Lockdown relaxation working, non-essential orders up on e-commerce platforms

Sitting idle for nearly 45 days, hope rekindled for millions of sellers as leading people from green and orange zones began ordering and receiving non-essential items like stationery, apparel, footwear and electronics from leading e-commerce platforms.
Snapdeal said it received 75 percent orders for non-essential items from several green and orange zones across the country on May 4, and shipped key products including steel utensils, and electronics like power banks, smartphones and laptop chargers, among others.
“The overwhelming response by both buyers and sellers on Day 1 of e-commerce deliveries being allowed for non-essentials and essentials is a reflection of the important role e-commerce plays in fulfilling the needs of the country,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The sellers on the platform shipped steel utensils from Salem, footwear from Amritsar and apparel from Gurugram.
Snapdeal which has over 5 lakh independent registered sellers expects nearly 90 percent of them in the non-restricted zones to be active on the platform by this week.
However, thousands of orders for Jaipur continued to be on hold while deliveries to many parts of Maharashtra were disrupted but “will commence over the next 2-3 days”, said the company.
The company recorded 24 times jump in products in users’ shopping carts and wishlists since the start of the lockdown.
Flipkart said that with e-commerce being allowed for essential and non-essential products in orange and green zones in specific states, it is seeing an increase in searches for products.
“The increase is in categories such as laptops, consumer electronics (such as headphones), mobiles, air conditioners, coolers, T-shirts and other essentials,” said Anil Goteti, Senior Vice President at Flipkart.
“We are working with lakhs of sellers and MSMEs across India and helping them prepare their businesses and workforce to make products available for consumers in this time of need,” Goteti added.
The Centre last Friday announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown for two more weeks from May 4, with certain relaxations to regions categorised as orange and green zones.
An Amazon spokesperson welcomed the government’s decision to allow e-commerce in Orange and Green Zones to serve people safely with products that they need and have not been able to access due to the lockdown.
“Millions of small and medium businesses and traders will now be able to jumpstart their businesses and livelihoods across their workforce,” said the company spokesperson.