Paytm Mall is planning to put more money(around $35 million) to strengthen its logistics infrastructure, technology and add more product offerings to further strengthen its position in the market.
“Paytm Mall is now expanding its logistics support by servicing demand with local supply to service same-day and next-day deliveries,” the company said in a statement.
In the first phase, the company had limited its offerings to electronic goods and appliances across 25 cities. Now, it plans to expand its footprint to 100 cities and add other categories of merchandise as well.
“We aim to build a trusted and highly-efficient logistics network to help local shopkeepers offer more convenient shopping experience to customers and enable brands to save up to 50% on logistics, as they will be able to bypass inter-city logistics costs. In the coming months, we will rapidly increase the number of items and pin codes,” said Amit Sinha, chief operating officer, Paytm Mall.
This steps comes shortly after Paytm Mall delisted some of its logistics partners and after investing $5 million in a project to digitise its offline retailers.
Paytm Mall is currently working with three courier partners, including Delivery, Bluedart and Xpressbees, to ship products across 17,000 pin codes. It has also partnered with specialised local couriers such as Shadowfax and Book a Wheel to drive its next phase of expansion.
The company is also planning to enable its retailers and brands to set the return, exchange and refund policies for their products, and offer complete support through its network of logistics partners.
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Last year, the Noida-based parent, One97 Communications Ltd, had separated its e-commerce and payments businesses under Paytm Ecommerce Pvt. Ltd and Paytm Payments Bank Ltd, respectively. In June, Paytm Ecommerce had received $200-million in funding from Alibaba and venture capital firm SAIF Partners. Through this transaction, the stakes of Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial in Paytm E-Commerce had risen from 40% to 62%.