Dear Comrades,
India Post is launching a delivery service for e-retailers, reports Live Mint,
adding that India Post will be building 20 mechanised warehouses and
booking centres to handle the shipments from e-commerce companies.
Snapdeal is presently testing this service with India Post before their
official launch.
India Post probably has the widest delivery service in India,
covering 25,000 pin codes, but the challenge for them would be improving
efficiency and reliability, and reducing time of delivery; it’s not for
nothing that India has a large and competitive courier service market.
That said, India Post delivers where courier services might not often
choose not to, because some locations might not be viable. DTDC, in
comparison, claims to have a network that extends to 8,000 pin codes.
For India Post, which already has that distribution network in place,
reaching remote areas will be about increasing revenues for an existing
route. It’s a good move, and for all you know, where courier services
choose not to deliver, there might be latent demand. E-commerce
addresses that very issue, of delivering goods otherwise not available
in local markets. They’ll have to try extra hard to prove and showcase
that they’re reliable, though.
India Post is not the first mainstream courier service to show interest in ecommerce. DTDC Courier & Cargo recently launched DotZot, a specialised logistics service for e-retailers BlueDart has a dedicated division for ecommerce as well.
Medianama.com
