Online retailers are implementing different delivery schemes that will make sure that the consumers receive their orders at the earliest possible. In this process, local outlets including medical shops, convenience stores and petrol pumps are gaining profit as the e-tailing firms are ready to shell out millions of dollars in overcoming the challenges that might arise in last-mile delivery.
Those third party logistic firms that are serving the e-commerce industry are looking forward to partner with the corner stores in order to create a platform that will help in serving the neighborhoods located in smaller cities. In order to stay in the run, the online retailers are creating a network of courier services that are hyper-local and city-specific as this approach will help in widening their reach.
The e-commerce logistics division of DTDC Courier & Cargo, DotZot is in plans to augment the reach by delivering the ordered goods to a store located near the buyer’s place. This will enable the buyer to pick up the product whenever it is convenient. This new pick-up and drop-off plan will help in resolving the issues related to closed-doors in the main cities and delivery of products in the tier 3 and tier 4 cities.
Regarding this, Sanjiv Kathuria, CEO and Co-Founder at DotZot stated that they prefer channel partners, but are working to from tie-ups with convenience stores and medical shops in places where their network is no available. It is claimed to provide express, economy and premium delivery services for the e-commerce players.
GoJaVAS, the former logistics arm of fashion portal Jabong has set up a pilot corner store pick-up six months back. This project is tested on 39 towns as well to prove its effectiveness. Regarding this, Vijay Ghadge, COO of GoJaVAS claims that the important factor is to convey to the customer as how the delivery will happen. Also, there will an amount that will be paid to the convenience stores as a fee.
Amazon also piloted one such model at mom-and-pop stores in Bengaluru and select pertrol bunks in Mumbai andDelhiin 2014, but it dropped it off. It is IndiaPost that is said to transform into a collection and distribution center, especially when it comes to the rural areas.
