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Snapdeal has grown its network by expanding to additional 1,300 pin codes in 2020 to now cover 27,000+ pin codes across India.
“The network expansion was started in May 2020 and is powered exclusively by more than 30 regional logistics players who have expertise in serving their local markets,” Snapdeal in its statement said.
“The selection of regional players is a conscious one with the intent to boost the capabilities of smaller players by giving them a chance to work directly with large platforms, rather than only as sub-vendors to large logistics companies,” Snapdeal added.
“The choice of local partners for the network was triggered by Covid-related disruption, which saw online orders grow from smaller cities. At the same, smaller logistics companies continued to face increasing adversity due to disruption in the industry payments cycle and a backlog of undelivered packets. The familiarity of regional players with local operating conditions has also helped some of the ground-level disruptions that were linked to the evolving nature of localized lockdowns in the early part of this year,” it added.
Speaking on the network expansion, the Spokesperson of Snapdeal said, “We want to empower the local logistics players with technology and create a service quality which is better than self-owned logistics networks. The addition of local courier partners is a conscious choice to ensure that the gains of e-commerce are limited not only to buyers and sellers but also to create opportunities for local service providers to grow their businesses. We are happy with the progress made so far and we are looking forward to signing up more such partnerships in the coming year.”
“The integration of local service providers is the part that was so far missing in the emerging ecosystem that connects buyers in smaller cities to sellers in thriving non-metro business hubs,” the Spokesperson added.
Snapdeal currently serves over 27000 pin codes in India. In addition to forging new partnerships with regional players, Snapdeal also works extensively with large logistics firms like Bluedart, Delhivery, FedEx, and Xpressbees.
As part of similar initiatives to support local partners, Snapdeal had, earlier in July this year, chosen to launch its new call center in Shimla rather than locating the same in metro cities, as is the norm.
“The company is also exploring deals with many more courier firms to grow its logistics network in the next year to cater to the growing e-commerce in small towns,” the company said.