Flipkart is opening up its logistics arm eKart Logistics to other operators and is currently running a pilot programme with an intention to roll out these services in the next few weeks, reports Economic Times. The e-commerce company created eKart as a separate brand to serve WS-Retail, the B2C side of FlipKart, in April last year and currently reaches consumers in about 150 cities. eKart currently offers services such as delivery logistics, reverse logistics and pay on delivery. It also offers customer support and technology integration for order tracking, customer notifications, reporting and analysis, billing etc. We've mailed Flipkart some questions, and will update when we get a response. Nikhil adds: It will be critical for Flipkart to assure its competitors that the logistics division isn't just independent of its marketplace business, but also seen as independent. It's the same challenge the company faces with its payment gateway business Payzippy: competing marketplaces might see both initiatives as means of gathering information on consumer demand in specific parts of the country and competitive information on what consumers are buying from competition, at the very least. Everyone's doing it Most e-commerce companies in India currently offer logistics support for merchants listed on its website. Kartrocket had opened up its stand alone delivery service Shiprocket to all operators. Courier company DTDC Couriers & Cargo had also launched a new specialized e-commerce logistics initiative called DotZot in March this year. In December 2012, Rocket Internet-backed Jabong had launched third-party logistics service called JaVAS (Jabong Value Added Services). It later on sold it to Gurgaon-based QuickDel Logistics. Other competitors in this space would include Delhivery (SSL…
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