Flipkart plans to enter quick-commerce business

New Delhi: E-commerce major Flipkart is planning to enter the quick-commerce business, aiming to deliver orders to customers instantly after purchase, the media reported on Thursday.

According to TechCrunch, citing sources, the company intends to launch the instant-delivery service in select locations as early as May this year.

However, the discussions are ongoing and there may be slight changes in the timeline, the report mentioned.

"The e-commerce firm is committed to meeting evolving customer expectations and delivering excellence in value, selection and speed, with more initiatives expected on this front in the coming months," a Flipkart spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The new foray comes at a time when Flipkart is also exploring the acquisition of the instant-delivery firm Dunzo.

Earlier this month, Flipkart announced that it is gearing to roll out same-day delivery of products across multiple categories in metro and non-metro cities.

The move will see customers across cities, including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Patna, Raipur, Siliguri and Vijayawada.

The e-commerce major also launched its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) handle recently to further enhance its digital payment offerings for all customers, including its 500+ million customers.