e-commerce
Snapdeal resumes services in 96 cities for essential goods
MUMBAI: E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal has resumed operations in 96 cities covering more than 15,000 pin codes.
Other than metro cities, the list also covers smaller cities like Agra, Bhopal, Dehradun, Jalandhar, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kota, Nashik, Patna, Raipur, Surat etc.
The current operations cover essential goods in high demand and include grocery items like rice, tea, coffee, atta etc. Also, supplies of household cleaning supplies are being prioritised.
To boost supplies, Snapdeal has tied up with local grocers and wholesalers to make fast intra-city deliveries. It is also tying up with local Kisan Mandis in metro cities so that staples like pulses, salt, sugar, cooking oil and other packaged food items like biscuits, juices can be made available locally in a cost-effective manner.
While the inter-city movement of goods has now resumed, Snapdeal has also focused a lot of effort in the last week to build supplies for deliveries within the city. This has helped it continue supplies even as stocks in transit were stuck on the road and in warehouses across the country.
Snapdeal has made available disposable masks in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida & Ghaziabad and is seeking to expand the availability to select other cities. The demand for masks far exceeds the supply and sellers are replenishing stocks as fast as they can so that more buyers can be serviced. The availability of sanitizers is expected to improve later this week.
While Snapdeal continues to accept orders for both essential and non-essential goods, the delivery for the latter is planned post the lockdown period.
A large number of orders have been placed for Glucose monitors, sugar testing strips, BP monitors, etc that users across smaller cities use regularly to manage ongoing medical conditions. Snapdeal plans to deliver these on priority as soon as these stocks reach the destinations cities.
“Accounting for the supply chain disruptions, we have focused on strengthening local operations. Currently, we are prioritising deliveries of essentials and other deliveries will commence once the lockdown restrictions are lifted,” a Snapdeal spokesperson added.
As a measure of immediate contribution, all Snapdeal employees have decided to donate a day's salary to the PM-CARES fund that seeks to provide emergency assistance to those in distress due to the on-going lockdown.
e-commerce
Instamart and Duolingo launch street spell check campaign for Instaprint
Duo the owl fixes signboard typos across cities to showcase instant printing.
MUMBAI: If spelling mistakes had a sworn enemy, it might just be a bright green owl with a printer. Instamart has teamed up with language learning platform Duolingo for a quirky nationwide campaign that turns everyday spelling errors into a public spectacle while promoting its instant printing service, InstaPrint. The playful activation takes aim at the many misspelled shop boards and public signs scattered across Indian streets. From “saloons” that promise haircuts rather than drinks to menus and posters peppered with punctuation mishaps, the campaign sends Duolingo’s mascot Duo on a mission to restore linguistic order.
Armed with Instamart’s instant printing feature, Duo prints corrected versions of the mistakes on the spot and pastes them over the originals. The result is a series of humorous street interventions that have quickly begun circulating on social media.
Photos and videos of the grammar correcting owl have been widely shared online, with amused users reacting to the unexpected spell check patrol. One user joked, “Ab ayega na maza bhidu,” capturing the internet’s delight at the unusual campaign.
Behind the humour lies a practical message. The activation is designed to showcase the capabilities of Instaprint, Instamart’s printing service that allows users to print documents and posters almost instantly.
The company says the feature is meant for everyday needs such as printing resumes, visa documents or last minute posters without the usual scramble to locate a print shop.
Instamart introduced Instaprint in 2025 across select metropolitan cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. The service allows users to order printed materials directly through the platform, extending the quick commerce model beyond groceries and household essentials.
By combining Duolingo’s famously persistent owl with India’s street level spelling quirks, the campaign taps into the internet’s long running fascination with grammar mistakes while demonstrating a real world use case for instant printing.
After all, in a world full of typos, sometimes what you really need is a quick printer and a very determined language teacher.
