Flipkart, Grofers & Big Basket suspend services amid three-week lockdown
March 25, 2020: As India entered into the complete 21-day lockdown from today after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to people to stay in home till April 14, 2020, e-commerce players are completely or partially shutting down their services.
March 25, 2020: As India entered into the complete 21-day lockdown from today after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to people to stay in home till April 14, 2020, e-commerce players are completely or partially shutting down their services. Flipkart, Grofers and Big Basket has already suspended all services, while Amazon limited offerings to essential commodities and has reportedly cancelled many orders.
“Consequent to the government order issued on March 24 announcing a 21-day lockdown across India to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus causing Covid-19, Flipkart has temporarily suspended orders as we assess the possibilities of operating in the lockdown,” says Flipkart in a release.
Update: @Flipkart has temporarily suspended orders as we assess the possibilities of operating in the lockdown. We are prioritising the safety of our delivery executives & seeking support of local governments & police authorities to meet our customers' needs as they stay home.
According to logistics suppliers to e-commerce, amid Covid-19 pandemic scare, India was experiencing a huge demand for online delivery of commodities.
“The e-commerce sector is witnessing a boost in the times of COVID-19, the need for logistics services too is on the rise as more and more people prefer staying indoor and buying goods and other daily needs from online platforms. Aligning with the need of the hour services, Mavyn is increasing its trucker base,” said Sachin Haritash, founder & CEO, Mavyn on March 20, 2020.
The Amazon India release on March 24 reads “We are seeing an increased demand for priority products and important services. To serve our customers’ most urgent needs we are temporarily prioritizing our available fulfilment and logistics capacity to serve products that are currently critical for our customers such as household staples, packaged food, health care, hygiene, personal safety and other high priority products. This also means that we have to temporarily stop taking orders and disable shipments for lower-priority products.”