Flipkart pulls the plug on Ekart’s hyperlocal delivery to streamline business

Without being perturbed by the series of top-level exits, Flipkart’s new CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy is leading several changes in the operations of the e-commerce player.

With an aim to consolidate the business of its logistics and supply chain arm, Ekart Logistics, Flipkart is pulling the plug on its customer-to-customer courier service which allowed users to pack and deliver parcels by Ekart’s delivery boys. The company is also closing the doors for its hyperlocal delivery services being piloted across Bengaluru since March last year.

Flipkart said, “Beginning February 5, Ekart no longer operates its customer-to-customer courier service started in May 2016."

The move is aimed at “consolidating the service offerings of Ekart, to sharpen its focus on its core business model“, the company said. This step is expected to help the company bring "greater precision to its commerce service, a critical requirement as sales expand" at Flipkart.

According to Economic Times report, Ekart will continue to "offer warehousing solutions and end-to-end logistics and supply chain capabilities to its other clients," such as Paytm, ShopClues, Madura Garments.

The latest move comes on the heels of a reshuffle at the top management. Ekart head Saikiran Krishnamurthy left the company last month, and Nitin Seth, who is also the COO, took over his role.

Ekart, which was acquired by Flipkart in 2015, has so far incurred losses of Rs 810 crore.