SUMMARY
Amazon and Flipkart had cancelled all orders for non-essential items
Both companies are focussing on delivering essential products and groceries
Sellers of non-essential items have had to forego all revenue for the past 10 days
Ecommerce companies Amazon and Flipkart have started refunding amounts for all orders for non-essential products that were cancelled due to the 21-day-lockdown, but some sellers and customers might have to wait a little longer to get their refunds.
As per a TOI report, the Amazon customers and sellers will have to wait until the company starts taking orders for non-essential products. Meanwhile, Flipkart customers, who were supposed to receive the payment on April 1, will have to wait for another week. At this moment, there’s no clarity on when deliveries of non-essential items will resume.
The abrupt order cancellations came after the Indian government allowed ecommerce companies to only deliver essential items and goods during the lockdown. This has led to all ecommerce companies tweaking their operations.
Amazon has decided to set higher priority to orders of essential products like groceries and items of daily needs. With less workforce working to meet the demand for essential products, the decision will also help Amazon to protect its employees from the deadly virus.
While Flipkart had initially decided to temporarily suspend all its operations from March 25. But later that day, the company resumed its grocery delivery services Supermart to offer food and essentials in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi.
Flipkart spokesperson assured that the company is taking appropriate calls for the customers, keeping in mind the present situation and the advisory issued by the government. Whereas, Amazon spokesperson clarified that the company has paused all pickup requests and has deferred the movement of products that have already been picked up.
To take stock of the ecommerce challenges amid the current lockdown and pandemic, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal interacted with CEOs of ecommerce players, online grocery platforms and its supporting companies earlier this week. Goyal interacted with CEOs of Flipkart, Snapdeal, Grofers, BigBasket, Delhivery, Amazon among others. Goyal sought an update on the supply chain issues the companies faced earlier and had shared with him in a meeting last week.
The companies reportedly informed the minister that while supply chain issues had been solved to some extent, the challenge right now was a shortage of manpower on the ground. The minister said that things have improved, albeit slowly, but now is the time to fasten the process.
