accessories, the statement said.

The Walmart-owned ecommerce firm said it will leverage its technology capabilities, including a new location mapping technology framework and supply chain infrastructure, to ensure quick delivery. Instead of the traditional pin code-based delivery model, the company has switched to a latitude and longitude approach, which will make address mapping more accurate and speed up the last mile process, the statement said.

“While we start with our dark store 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 on our platform with just a click,” Sandeep Karwa, vice president of Flipkart, said.

The Bengaluru based company shut its grocery delivery app Nearby in February 2016, five months after it was launched in the city, citing lack of demand and wafer thin margins as reasons. The platform was meant to connect users with hyperlocal grocery outlets for delivery of daily use products such as groceries and staples, household supplies and personal care products.

This time around, the firm will primarily compete with Reliance Jio’s ecommerce unit JioMart, whose app reportedly crossed one million downloads on Google Play and is set to become the largest e-grocer shortly. JioMart began accepting orders through Flipkart-owned messaging platform WhatsApp just five days after its parent company raised $5.7 billion from social media giant Facebook.

Other players in the segment include BigBasket, Amazon Pantry and Grofers besides Google-backed Dunzo.

Last week, Flipkart Group announced a reverse-acquisition of Walmart India, and launched a business-to-business (B2B) marketplace called Flipkart Wholesale. A week before the acquisition, Flipkart raised $1.2 billion in an equity funding round led by its majority owner Walmart, along with a group of returning shareholders. The deal valued the company at $24.9 billion post money.