Flipkart follows omni-channel strategy, to open 20 stores

India’s leading online marketplace Flipkart plans to open 20 stores in 10 cities. The aim is serve customers by letting the collect the products they ordered on the platform, from these stores. Realising the need to follow an omni-channel strategy to remain ahead of competition, this latest step would help the portal address issues such as unavailability of customers during delivery and restricted entry of delivery boys into places like IT parks and educational institutions.

These stores would also help the company widen its reach into smaller towns. Next on the company’s are several value-added services at these stores such as instant returns, spot trials, open box deliveries and exclusive product demos. Flipkart plans to open 100 such stores by March 2016. The move made with its logistics partner Ekart followed after witnessing over 80 percent of shipments picked up through the stores during a six-month pilot program.

The first 20 Flipkart stores will open across 20 cities including Bangalore, Mysore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Vellore, Gurgaon, Vadodora and Surat. Spread over 500-1,000 sq. ft., the stores will only service Flipkart customers and not those of its fashion arm, Myntra.