Flipkart continues supply chain expansion ahead of sale

Ecommerce marketplace Flipkart on Thursday said that it has expanded its last-mile reach with over 3,000 facilities to strengthen its presence across tier-III cities and beyond.

The infrastructure boost comes a week before the annual Big Billion Days sale, which is scheduled to be held from October 16 to October 21.

The company has added over 3.4 million square feet space across its supply chain assets, including fulfilment centres, mother hubs and delivery centres throughout the country, a statement said.

Separately, the Walmart-owned firm has acquired 140-acre land to set up its largest fulfilling centre in Asia at Manesar, Gurugram, according to an Economic Times report on Thursday. The allotment, which the company bought for Rs 432 crore, is expected to cost Rs 3,500 crore to develop, the report said. It will also reportedly create over 12,000 jobs in the region, with the first phase likely to be operationalised by 2022.

“The pandemic has accelerated the expansion of our supply chain across the country, particularly smaller cities, to meet growing demands for e-commerce services,” Amitesh Jha, senior vice-president at Flipkart’s Ekart and Marketplace, said.

Read: Flipkart, Amazon festive sales to generate 1.7 lakh jobs

Rival Amazon India’s equivalent of The Big Billion Days, The Great Indian Sale, is scheduled to start on October 17, with early access for Prime members on October 16.

With the period lined up with Indian festivals such as Navratri, Durga Pujo, Dhanteras and Diwali, the season hosts a major chunk of the country’s B2C shopping.

Flipkart also said that it hosted a month-long learning and development programme for its pan-India seller base to apprise them with best practices and insights to boost their business during the upcoming festive season. 

In a separate statement, Flipkart’s wholesale unit, a business that was recently acquired from parent Walmart, announced the expansion of its operations in Nagpur through a digital format for retailers in the city.

“Under this format, Flipkart Wholesale shall onboard fashion retailers and manufacturers in Nagpur through a digital process by leveraging Virtual Territory Relationship Executives. Interested business partners can opt for this completely contactless experience to register themselves on Flipkart Wholesale,” the statement said.

Since its launch with the fashion category in September, Flipkart Wholesale said it has expanded in 16 cities and has engaged with over 10,000 resellers and has enabled over one lakh listings for footwear and clothing for retailers.

It plans to have a presence in 20 cities by the end of 2020 and add a grocery category to the marketplace.