Flipkart to strengthen grocery infrastructure as e-commerce sales zoom

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 11 : E-commerce marketplace Flipkart said on Tuesday it is stepping up supply chain infrastructure for its grocery business and add over 8 lakh square feet of space through five new fulfilment centres over the next three months.
With the current grocery fulfilment centre network, the platform serves close to 64,000 orders a day. The additional fulfilment centres at Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Coimbatore and Hyderabad will help cater to over 73,000 grocery orders per day.
Last month, the capacity was added across Lucknow, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Patna.
Smrithi Ravichandran, Vice President for Flipkart's grocery division, said e-commerce has emerged as a safe means of making purchases as the deadly second wave of Covid-19 sweeps across the country.
"Customer safety is at the centre of the Flipkart group's efforts. Our new grocery supply chain infrastructure will help us serve more customers in the country who can order daily essentials seamlessly and avail of contactless delivery," he said in a statement.
"We are also continuously engaging with brand and marketplace partners to ensure stock availability across the country," he added.
Flipkart grocery offers over 7,000 products across 200-plus categories ranging from daily household supplies, staples, snacks and beverages, confectionery and personal care. It is backed by voice-enabled shopping for groceries, credit offerings and open box deliveries.
Sustained growth in Flipkart's grocery business is giving a boost to the local food processing industry, resulting in support to Indian agriculture and small and medium farmers.
This has also created thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities, leading to a boost in employment and the economy, said Flipkart.