Walmart-owned Flipkart is offering storage and cancellation fee discounts for vendors in its market and providing them insurance coverage as India’s leading e-commerce platform is expected to maintain friendly relations with more than 300,000 vendors after a severe setback in an unprecedented rise. coronavirus infection has spread in the South Asian country. The Bangalore-headquartered company said on Friday evening that it was waiving storage fees for vendors using the company’s fulfillment centers and would waive cancellation fees by the end of the month.
(During the first wave of the virus, several states in India banned the sale and distribution of such unneeded items.) COVID will carry 100% insurance premium to all vendors transacting on the Flipkart platform, accepting hospitalization and consultation fees in any of the 50,000 Indian Rupees ($685) to 300,000 Indian Rupees ($4,095).
The news came a week after Flipkart’s main rival in India, Amazon, announced that sellers will have to pay 50% of the referral fee to the e-commerce firm for this month, although not all sellers are eligible for the facility. (The agency said earlier this week that it had postponed Prime Minister’s Day in India and Canada due to growing cases of infection.) Flipkart said it was making it easier for sellers to access working capital from the firm at no extra cost, although it did not specify the steps it would take.
This is extending the window for sales protection funds to 30 days (from 14) to claim returned products. Flipkart said it would also ensure its policy and performance metrics are not affected by state-led lockdowns. Flipkart, which worked publicly until last year this year, says it has partnered with Walmart’s to grow its supplier development program in India, sharing webinars for small businesses to share best practices to ensure employee safety and insights to stay abroad in crisis to organize.
Jagjeet Harode, senior director and head of Marketplace at Flipkart, said in a statement, “Our relentless efforts to support our marketing partners as an epidemic during this test, as a democratic market, we want to ensure that our millions [millions] of partners will be able to continue operations and keep the economic engine running.” “We have implemented these initiatives with the financial and health protection of them and their families in mind, which will bring them the much-needed comfort to keep their business afloat.”
