India's leading e-commerce firm, Flipkart, has launched 20 stores in 10 cities to let its customers collect the items they ordered online at their convenience, according to media reports.
The service has been launched in collaboration with Flipkart's logistics partner Ekart. The pilot project had received an overwhelming response from customers with more than 80 per cent of shipments picked up through the stores, over a period of 6 months. Flipkart plans to open 100 such stores by March 2016.
The initiative aims to address issues such as unavailability of customers during delivery and restricted entry of delivery boys into IT parks, gated communities and educational institutions.
Neeraj Aggarwal, Flipkart's senior director of delivery operations, said, “Getting logistics right is extremely crucial for e-commerce companies. Our efforts are focused on expanding our delivery network, without compromising on the customer service levels and expectation. We believe this model is a resolution to customer unavailability issues, as it offers consumers a choice to adjust the delivery time and location according to their convenience.”
“We also plan to offer several value-added services at these experience zones to enhance customer engagement. Services like instant returns, spot trials, open box deliveries and exclusive product demos will also be rolled out in the near future,” Aggarwal added.
But Flipkart's “click and collect” model is not new. One of its main rivals, Amazon, has a similar arrangement in the US. The move improved customer service as it avoided the need for them to have to wait around for ordered items due to a missed delivery.
Bengaluru, Mysore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Vellore, Gurgaon, Vadodora and Surat are the 10 cities where the Flipkart stores will operate from.
