Flipkart Sees Orders Growing At 25%, To Touch 30% By June

SUMMARY

Flipkart’s chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy mentioned that the company aims to hit 30% growth in orders and customers by June

Krishnamurthy said that the fashion category accounts for almost 40% of the company’s new customers

With Minutes target to take its dark close to 800 by the end of this year, he said that each day two new dark stores are being added

Flipkart’s chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy said that the company has been witnessing an order growth rate of 20-25% in May, and plans to take it to 30% by this June.

Krishnamurthy reportedly said at Flipkart’s town hall meeting yesterday that the company’s growth in orders and customers has been largely driven by the fashion business across Flipkart and Myntra.

Citing the CEO, an ET report said that Flipkart’s fashion category accounts for almost 40% of its overall new customer additions.

On its quick commerce operations, Krishnamurthy said that each day two new dark stores are being added and Flipkart is racing to lock in its share of India’s high-growth hyperlocal market.

This comes at the heart of his recent statement that Minutes is targeting to take its dark close to 800 by the end of this year.

However, the quick commerce wing is cautious of limiting its expansion efforts to the top six to eight cities to reduce cash burn and cushion its profitability from taking a hit.

Post the fourth quarter earnings of the foodtech majors Swiggy and Eternal, their bottomline has taken a downturn due to their aggressive dark store expansion of quick commerce labels Instamart and Blinkit in the past two quarters.

JP Morgan in its recent note estimated that Blinkit currently operates the biggest dark store network in the country with an estimated total of 1,229, edging out Zepto, which runs 1,147 dark stores.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) conducted two “search and seizure operations” at multiple warehouses of ecommerce platforms, including Amazon and Flipkart in March alone.

The search operation led to seizure of non-certified 286 baby diapers, 36 insulated hotpots and 36 water bottles at the Flipkart warehouse in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur district. Also, BIS seized 534 stainless steel bottles, 134 toys and 41 speakers that were not certified from Flipkart’s warehouse in Gurugram, operated by Instakart Services Pvt Ltd.

On the financial front, Flipkart Internet’s annual revenue grew 21% to INR 17,907.3 Cr for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), according to the regulatory filings from Tofler.

Further, the company reported a decline of 41% in its losses, down to INR 2,358 Cr for the year under review.