E-retail companies have been trying to expand their footprint in India given the opportunity posed by COVID-19 pandemic. We have already seen some examples of diversification from ecommerce companies across the spectrum. Earlier, food delivery companies Swiggy and Zomato started testing liquor delivery in select Indian states. Then recently, Amazon started online medicine delivery in Bengaluru through Amazon Pharmacy.
And this time, its Walmart-owned Flipkart — one of India’s biggest e-retail companies, that is all set to delivery alcohol in India’s eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha, Reuters reports.
Reuters has seen letters from governments of the two states, which have allowed Flipkart to deliver alcohol to its users in partnership with Hipbar, a startup backed by well known spirits maker Diageo. The e-retail giant will be allowed to operate as a technology service provider for HipBar.
According to the new arrangement, users of Flipkart will be able to access HipBar’s application through its platform, and place orders directly through the Flipkart app. Then, HipBar will collect the contents from retail outlets, and deliver it directly to your door.
West Bengal already gets a similar feature from Flipkart’s better know rival Amazon, which started delivering alcohol in the state back in June.
