On 22 August, Amazon gained a yard on its peers in the grocery race in India. It launched Amazon Fresh, a hyperlocal grocery distribution chain which delivers over 5,000 items—including fruits, meat and dairy—within two hours. After rolling out the service in rival Flipkart’s home turf of Bengaluru, Amazon is now closer to cracking the hyperlocal supply chain—the delivery of products within mere hours—something it has struggled with in the past.
Grocery gamble
From groceries to smartphones: Flipkart’s hyperlocal deliverance
From grocery space laggard, Flipkart is aiming to not just draw level with its rivals, but overtake them. Along the way, it could finally realise Walmart’s vision for it
While Flipkart bit the groceries bullet a while ago, it’s only now coming around to offering fresh produce
For the last year, Flipkart has been running a fruits and vegetables pilot in Hyderabad, trying to crack the complex supply chain for perishables
Even as it tries to crack the notoriously tough grocery market, it plans to develop hyperlocal delivery with grocery, and wants to extend this even to products like smartphones
Ambitious, sure. Easy? Not in the least. Flipkart must solve myriad issues which have stumped e-commerce firms and pure-play grocers alike
