Amazon launches grocery delivery app in India

Yesterday in Bengaluru, Amazon India launched a two hour, “hyperlocal” on-demand grocery delivery service through its dedicated app, Amazon Now. In a company statement yesterday, the Indian unit of the US giant, which is battling Indian home-grown rivals such as Flipkart and Snapdeal for dominance in the e-commerce market, said it has tied up with local grocery stores and modern retailers. According to a Kotak Institutional Equities report, groceries account for half of Indian retail consumption, and therefore inventory-less models could become more profitable through expansion by scaling up operations. However, achieving that will be the real challenge due to stiff competition, high churn rates and unpredictable customer behaviour.

BENGALURU: Amazon India , an online marketplace, has launched a hyperlocal grocery delivery service app in Bangalore to take on other established online grocery delivery firms.Through this app, customers can order daily essential items from store chains such as Big Bazaar, Godrej's Nature's Basket as well as a nearby kirana store and make their deliveries in two hour delivery.With this, Amazon.in will now compete with hyperlocal startups such as Grofers Big Basket and PepperTap.The global player will also compete with Nearby, the app-only online grocery service launched by rival player, Flipkart in Bangalore in October.According to a Kotak Institutional Equities report, grocery accounts for half of the country's retail consumption. According to the report, inventory-less models could become more profitable through expansion by scaling up operations, but achieving that will be the real challenge due to stiff competition, high churn rates and customer behaviour.