Flipkart has expanded Ekart’s supply-chain capacity ahead of The Big Billion Days sale event in October and the festive season.
Ekart has added 14 million cubic feet of warehousing space nationwide, increasing its storage capacity by 50 per cent. Technology and automation upgrades have also increased its peak processing capacity by more than 30 per cent.
As customers increasingly expect faster deliveries across the country, more than 900 additional delivery hubs have been added specifically to expand last-mile reach during the festive season and enable greater volumes of same-day and next-day deliveries.
This adds to more than 8,200 Ekart facilities across the country, including fulfilment centres, sortation hubs and last-mile delivery operations, and nearly 1,200 Flipkart Minutes micro-fulfilment centres across more than 150 cities.
“Every year, The Big Billion Days raises the bar for what customers expect: faster deliveries and wider reach. This year, a customer in Leh or Kargil will experience Big Billion Days for the first time,” said Hemant Badri, senior vice-president and head, supply chain, Flipkart Group.
“Across Ekart and Flipkart Minutes, we now operate over 8,200 facilities, allowing us to take the festive experience to more customers while helping sellers reach buyers they could not reach before.”
To enable faster fulfilment for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), small sellers, weavers and artisans during The Big Billion Days, more than 2.5 crore units of their products have been pre-positioned within Ekart fulfilment centres.
The company has also opened 70 additional pick-up stations in key seller hubs to reduce seller fulfilment time.
Ekart’s third-party logistics (3PL) franchises have doubled to 600 within two months of launch to ensure sellers and MSMEs beyond the Flipkart marketplace can also scale during the festive season and deliver to customers across the country.
Taking The Big Billion Days and festive shopping to more locations across India, Ekart has added more than 750 PIN codes to Flipkart’s reach.
These include Leh in Ladakh, Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir, interiors of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and communities across the Northeast, including Kamalanagar and Zamuang in Mizoram.
Every wishmaster, or delivery partner, is covered under term life insurance, personal accident cover and mediclaim benefits, with coverage levels steadily enhanced each festive season.
Flipkart has also built a Doctor on Call service that wishmasters and their families can access at any time.
On earnings, wishmasters are eligible for joining and retention bonuses this festive season, along with referral incentives that provide an additional income stream during the highest-demand period of the year.
AI-powered background verification through the Flipkart Delivery Partners app brings onboarding time to under 10 minutes, without compromising on checks and protocols, the company said.
Every wishmaster is verified to the same standard, while the technology enables them to start earning faster.
The same app also serves as a training platform, helping new joiners understand delivery standards before their first shift.
Flipkart has also announced the creation of more than 2.5 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities for the festive season, of which nearly 75,000 are for first-time workforce entrants.
Sixty per cent of the new opportunities are in last-mile delivery, reflecting the focus on faster deliveries and the expansion of Flipkart Minutes across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets.
