Flipkart expands its grocery services to Tamil Nadu and Kerala

BENGALURU: Walmart-owned Flipkart is now expanding its grocery services in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the company said on Friday.

With the help of Flipkart’s newly launched and dedicated grocery fulfilment centre in Coimbatore, the marketplace will offer online grocery shopping to users in Coimbatore and those in neighbouring cities of Madurai, Trichy, Ernakulam, Tirupur, Erode, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram.

Through a regional expansion focused marketplace model, this new fulfilment centre will serve more than 150 pin codes in the regions.

“Over the last one year, consumers across the country have warmed up to e-grocery, and Flipkart has sharpened its focus on scaling up this category with sellers, brands and farmers. Grocery is a regionally indexed category, and our focus has been to build local sourcing capabilities to better serve local consumer needs with the finest regional selection in addition to bringing the best quality national brands to the consumer’s doorstep,” said Smrithi Ravichandran, vice president - grocery, Flipkart.

The Coimbatore grocery fulfilment centre is spread across nearly 1.25 lakh square feet and will create more than 1,100 direct and indirect job opportunities, leading to a boost in local employment and economy, the company added.

“The government is committed to promoting investments in logistics and warehousing. The grocery fulfilment centre will enable local merchants to use this infrastructure and widen their market access,” said N Muruganandam, principal secretary, Industries Department, Tamil Nadu.

“The grocery fulfilment centre will aid the economic growth of the local ecosystem. Tamil Nadu, being the most urbanised state, will also give greater impetus to Flipkart's e-commerce business,” said Pooja Kulkarni, managing director and chief executive officer, Guidance Tamil Nadu.

At present, Flipkart Grocery claims to offer over 7,000 products across 200 categories - ranging from daily household supplies, staples, snacks and beverages, confectionery, personal care, and much more.

Earlier this week, even Flipkart-rival Amazon India announced the expansion of its fulfilment infrastructure in Tamil Nadu with the launch of a new fulfilment centre for large appliances and furniture in Coimbatore. Additionally, Amazon India said that it will also quadruple the storage capacity of an existing fulfilment centre in Chennai.