The ecommerce war just became hotter. After Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal launched same day product deliveries in select metros, now online shopping marketplace eBay just started a 9 hour delivery service. And that too without any extra charges!
As it is just a start, the initiative covers only the city of Mumbai. Also, it is applicable of a select few categories and products. A small catch is that the customer has to place the order before 12 noon and be rest assured; the product would be delivered by 9 PM the same day.
If the order is placed post 12 noon, then it would be delivered the next business day. Customers have to check the deliverable area pin code beforehand for service availability. If you don’t get it the same day, you can cancel the order and get a refund too.
Which all items? Cameras, laptops, mobile phones and tablets are the chosen products which are covered under the 9 hour delivery service. The discounts range from 4% to a whopping 30% as well. A special microsite has been made by eBay India that features products available under this service.
Express deliveries like this actually burn a hole in the coffers of the shippers. And returns on such items bleed them more. A recent study found that 25% of the shipped goods get returned and majority of them were cash-on-delivery ones. So, fittingly, eBay has removed the COD option in this service. Yes, if you want them to deliver quick, you cannot use COD option!
Catch? Don’t order on a Sunday or a National Bank holiday, you would be disappointed as the service is not available on those days.
Comparison with other Online sites’ Express Delivery Service
| Delivery within | Extra charges | Serviceability | Products | |
| eBay | 9 hours | FREE | Mumbai | http://deals.ebay.in/city/?c=mumbai |
| Flipkart | 24 hours | Rs 90/item | Metros | Ordered through WS Retail seller only |
| Myntra | 24 hours | FREE | Delhi, B’lore | All products |
| Amazon | 24 hours | Rs 99/item | Metros | ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’ marked products |
| Snapdeal | 24 hours | FREE | Delhi-NCR | Select products on website |
Vidmay Naini, business head – technology, PaisaPay & PowerShip, eBay India says: “The ‘9 Hour Delivery’ concept gives consumers a faster and improved shopping experience. This is the first phase of the service, which is available to our Mumbai customers on popular technology product categories and will be scaled to key cities in India in a few months. The service is a good option for convenience oriented savvy shoppers who are in a hurry to get their hands on their favourite gadgets.”
Makes business sense? A quick glance at all the products under offer show that they are the ones which drive the top-line of the company, the electronic items. This is where the maximum revenue comes in from.
Any growth in this segment will ensure quick increase in the turnover for the remaining few months of the fiscal. The ‘within 9 hour’ delivery would also ensure the customer doesn’t change his mind and cancel the order later on! Also, with tough competition in the prices of online stuff, this superfast delivery would ensure some credible brand building in the minds of the users too.
Logistics challenge? Mumbai is known for its congestion and massive jams. Perhaps this is the reason eBay says that the offer is only for select pincodes. So far-flung areas like Virar and Vasai are not covered!
Give it is try and let us know if the deliveries can actually happen in 9 hours!
