Walmart-owned E-commerce firm Flipkart is set to introduce a separate marketplace model “Flipkart Xtra”, it announced on Wednesday. The model has been designed to provide individuals, service agents and technicians with flexible revenue opportunities.
According to the statement released by the company, through the ‘Flipkart Xtra’ app on Google Play Store, Flipkart will provide a simple and seamless onboarding experience to interested individuals. After background verification, individuals will be able to register themselves for various roles, including delivery executives to start with, and service partners or technicians in the coming months.
The new platform will also help bolster its supply chain to ensure swift and faster delivery of shipments and services to consumers across India while creating part-time opportunities for individuals. Prior to the holiday season and the company’s Big Billion Days, the launch will offer thousands of individuals, technicians and service agencies across the country additional jobs and revenue opportunities as distribution partners. Flipkart aims to have 4,000 part-time associates on board through Flipkart Xtra throughout the holiday season through December 2021.
“As an organisation committed to creating value for all stakeholders including sellers, artisans, MSMEs, Kiranas and customers, we are constantly expanding the scope of our partnership to equitably distribute the benefits of e-commerce. In this endeavour, we introduced numerous initiatives such as the immensely popular Kirana delivery program and are pleased to launch Flipkart Xtra, our service marketplace, to give flexible earning opportunities to individuals, local stores and even service technicians. This is a new disruption in the gig economy space and will help individuals find an alternate source of income while contributing to the country’s economic recovery,” said Hemant Badri, senior vice-president and head of the supply chain at Flipkart.
Reports from BCG suggest that the gig economy has the potential to service up to 90 million jobs in India’s non-farm economy alone, transact over USD 250 billion in the volume of work, and contribute an incremental 1.25 percent (approximately) to India’s GDP over the long term.
In a separate statement, Flipkart group firm Myntra said it is expanding its ‘Kirana network’ to 25,000 stores and is hiring 11,000 people for last-mile delivery and customer support ahead of the festive season.
“With its robust supply chain, consisting largely of MENSA (Myntra Extended Network for Service Augmentation) partners, who are typically Kirana store owners in the neighbourhood, and its own Distribution Centers, Myntra is poised to deliver products and joyous experiences to millions of shoppers, while creating seasonal job opportunities, across the country,” Myntra said in its statement.
Of the total last-mile recruitments, about 7,500 are for its Kirana network and about 1,000 would be undertaken at Myntra’s Delivery Centres (DC), distributed across the country.
The roles that are being closed include the positions of DC assistant, DC support staff, and delivery staff. A majority of the hiring, including for diversity, is being undertaken at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Lucknow.
In addition, about 2,700 people are being hired to boost the contact centre capability to manage and help with customer queries during the festive season, the statement said.
E-commerce companies see a large chunk of their business coming in during the festive sales and they make significant investments ahead of time to ramp up their capacity and add features to be able to handle the spike in orders while ensuring a smooth experience for shoppers and sellers.
“This has been the largest hiring drive ever at Myntra, for on-ground and customer support during any festive season, as we anticipate a strong demand across pin codes, with people eagerly looking forward to shopping on Myntra for their festive needs,” Myntra Chief Executive Officer Amar Nagaram said.