Flipkart launches same day guaranteed delivery in 10 cities

Flipkart on Monday launched its ‘Same Day Guarantee Delivery’ in 10 cities. Customers can place their orders by 12 noon on a business day to have their orders delivered to them by 9 pm on the same day, Flipkart said.

The service is available in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Manesar, Navi Mumbai and Thane and will be scaled up to other cities soon, it said.

Flipkart’s Same Day Guarantee Delivery service is available for additional shipping fees of Rs. 200 with an introductory shipping fee of Rs 140, it said.

US-based Amazon and homegrown online marketplace Snapdeal already offer this service in the Indian market.

"With this, Flipkart becomes the only e-commerce player to offer this service at scale in India. Customers can place their orders by 12 noon on a business day to have their orders delivered to them by 9 pm on the same day," Flipkart said in a statement.

"Innovation is part of the Flipkart DNA and over the past six years we have been constantly adding and refining technology that enhances and improves the online experiences for all our customers," Flipkart co-founder

and CEO Sachin Bansal said.

The seven-year old firm, which crossed the $1 billion annual sales mark (over Rs 6,000 crore) in March this year, has also introduced deliveries on Sundays. Most other online sites do not deliver on Sundays.

"Over the past few years, we have led the supply-chain innovation in the country and all of that has dramatically changed the way Indians shopped online.

"This launch is the next step in a series of innovations," he said.

According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and audit firm KPMG, the e-commerce market in the country is growing at an average annual rate of 34 per cent since 2009 and was expected to touch $13 billion by the end of 2013.

Industry estimates suggest the industry could see 55-60 per cent year-on-year growth as the Internet penetration in the country grows and many more get connected to the web through their mobile phones.