Not just tiffins: Mumbai Dabbawalas to help Flipkart for last mile deliveries

Bangalore: With an aim to develop newer delivery channels, e-retailer Flipkart has tied-up up with the dabbawalas of Mumbai for last mile delivery to its customers.
The Dabbawalas have been in the profession of transporting lunch boxes for more than 120 years.

Commenting on the association, Flipkart, senior director - Last Mile Delivery, Neeraj Aggarwal, said, "The Dabbawalas of Mumbai are one of the most reliable and trusted brands in the city. Their unique delivery system has been smooth, reliable and has survived the test of time-even under extreme conditions that are atypical to a city like Mumbai. We are partnering with them and leveraging this unique expertise to enhance our last mile delivery capabilities."

Initially, as a partner to eKart, the Dabbawalas will collect Flipkart marketplace shipments from the delivery hubs and deliver it the customers - while picking their dabbas. Currently, a partner just for last mile deliveries, the Dabbawalas will not be interacting with the sellers at this stage. The initial pilot will be for prepaid orders.

The first batch of Dabbawalas have undergone training at Flipkart's delivery centers. At this stage, they will be using a paper-based tracking system with the idea being to gradually train them on the usage of apps and other wearable tech.

In another move, Flipkart recently also launched a crowdsourced delivery option which aims to connect local sellers and buyers with the help of voluntary delivery personnel, reducing the order to delivery timeline drastically.

These delivery personnel are on-boarded onto a specialized Flipkart delivery program post extensive background verifications and are free to take up Flipkart deliveries as per their convenience.

"This process helps reduce the delivery process checks by enabling these delivery personnel to directly collect the package from the local seller and deliver it to the buyer, managing to reduce the order to delivery time to as little as three to four hours," a Flipkart release said.

This pilot is currently operational only for Bangalore sellers and customers for shipments of less than worth Rs 5,000.