Flipkart ramps up grocery operations; expands reach to over 50 cities

The pandemic has led to a sharp growth in consumer demand for e-grocery, not only in metros but also from tier 2 cities and beyond

E-commerce giant Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has expanded its grocery services to more than 50  cities in the country through its pan India marketplace. This expansion will provide users of 7 metro cities and over 40 neighbouring cities access to high-quality grocery products, quick deliveries and a seamless shopping experience.

In the grocery space, Flipkart competes with players such as BigBasket, Swiggy, Amazon, Grofers and Reliance’s JioMart.

“Grocery continues to be one of the fastest-growing categories, with the increase in demand for quality food and household supplies from users,” said Manish Kumar, senior vice president for grocery, general merchandise and furniture at Flipkart.

In line with this, Kumar said Flipkart has invested in scaling up the grocery operations across the country, strengthening ecosystem partnerships. This is ensuring a seamless grocery shopping experience through an expansive product selection, robust supply chain and smooth in-app experience for consumers.

Over the years, Walmart-owned Flipkart has invested in the rapid expansion of its grocery services and has managed to scale up exponentially in the past year. This expansion has brought the convenience of Flipkart’s grocery service to users of metro cities such as Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad, with the help of Flipkart’s dedicated grocery fulfilment centres. Flipkart has also expanded its services to cities beyond the metros such as  Mysuru, Kanpur, Warangal, Allahabad, through a satellite-expansion marketplace model. The other such places include Aligarh, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Rajkot, Vadodara, Vellore, Tirupati and Daman.

The pandemic has led to millions of people turning to e-commerce and embracing the convenience and ease of digital transactions. This has also led to a sharp growth in consumer demand for e-grocery, not only in metros but also from tier 2 cities and beyond.

“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,” said Kumar.  “It is a trend that we think will continue and will set the course of e-grocery space in India.”

Flipkart Grocery today has over 7000 products available across more than 200 categories. These include daily household supplies, staples, oil, ghee, snacks and beverages, personal care, dairy and eggs. Grocery is the next big frontier for online shopping and is a key focus area for Flipkart to bring new customers online. The company’s grocery operations will also give a fillip to the local food processing industry, connecting farmers producers to lakhs of consumers through the tech-enabled marketplace.

Flipkart Grocery has witnessed 3X growth in the last one year. Flipkart Group works with many farmers and farmer producer organisations across the country in connecting them with an organized agri-supply chain to improve their livelihoods. Flipkart Grocery has not only partnered with leading retailers to serve customers during the pandemic but is also working with FPOs across the country to enable formal digital access to the farmers’ community.

As per research firm RedSeer Consulting’s estimates, more than 50 per cent of the $570 billion grocery retail space in India is addressable by e-grocery platforms. Of this, value-first households account for a significant 61 per cent portion, with metro and tier 1 markets covering more than 40 per cent of this value-first opportunity.

Riding on the huge and profitable value-first opportunity, the overall e-grocery market is projected to touch $24 billion GMV (gross merchandise value) by 2025, of which 55 per cent will be contributed by the value-first households, according to RedSeer.

Flipkart said its grocery offering is differentiated by on-time delivery backed by a robust supply chain, availability of a wide variety of products and a native, intuitive shopping experience. Flipkart's voice-enabled shopping for groceries, credit offerings and open box deliveries provides a seamless grocery shopping experience to millions of consumers. The firm has also launched ‘Flipkart Quick’, its hyperlocal delivery model in Bangalore that offers a 90-min delivery promise.

Last month, Amazon India said it is integrating its 'Pantry' and 'Fresh' services in cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Mysore, to offer a simplified grocery shopping experience to customers.