·100,000+ Kirana stores to be supply-chain partners to deliver millions of packages in more than 10,000 pincodes;
·Partnership to boost incomes of Kirana partners
·Kirana delivery partners have doubled from last festive season
Bengaluru, NFAPost: India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, has announced the strengthening of its ‘Kirana Delivery Program’, which helps onboard local general trade stores as its delivery partners.
As part of this programme, the company has strengthened its partnership with more than 100,000 Kirana partners from across the country to deliver millions of shipments during the festive season.
In 2019, Flipkart started the program to help local stores and shops get on board as delivery partners and since then it has invested consistently to get these businesses ready for making deliveries. In 2020, more than 10 million deliveries were made by these specially trained Kirana partners across the country during the festive season registering close to 30% increase in delivery income.
Flipkart has a dedicated team as part of this ongoing partnership that helps the Kiranas with knowledge, expertise, experience and technology to make millions of deliveries seamlessly. With a 100,000 strong Kirana delivery network which doubled from last year, Flipkart is further strengthening its last-mile network and reach, especially in pin-codes and towns that are difficult to reach and creating opportunities for digital upskilling as well as additional income for kiranas.
This festive season will see the participation of Kiranas from regions including Khammam (Telangana), Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) and Junagarh (Odisha), among others as consumers seek safe and timely deliveries through e-commerce.
Flipkart Senior Vice-President, Supply Chain, Hemant Badri said Flipkart is committed to creating value for all its stakeholders including sellers, MSMEs, artisans, customers and kiranas.
“Being one of the oldest retail formats in India, kiranas form the premise of modern retail in India and Flipkart endeavours to bring seamless assimilation of both forms of retail to bring customer delight and create a shared value,” said Hemant Badri.
Hemant Badri also said the kirana delivery program will play a pivotal role in offering faster and personalised delivery experience to customers during this festive season and our annual flagship event, the Big Billion Days (BBD), and augment the income of these Kirana partners.”
The Kirana Delivery Programme accounts for nearly one-third of Flipkart’s deliveries made in a month.