Over the months, Flipkart bolstered its grocery category, further invested in fresh produce startup Ninjacart, opened several ‘dark stores’ within cities for same-day delivery. Food-tech platforms like Swiggy to digital payments firms like PhonePe started listing kiranas on their platforms with digital catalogues of inventory. Reliance Retail, which operates the pan-India network of Reliance Fresh and Reliance Smart stores, launched JioMart, an e-grocery platform in April across 200 cities. Hyperlocal commerce emerged as a major focus area for online logistics players. For 2021, online logistics players will push in markets such as pharmaceuticals, cold storage as well as agritech to reduce delivery time, taking a horizontal strategy of both intra and inter-city logistics.

Source: Mint December 30, 2020 01:52 UTC