Flipkart launches one-day delivery just days after Amazon launched similar service

BANGALORE Just days after Amazon announced its one-day delivery service in India, Flipkart too has announced a similar facility.

Flipkart is offering this facility in Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. Orders need to be placed before 6pm on the previous day and such orders have an additional charge of Rs 90 per item.

Ravi Vora, senior vice president of marketing at the books to jewellery e-tailer, said that the service was in response to customer demand for urgent deliveries. "Given the large volumes that we handle it wasn't feasible to address them on a case-to-case basis. We have now built the capability into our supply-chain and can now offer it as a guaranteed feature," he said.

Last week, Amazon had launched one-day guaranteed delivery of products that are shipped by the ecommerce major in cities likeBangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune. The orders need to be placed by 3pm the day before and there is an additional charge of Rs 99 per order. Amit Agarwal, vice president and country manager at AmazonIndia, had said at the time that the service will be expanded to a larger number of cities.

Amazon launched an online marketplace in India about six months ago. Indian ecommerce companies, mostly startups that have been in operation for under six years, have been preparing for Amazon's entry for quite some time. Flipkart, one of the country's largest online retailers raised capital of upto $360 million (Rs 2,200 crore) fund earlier this year.