India’s top online marketplaces have begun accepting orders to deliver both essential and non-essential products across the country except within containment zones, even as some companies demurred while they wait for states to draw up regional guidelines for ecommerce.
Amazon, baby products retailer Firstcry and beauty portal Nykaa were among those which began full-fledged operations on Monday, following the Centre’s directives aimed at unshackling the economy in the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of Covid-19.
Meanwhile Flipkart and eyewear portal Lenskart are taking a more cautious approach by restricting full service to only those states that specifically permit online sale of non-essential goods.
The ministry of home affairs had directed states to decide on final modalities while easing restrictions on ecommerce, in its guidelines announced on Sunday.
By Monday evening, several states, including Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, had announced permission for full-fledged ecommerce, except in containment zones.
“We’re pushing the door open a bit since we can’t possibly wait for every state to notify guidelines. If someone tells us to stop operating, we’ll pull back there,” said a senior executive at a leading ecommerce marketplace.
A representative for Flipkart told ET that the online retailer will work in accordance with the directives from the government and local authorities. “Post the Government of India’s guidelines (on Sunday) we are awaiting the guidelines and advisories from different states,” the person said.
Despite being allowed to sell non-essentials in green and orange zones from May 4, ecommerce firms said they have seen only a limited recovery in sales. This is largely due to demand being driven by consumers in metro cities that are closed for business due to their categorisation as red zones.
“Amazon welcomes the latest notification from Government of India as it enables ecommerce to deliver a wider selection of products while upholding the tenets of safety and social distancing,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Gurgaon-based Snapdeal said it saw a 2.4-times spike in orders for non-essentials on Monday compared with the average daily orders it received in the previous fortnight. “The orders placed by users in the cities currently categorised as red zones was more than 65% of the total orders placed so far in the last 24 hours,” Snapdeal said in a statement, signifying pent-up demand in these regions.
“We have already issued sector-wise SoP such as adherence to safety protocols, use of masks and sanitisers,” Karnataka deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan told ET.
In Telangana, chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao late on Monday announced that the entire state, barring a few containment zones in Hyderabad, was now in green zone and all kinds of ecommerce operations were permitted across the state from Tuesday.
In Tamil Nadu, ecommerce firms are permitted to only deliver essential products.
Online sellers and logistics companies said they too were exercising caution until state governments issue orders. “If warehouses are shut once because of violating policies, it’s going to be almost impossible to open shop,” a fashion merchandise seller told ET.
India is the only country to have banned ecommerce sales while allowing the reopening of physical retail stores amid the ongoing pandemic.
“Technically, companies which have begun accepting orders can say, they will wait for the revised state guidelines to ship these products, but it is a grey area,” said a person in the know.
(With inputs from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai bureaus)
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