Right after Amazon started offering one day delivery for products sold through their website, Flipkart has also launched a similar service. While Amazon charges Rs 99, Flipkart charges Rs 90.
To avail of this feature, one needs to place the order before 6pm and ship it to an address in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida or Pune. Much like Amazon, Flipkart says it will refund the amount if the product is not delivered in a day. For Cash-on-Delivery orders, the delivery charge will be collected as part of the order, but will be automatically refunded to the user’s wallet within 24 hours.
It needs to be noted that the service is only available for products sold by WS Retail, which handles its front end retail operations. Amazon on the other hand, offers one day delivery for all orders fulfilled by Amazon.
What next? This is an interesting turn of events, that almost every other big e-commerce company will have to catch up to. The question is if it will start a race to the bottom with each company trying to undercut the other. It is also possible that these companies will try to out do each other in terms of time taken. Remember that Myntra had earlier announced that it had piloted a delivery system wherein goods purchased by customers in Delhi and Bangalore were delivered within one to two hours of the order being placed. (More on how Myntra managed it here)
As of now, Flipkart has raised a total $541 million from five rounds, which includes $160 million investment from Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sofina and Vulcan Capital and existing investor Tiger Global in October this year, $200 million from Naspers, Accel Partners, Tiger Global, and ICONIQ Capital in July 2013, a reported $150 million funding in August 2012, $20 million in June 2011, $10 million in June 2010 and $1 million in 2009.
Related: Naspers Invested $140M In Flipkart In July 2013; Flipkart iOS App
Download: Structuring Of Investments In eCommerce Businesses In India – A MediaNama and Arkay & Arkay