Flipkart expands 'Supermart' online grocery delivery services in Mumbai

In a view to capturing a large market share of the online grocery segment, leading e-commerce player Flipkart Wednesday said it has launched its online grocery store Flipkart Supermart in the city. It had done a soft launch in the city in February. It delivers to 91 pin codes in the city which covers 85-90 per cent of the city.

The Walmart-owned company had started its online grocery business a year and a half ago and is present in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. It has set up a fulfilment centre in Bhiwandi for groceries. It offers 10,000 products, including 600 to 700 of its private labels.

Grocery, which is the biggest retail category in the country, is pegged at USD 400 billion with e-commerce accounting for 0.5 per cent of it. "Grocery is the space which is going to give the next level of e-commerce growth. However, it is one of the toughest categories from an online perspective. We are cognizant of it. We built a dedicated supply chain for groceries," Flipkart head of Grocery Manish Kumar told reporters here.

The company's grocery business has grown phenomenally over the last year, he said. The company said that it is bullish on India and has long-term commitment in the priority market and Walmart's backing allows it to have long term bets especially in a category like a grocery.

"Grocery has started giving stickiness to the platform also because customers who buy grocery come back to the platform to buy something else as well," he said. Kumar added that the company is studying the market and will look at daily milk delivery at some point in future.

(With inputs from agencies.)