Flipkart reaches out to kiranas for its The Big Billion Days sale event

A third of all shipments of Flipkart Group is managed by kiranas at the last mile; the Walmart-owned firm aims to grow this constantly, company says

E-commerce company Flipkart is wooing 'kiranas' for upcoming festive season sales. Today one-third of all shipments of Flipkart Group, is managed by kiranas at the last mile and the Walmart-owned company is committed to growing this constantly, said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer, Flipkart Group, according to the people who attended a town hall meeting ahead of the firm’s festive sale.

Flipkart will kick off the country’s festive season with the 8th edition of its biggest flagship event, The Big Billion Days (TBBD), from October 7-12. The six-day event will see millions of consumers, sellers, small businesses, artisans, Kiranas, brands and e-commerce ecosystem partners come together for the upcoming festive season.

According to the sources, the company is expecting 90 million shipments and they would have 100 per cent green packaging. More than 200,000 truckers would be part of the ecosystem.

“Solving for kiranas and making them part of the digital ecosystem is a big priority for us at Flipkart,” said Krishnamurthy, during the town hall meeting with the employees. “Our kirana partner network (has) more than doubled.”

Over 100,000 kiranas have been onboarded to reach consumers across thousands of cities. Also, over 1.5 million kiranas and retailers will be able to avail credit in just two minutes through Flipkart Wholesale’s partnership. Kiranas can avail credit line will range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 3 lakh with an interest-free period of up to 14 days. Over 1.5 million kiranas and retailers will have access to a wide range of products through Flipkart Wholesale.

Flipkart wholesale will also be part of this BBD for the first time as an integrated one group. Krishnamurthy said that kiranas and other small businesses will be able to benefit hugely from BBD for the wholesale unit.

Krishnamurthy said the company's customer base and gross merchandise have both grown 7x since 2016. He said there are 20,000 on-roll employees and 200,000 full-time contract employees chasing one objective during BBD, which is to develop an inclusive ecommerce ecosystem and “taking Flipkart ship and  the whole ecosystem in one direction.”

The company now has over 200,000 indirect workforce, which includes a significant number of women workforce, former armed force veterans and people with disabilities.

Flipkart has doubled its warehouse space compared to the last BBD. It is also setting up an integrated logistics hub at Haringhata in Nadia district, in West Bengal in over 100-acre land parcel. The facilities would also serve BBD this year. It will help sellers offer a wider selection and enable faster deliveries not just in Bengal, but also in the neighbouring north Eastern states, where sellers can access pan-India market via this new facility.

During the past few months this year, Flipkart has opened many large warehouses in the country including West Bengal and Karnataka. These will cater to the needs of both Flipkart and Myntra customers in the upcoming festive season.

This year, the Haryana government approved the allotment of 140 acres of land to Flipkart for setting up its largest fulfilment centre in Asia, covering 3 million sq ft in Patli Hajipur in Gurugram district's Manesar. Also, this year Flipkart has formed a strategic and commercial partnership with the Adani Group, India’s largest multinational infrastructure company. In this two-pronged partnership, Flipkart is working with Adani Logistics Ltd to strengthen the e-commerce firm's supply chain infrastructure. The tie-up will enhance Flipkart’s ability to serve its rapidly growing base of customers.

Flipkart's rival Amazon recently said over 11,000 offline retailers and neighbourhood stores from Maharashtra are now part of ‘Local Shops on Amazon’. With the upcoming festive season, Amazon said it is focused on helping Local Shops sellers grow their business and recover from the recent economic disruption caused by the pandemic.