Uber, Domino’s Pizza, Rapido, Zypp, Swiggy, Zomato and Scootsy have all ventured into grocery delivery in partnerships with retail chains such as Big Bazaar, Spencer’s Retail and Nature’s Basket, and online grocers BigBasket and Grofers that are grappling with a massive shortage of employees due to flight of several migrant workers to their hometowns.
Some of these firms are in advanced level discussions with the country’s largest online marketplaces Amazon and Flipkart, too, industry executives said.
Uber has forged partnerships with Spencer’s Retail and Big Basket, while it is in advanced talks with Flipkart, Amazon and Big Bazaar, industry executives said.
“In these times we need to create an ecosystem and partnership, and convert store into a platform to enable more deliveries in a day to our consumers via our ecommerce and phone delivery orders,” said Devendra Chawla, managing director of Spencer’s Retail and Nature’s Basket.
Spencer’s and Nature’s Basket are also in partnership with bike taxi aggregator Rapido and delivery service Scootsy.
Even restaurant lobby National Restaurant Association of India has associated with Pharmeasy, BigBasket and few retailers for temporary employment of restaurant staff, executives said.
Zomato has tied up with Grofers, while Domino’s has partnered ITC to deliver essentials through its fleet of delivery personnel, and is in talks with multiple retail chains. Marico has partnered with Swiggy and Zomato to sell essential food items such as oils and oats.
Besides Spencer’s and Nature’s Basket, Rapido has also partnered with Big Basket, Grofers, Big Bazaar and fruits and vegetables supply chain Ninjacart among others, Rapido cofounder Aravind Sanka said. He said around 70% of its fleet of 250,000 drivers are still in the cities, so it can comfortably deliver essentials.
Uber is not charging any commission from its drivers for its new last-mile delivery service, said Prabhjeet Singh, director operations and head of cities, Uber India & South Asia.
A Flipkart spokesperson said the marketplace is exploring all possible collaboration ideas, including cab aggregators and railways, to ensure smooth and hassle-free movement of grocery and essentials from sellers/vendors to the customers.
Amazon declined to comment.
Meanwhile, DMart has started a pilot of keeping a few stores open round the clock in Mumbai. Neville Noronha, MD at Avenue Supermarts that runs DMart, said few stores opened 24/7 will provide ample time for consumers to plan their grocery shopping instead of rushing to stores and risk crowding. He said there is adequate stock of staples while packaged essential goods are beginning to see shortages now.
Some retailers such as More, Future Group and Spencer’s Retail are also partnering with residential welfare associations for bulk deliveries to manage the queue in stores.
Most retailers are trying out new initiatives not just to ease out operations but also to generate sufficient cash flow at a time when liquidity crunch could threaten their survival.
For instance, Future Group has started an insurance policy through its general insurance and payment gateway arms for people who might get infected or hospitalised for Covid-19 treatment. In addition, it has developed its own mobile portal for online sales.
All leading retailers and e-grocers are facing a massive worker crunch with people migrating back to their hometowns in droves due to uncertainty following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and lockdown orders to contain it.
(With inputs from Aditi Shrivastava in Bengaluru)
