Paytm Mall, the e-commerce arm of Paytm, is all set to invest $35 million or 225 crore in its logistics network. The investment would help the e-commerce company to speed-up the delivery services, with the company planning to offer same day and next day deliveries to its customers. The important announcement comes just ahead of the festive seasons as the company braces for spike in customer’s demand.
In the first phase, Alibaba backed Paytm Mall will focus to improve its logistics infrastructure across 25 cities and limit to only electronics & appliances. In the next phase, it will seek to improve logistics infrastructure across 100 cities and include other categories as well.
The decision to consolidate its logistics network comes barely a month after the company shed ties with six of its 14 logistic partners and 30 courier aggregation centers. As of now, Paytm Mall is primarily working with three courier companies – Delivery, Bluedart and Xpressbees. It is an equity investor in Xpressbees. The company has also tied up with specialized local courier company Shadowfox.
Paytm Mall Getting Ready to Compete against Flipkart and Amazon
Over the last one month Paytm Mall has announced slew of big decisions, including the announcement to delist 85,000 sellers from its platform in a quality check drive. These big decisions are being seen as a clear signal that Paytm is getting serious to take on Flipkart and Amazon. Paytm Mall currently offers services only through its app and still lags in market share compared to Amazon and Flipkart.
But Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications Ltd certainly wants to change this scenario. The parent company made its intention pretty clear last year, when it announced complete demerger between its e-commerce and digital payment business. The demerger led to the creation of Paytm Mall and signaled a tough battle for the existing big players.
Paytm Mall is not shying away from taking inorganic route in a bid to consolidate its base in the e- commerce sector. Last month, reports were rife in media that Paytm is looking to pick up minority stake in grocery delivery firm Bigbasket through nearly $200 million investment. However, so far there has not been any development on this front.