Flipkart revs up grocery push, aims for 70-plus cities in six months

Riding on the online grocery wave, Walmart backed ecommerce giant Flipkart has expanded its grocery services to more than 50 cities in the country through its pan-India marketplace. This will include seven metro cities and over 40 neighbouring cities. 

The other cities include Mysore, Kanpur, Warangal, Allahabad, Aligarh, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Rajkot, Vadodara, Vellore, Tirupati and Daman through a satellite expansion marketplace model. 

The offering will be expanded to another 20 cities in the next six months.

Claiming 3X growth in the last one year, Flipkart Grocery today has more than 7000 products available across 200-plus categories.

“We have witnessed increased demand for groceries from tier 2 cities in the past year, fuelled by customers increasing preference for contactless shopping, from the comforts of their home. It is a trend that we think will continue and will set the course of e-grocery space in India,” Manish Kumar, senior vice president - grocery, general merchandise and furniture, Flipkart, said in a statement.

Flipkart has enabled voice-based shopping for groceries, credit offerings and open box deliveries providing seamless grocery shopping experience to millions of consumers. 

The company also launched ‘Flipkart Quick’, its hyperlocal delivery model in Bangalore that offers a 90-min delivery service.

Kumar added, “Grocery continues to be one of the fastest-growing categories, with the increase in demand for quality food and household supplies from users. In line with this, we have invested in scaling up our grocery operations across the country, strengthening ecosystem partnerships,  thus ensuring a seamless grocery shopping experience through an expansive product selection, robust supply chain and smooth in-app experience for consumers.”

Last month, Flipkart launched its B2B grocery segment for retailers, who can directly source from Flipkart across brands.

A recent Redseer Consulting report highlighted that more than 50% grocery retail space in India is addressable by e-grocery platforms Of this, value-first households account for a significant 61% portion, with metro and tier-1 markets covering more than 40% of this opportunity.

Last year, rival Amazon too entered the segment with the launch of Amazon Fresh. Now even smaller agritech startups like Clover and Crofarm are eyeing the space.