Major e-commerce players like Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal have introduced offline collection centers to expand their reach and reduce costs. These centers, like local stores, allow customers to pick up online orders near their homes. Amazon partners with over 1,100 small shops across 50 cities as pick-up points. Flipkart and Snapdeal have also launched 10 cities networks of pick-up zones. While it addresses delivery challenges, companies must ensure quality of service at centers to maintain customer experience. In rural areas with low density, this model is particularly suitable as individual deliveries are expensive.

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PICK ME UP
Offlinecollection centersarehelping major e-commerce players
to expand reach & saveon costs by offering flexibility in deliveries.
By
Zubin Poonawalla
The doorbellrings. Once, then twice. The man outsidethe door
standsin wait for someoneto respond & then eventually call’s the
person he’s got a special delivery for. The person on the other end of
the line justasks him to leave the package with the watchman. With
the proliferation of e-comerce options, the onlineorderingstruggle is
real & often comes with its own hassles. And that’s one partof the
story – there have been multiplecases of prank deliveriesor prank
ordersbeing placed with companies online& the wait for an order on
the expected delivery dateremainsa problem for customersas well.
Well, some companieshave begun workingon a solution. It all
started with Amazon, which first introduced the concept of offline
pick-up pointsin the country. Aspartof the Amazon ‘Pick-up
programme’, the company enabled over 1,100 kiranastores, 35 BPLZ
In & Outstores & individualentrepreneursacrossmorethan 50
cities – includingBengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Vellore,
Nashik, Vijayawada, Thoothukudi, Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli,
Manipal, Vadodra, Salem, Ludhiana& Rajkot. By way of this
programme, customers – while placing an order – can choose to get
the productsdelivered atthe location nearest to them from the list of
available pick-up locations. From the designated pick-up point, they
can then pick their ordersor return them as per their convenienceas
locations such as kiranastores, bakeries, flower shops & travel
agencies.
As this modelcreates a win-win situation for all, Amazon isplanning
to identify & train the staff at these pick-up pointsto smoothen the
transition, which in return will add to morepurchases at the store.
Flipkart & Snapdealare notfar behind, if notthe first movers. Calling
them experience zones, Flipkart has also launched pick-up pointsin
10 cities across the country as of October. These offlinepick-up
modeladdressessome key challenges – the unavailability of
customersduringdelivery attempts, restricted entry of delivery boys
into IT parks, gated communities& educational institutions&

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customerswaiting the entire day to receive a shipment. The
customer today would also appreciate VAS such as open-box delivery
& instant returnsor exchange.
This modelbeing test run by Flipkart is relatively new & does not
cover as many touch points. It promisesto, however, offer services
like – spottrials, reversepick-ups, instant return, open-boxdelivery,
cash on return, exclusiveproductdemos, assisted buying& third
party services such as alterations, repair & the likes.
Snapdealon the other hand has announced thatthe company
planned to pushthe organization through all possible channels. This
is termed as ‘omni-channelpresence’by making productsavailable
offlinethrough retailers. Although onlineretail is still a very small
part of the overall retail consumption in India. Most retail rders
happen offline, when customers feel the need to touch, feel &
experience the productbefore they make the purchase. Snapdealhas
tied up with Shoppers Stop as well as Herp Motocorp to be able to tie
up with select outlets across the country & reach its customers
better.
Some key advantages aside, what are the costs that these businesses
are bearing while trying to win over customers? There is the issue of
high real estate prices. But, as these pick-up centers are just 500 –
1,000 sqft in size & will be located at prime properties, the
companiesare unperturbed. Atsmaller locations, pick-up centers will
gradually open up as & when the volumesgoes up & becomes viable.
Flipkart, claims that its new delivery modelwill, in fact, reduceLMD
costs by 25-30%. Besidesthis, there is also the cost of training people
for all the processesinvolved & making surethe transition remains
sommth. The main pointhere is to partner with the right folks & get
things in order. Thus, companiesensurethat the customers
experience remainsuntarnished, & the companiesare able to
piggyback on their partners’infrastructureto be able to make a
smooth transition.
In my view, the offline pick-up modelshould ensurethe quality of
service at the pick-up centre. If they don’tpay attention to this, then
it could adversely affectthe consumer’sentire shoppingexperience.
This delivery modelmakesthe most sense in areas with low
population density, especially ruralareas, where individual

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deliveriesturn out to be expensive. In the lonf run, I feel larger e-
commerce vendorswillpartner with large physical retail chains so
that they can be used notjust for offlinepick-ups, butalso as physical
extensions of online commerce. This will also help the logistics arms
of the e-commerceplayerssave on last-mile deliveries, since the
process is human-heavy. Havinga physicalpresence – however small
though it may be – can help leverage a brand’scredibility. After all,
isn’t deliveringon their promises – both literally & figuratively – the
biggest challenge that e-commerce companiesface.