Amazon turns to postal department for delivery posthaste

Goods the good old way

 Unable to handle the burgeoning load of consignments to be delivered, e-commerce companies operating from Bengaluru are now turning to the grand old department of the country – India Post – to come to their rescue.

Companies are knocking on the doors of the Karnataka Postal Circle to help them handle the e-commerce shipment in Bengaluru City, one of the largest markets.

While major players such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and others have approached the department, Amazon has already started discharging a large chunk of its consignments to the department.

The department is offering its services to Amazon free of cost, for a period of one month.
M S Ramanujan, Chief Post Master General (CPMG), Karnataka Circle, said the department launched its services on a pilot basis this week, and has begun delivering packages across various parts of Bengaluru. The department will deliver these consignments on the same day, as opposed to two to six days taken by the courier services hired by the companies.

“The department’s metro delivery system is the best. E-commerce companies have tied up with the department in New Delhi and Mumbai. Though the companies have their own delivery arm, they are unable to deliver immediately. If the consignment reaches us by 10 am, we will deliver the products to the shopper the same day,” he said.

1,000 consignments

Ramanujan said the department can handle at least 1,000 consignments every day, and would scale up the volume as and when required. The department has hired around 30 vehicles, which will transport the packages through 32 nodal delivery post offices.

He said the department was keen on gaining a foothold in the competitive market. This is one of the reasons for not charging Amazon for the first month.

However, if the other e-commerce players, too, want to start off right away, they will not enjoy this incentive, he added.
The CPMG said the department already had the experience of working with the e-commerce sector, with 15 to 20 companies, including Jabong and BigBasket.com, doing business with it. The department, whose turnover was Rs 950 crore for the year 2014-15, is hoping to double its revenue through this.