Technoglitch
Core Member
India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart Ltd will shut its groceries delivery app, Nearby, less than five months after the company started testing it, two people familiar with the matter said.
The Nearby app was launched as an experiment by Flipkart in Bengaluru in October. The company promised to deliver fruits, vegetables, soaps and other staples from supermarkets to customers within an hour of receiving an order.
However, because it was a pilot, Flipkart didn’t market or promote Nearby extensively. Eventually, because of a combination of poor customer demand and a lack of margins, the company will shut the app this month, the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
A Flipkart spokesman confirmed the company shut its app, without elaborating.
Flipkart’s move to shut Nearby comes as newly appointed chief executive Binny Bansal is cutting costs and sharpening the company’s focus on its key strengths: electronics and fashion sales and logistics. The e-commerce market leader is also striving to quickly launch an online payments service, an area where it has struggled and currently lags rivals such as Snapdeal and Paytm.
On 11 January, Flipkart named co-founder Binny as CEO, replacing Sachin Bansal, in a move that it claimed would strengthen its management bandwidth as it seeks to combat archrival Amazon India and kick off preparations for an expected initial public offering (IPO) over the next few years.
Flipkart shuts grocery delivery app Nearby - Livemint
The Nearby app was launched as an experiment by Flipkart in Bengaluru in October. The company promised to deliver fruits, vegetables, soaps and other staples from supermarkets to customers within an hour of receiving an order.
However, because it was a pilot, Flipkart didn’t market or promote Nearby extensively. Eventually, because of a combination of poor customer demand and a lack of margins, the company will shut the app this month, the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
A Flipkart spokesman confirmed the company shut its app, without elaborating.
Flipkart’s move to shut Nearby comes as newly appointed chief executive Binny Bansal is cutting costs and sharpening the company’s focus on its key strengths: electronics and fashion sales and logistics. The e-commerce market leader is also striving to quickly launch an online payments service, an area where it has struggled and currently lags rivals such as Snapdeal and Paytm.
On 11 January, Flipkart named co-founder Binny as CEO, replacing Sachin Bansal, in a move that it claimed would strengthen its management bandwidth as it seeks to combat archrival Amazon India and kick off preparations for an expected initial public offering (IPO) over the next few years.
Flipkart shuts grocery delivery app Nearby - Livemint
