From Street To Commerce

This summer, India's e-commerce sector is clearly entering a ‘billion Celsius’ era. As temperatures rise, consumers are turning to online platforms for everything from mangoes to air conditioners.

With the industry expected to reach USD 117.6 billion in 2024, according to Research and Markets report, and quick commerce projected to generate USD 3.349 billion in revenue this year alone, according to Statista, the stakes have never been higher.

“This summer, we have seen a significant surge in demand for mangoes, ice creams and dairy products on Amazon Fresh. We witnessed over 30 per cent growth in mango-flavoured ice creams and 43 per cent year-on-year increase in units sold ice-creams and dairy beverages,” reveals SrikantSree Ram, Director at Amazon Fresh.

India's expanding digital consumer base, now the world's second-largest internet market, is driving growth in smartphone adoption and affordable data access. To meet rising demand and expectations for speed, major players are investing heavily in supply chain and fulfilment enhancements, including expanding same-day delivery services and utilising technologies to optimise logistics and inventory management.

The Key Factor
“We have consistently invested in optimising every facet of our supply chain — from capacity, storage and sorting to packaging, human resources and delivery. Our commitment to a superior consumer experience has driven us to reimagine our operations, resulting in faster delivery times, improved order accuracy and adaptable delivery options," says Hemant Badri, SVP and Head of Supply Chain at Flipkart Group.

Flipkart has rolled out same-day delivery across 20 cities and is leveraging advanced technologies like automated warehouses with robotic arms and conveyor belts to accelerate shipments. Its 110-acre automated fulfilment centre in West Bengal processes orders 30-35 per cent faster. Moreover, they are integrating solutions like IoT, robotics, blockchain and over 450 automated guided vehicles at its Bengaluru sortation centre.

Tata Group's bigbasket is also increasing its supply chain for speed, running ‘dark stores’ for rapid delivery backed by a vast 2.5 million sq ft warehousing infrastructure.

“We have experience in running dark stores for more than a decade and are now leveraging this as well as our customer density over and above the micro-level demographic and retail data to locate our dark stores," said Vipul Parekh, Co-Founder and CMO of bigbasket. These dark stores are backed by over 2.5 msf backend warehousing infrastructure spread across the country to ensure control across the supply chain.

To ensure product freshness and range with the surging demand, bigbasket is sourcing directly from farmers through an expanding grid of collection centres. "We have more than 1,00,000 unique products as part of our assortment across all the key grocery categories such as fruits & vegetables, staples, snacks to non-grocery categories. bigbasket is also investing in personalisation engines, automated pricing and campaigns, locale-based assortments, machine learning for demand forecasting and fraud prevention among other innovative solutions for both operations and customer experience.

Amazon Fresh, on the other hand, banks on deep customer insights. “Research indicates that consumers prefer savings and quality products. We offer a wide range of groceries and deliver them within 2-4 hours in over 60 cities,” states Sree Ram.

One-stop Shopping
The phenomenon of ‘one-stop’ shopping, aiming to meet all consumer needs from a single digital platform, has grown over time, seeking ultimate convenience. Market leaders are leveraging advanced data analytics to curate and merchandise wide-ranging product selections tailored to consumer insights.

“Utilising advanced data analytics has enabled us to curate a diverse product range based on real-time consumer insights and emerging trends. Our integrated supply chain ensures that we can manage this diversity by enabling us to meet consumer demands effectively while maintaining high standards of supply chain efficiency,” asserts Flipkart's Badri.

bigbasket is likewise focused on becoming a one-stop destination by continuously analysing customer data and rapidly adapting inventory for cultural events, festivities and evolving trends like rising demands for eco-friendly and private label products.

“We coordinate efforts across marketing, regional and category teams to identify key events and tailor product listings accordingly,” says Parekh. "During Akshay Trithiya, for example, we partnered with Tanishq and MMTC-PAMP to offer gold and silver coins, achieving sales of four coins per minute during the event,” he adds.

Sustainability is Key
Sustainability is a priority in the world of commerce. Companies are investing in renewable energy for warehouses, eco-friendly packaging, recycling programmes and electrifying delivery fleets to minimise environmental impact and carbon emissions.

Flipkart, for instance, has joined the Climate Group's EV100 initiative and is transitioning to electric vehicles for last-mile delivery to curb pollution. They have also eliminated 100 per cent of single-use plastic packaging.

At Amazon Fresh, over 65 per cent of produce is packaged using sustainable materials like recycled boxes and paper pulp trays. “We ensure a robust, technology-driven logistics network to overcome challenges related to producing quality,” Sree Ram affirms.

bigbasket, on the other hand, is leveraging electric vehicles for 30 per cent of its fleet and plans to continually increase that proportion. They presently have 1,305 charging points across 172 locations, including 5k and bbnow stores.