Flipkart offers same-day delivery service in 10 cities

Homegrown e-retailer Flipkart has fired another arrow at Amazon.

India's largest e-retailer has launched its same-day delivery service, which allows a customer to get the product the same day. This comes four months after the e-retailer launched its next day service, which was in reaction to Amazon, the world's largest e-retailer's launch of guaranteed ‘One Day Delivery’ service.

Additional fee Flipkart’s same-day delivery option will be available in 10 cities in the country, according to a company statement. Customers can place their orders by 12 noon on a business day to have their orders delivered to them by 9 pm on the same day. However, this option is not free.

According to company officials, this service will be available for additional shipping fees of ₹200 with an introductory shipping fee of ₹140. Also, if the product is not available to be delivered on the same day, customers can get it for free, up to a value of ₹5,000, company officials said.

This is a common technique used by e-retailers in the US such as BestBuy.

Further, the service is currently available in the four metros, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Manesar, Navi Mumbai, Thane and will be scaled up to other cities soon, according to a company statement.

Flipkart’s confidence stems from the fact that the company has built a supply chain that includes setting up multiple warehouses in addition to WS Retail, its subsidiary, to tide over inconsistent delivery experiences, according to industry watchers.

“In India, building a supply chain gives them better control over suppliers,” said Sudeep Kumar Jain, Manager, Marketing and Partnerships, Mobius.

Also, Flipkart, in July last year received investments from South African technology company Naspers, along with private equity firms Accel Partners and Tiger Global and at the time of the investment, co-founder Sachin Bansal said the funds will be used to pioneer technology and supply chain innovation.