 "Delhivery")
Third-party logistics companies like Delhivery and Xpressbees, previously focused on serving e-commerce, are now diving into the quick-commerce sector amid an uptick in demand on Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Zepto, and others, according to a report in the Economic Times.
Delhivery, headquartered in Gurgaon and the largest third-party logistics firm, has begun overseeing larger warehouses for Swiggy Instamart that supply small dark stores and fulfillment centres in urban areas. Similarly, Pune-based Xpressbees is in discussions with multiple entities to enter this market segment.
“As quick commerce gets bigger and busier, logistics players are sensing an opportunity, while platforms also need logistics infrastructure and expertise,” the report quoted a source as saying.
Companies like Zepto are also revamping their main warehouses to expand their product offerings.
“Delhivery is working closely with Swiggy Instamart now and the idea is to expand the partnership further. This would help Instamart to also handle the movement of different kinds of stock-keeping units (SKUs) as the top players diversify to widen offerings,” said the report.
Xpressbees, which collaborates with multiple e-commerce companies and direct-to-consumer brands, is currently discussing partnerships with key players in the industry.
The plan is to investigate this opportunity, given the substantial size of the market, the report said, adding that Xpressbees will also handle significant responsibilities in warehouse management.
On May 17, Delhivery co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Sahil Barua, said the company's supply chain services business was already working with one of the largest quick commerce players.
“Our role will remain similar to what we do right now, which is running the deep reserve kind of warehouses that are supplying the dark stores,” he said during the company's post-earnings analysts call.
Barua also said the company had no plans to enter the 15-minute or 10-minute grocery delivery market.
He said they intended to focus on offering two-hour or four-hour delivery services for specific products, an area where major e-commerce companies are also venturing into.
“I also anticipate that (in) certain categories within e-commerce... like mobile phones or certain kinds of appliances, the existing players, the large players in e-commerce, will eventually gear up. Flipkart and Amazon, both made public announcements to this effect that they will be expanding their operations for these categories. We will have a role to play there in the overall supply chain,” Barua had said.
