Ekart, Flipkart’s logistics unit, is set to launch a courier service that will take on the likes of DTDC Express and First Flight Courier, as it builds a consumer-facing vertical to complement its core supply-chain management business.
This is the latest initiative from Ekart to evolve into an end-to-end logistics service provider. The company has already thrown open its logistics services to e-commerce firms such as Jabong and Paytm (One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd).
The courier service, which will be launched in Bengaluru on 24 May, will be scaled up to at least 10 cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata among others in the next two months, as the company eyes 5-10 per cent of the market share in the intra- and inter-city courier segment by the end of the current fiscal.
Ekart Courier, which pegs the size of the consumer-to-consumer courier market at Rs 2,200 crore, expects revenue of more than Rs 200 crore in the next one year, effectively squeezing out more revenue per delivery executive.
Ekart Courier will provide customers door-to-door pick-up of parcels in under 4 hours and delivery in two days. Customers can book the service online and get real-time tracking and SMS updates. Ekart will offer complimentary packaging.
The pick-up service will be rolled out in Bengaluru next week and in 50 other cities by September. Ekart Courier will drop parcels at any of the 3,800 pincodes it directly reaches across the country.
The company will launch separate desktop and mobile websites for the consumer facing service.
By next year, Ekart expects shipments from non-e-commerce businesses to contribute to half its revenue. The company handles deliveries for third-party online retailers under a new initiative called Fulfilled by Ekart.
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