April 21, 2021
E-commerce companies will have to steer through the twin challenges of delivering in time the expanding number of orders from customers and keeping their workforce safe over the coming weeks even as the number of COVID cases across the country continues to soar. With weekend curfews and lockdowns to rein in the second wave of the pandemic, most states have allowed delivery of essentials via e-commerce.
Amazon India is enabling deliveries of essential products in line with new guidelines set by the government. However, needs vary across households and it is challenging to define a static essentials list. It has asked the Delhi government to allow delivery and inter/intrastate movement of all products to enable people to maintain social distancing norms.
E-commerce is the safest way to serve consumers’ needs while supporting the livelihoods of lakhs of small and medium businesses including the local shops. Over the past few weeks, the demand in categories like grocery, essential items like sanitizers and masks, books, consumer electronics, and appliances, has gone up across various parts of the country.
While a note on BigBasket’s app says that “Due to COVID-19 related restriction on movement in the city by local administration, your deliveries might get delayed.”
E-commerce could face tough times ahead given the continuous rise in COVID-19 cases being seen over the last couple of days across major cities. While the situation is being constantly monitored and contingency measures are being put in place to handle the situation, there is added pressure as many employees and their families are now unwell. Leadership teams have stepped up efforts and are also reaching out to employees to keep their morale high during these tough times, the executive said.
Grofers has built deeper collaborations with its manufacturing, merchant, and brand partners to meet the increase in demand and prevent supply disruption, and expressed confidence that there are sufficient stocks.
“With some state governments already announcing stricter lockdown norms, we are also ramping up our capacities to serve more consumers safely and securely. Whenever there is an uptick in COVID-19 cases in a given city, some delivery partners log off as they intend to go back to their hometowns”.
Grofers said due to the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 spread, it has faced (temporary) shutdowns of storage facilities as well. To solve the issue of ‘panic buying’ and ‘hoarding’ of essentials, the company introduces ‘surge’ from time to time, to manage inventory limits without negatively impacting consumer experience.