Flipkart to deliver food as e-Commerce giant joins delivery war

BENGALURU: Walmart-owned Flipkart is preparing to serve up something new, serving notice to India’s online food delivery heavyweights as it prepares to dish out its own food ordering service in the coming weeks. The e-commerce titan plans to start with a soft launch before cooking up a wider national rollout.

The move mirrors the cautious strategy the company used for its quick-commerce arm, Flipkart Minutes. “We will launch food delivery in the next few weeks,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive officer of Flipkart Group. “Like everything else we do, we will launch food delivery first, test the value proposition with customers, take feedback and continue improving the product until it really appeals to the customer. After that, we’ll start scaling it.”

Hungry shoppers will eventually be able to order meals through both a standalone app and a dedicated integration within the core Flipkart application. Industry sources indicate Flipkart will leverage the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to power the underlying framework for its culinary ambition.

Flipkart’s appetite for the sector comes as the market heats up with fresh business models aimed at value-conscious diners. Bike-taxi platform Rapido recently served up its Ownly platform with zero restaurant commissions and low prices, while market veteran Swiggy introduced its budget-friendly Toing feature.

Flipkart is playing the long game, aiming to eventually host a full menu of dining options for its massive user base. “If it’s part of the Flipkart app, people will go in with the expectation that most of the catalogue available in the market should be on the app,” Krishnamurthy noted. “We will, over time, make an effort to cover the entire catalogue.”