Snapdeal resumes pan-India deliveries

The company is also offering its customers across all 26,000 pincodes - in Green, Orange and Red zones - the Cash on Delivery (CoD) payment option.

E-commerce platform Snapdeal has just announced that it has restored services to 100 per cent of the pincodes that it was serving before the COVID-19 linked restrictions disrupted deliveries. The containment zones, however, will continue to remain inaccessible for e-commerce deliveries as per guidelines issued by the central and state governments.

The news comes following planning exercises between Snapdeal and its third-party logistics providers over the course of last week. Legistify, a law tech platform that provides live trackers of the latest regulations in Red, Orange, Green and containment zones, including the trends and micro details from such areas, will help Snapdeal in logistics planning.

Snapdeal is also offering its customers across all 26,000 pincodes the Cash on Delivery (CoD) payment option.

All other major platforms in the country have restricted orders only to pre-paid ones. According to Snapdeal, many shoppers either don't have access to digital payment options, or are not comfortable using them. In order to make it simple for these users to buy things online, Snapdeal has decided to continue with the CoD option. As a precautionary measure, buyers are encouraged to pay for their orders using digital options, either before or even during the delivery process. However, for those buyers who still prefer to pay in cash, the deliveries are completed accordingly.

Snapdeal has completed delivery of nearly 50 per cent of pre-lockdown orders placed by buyers in March. All deliverable orders from the backlog are expected to be cleared by the end of this month (May).

The Snapdeal team says that it is working closely with its logistics partners to share updated demand assessments so that adequate availability of delivery agents can be planned for. It is also helping its partners to plan delivery protocols that enhance safety for both the buyer and the delivery agent.

“Customers all over the country have been waiting to receive their orders and place new orders for a long time. Thanks to advance planning and with the active support of our logistics partners, we are excited to swiftly resume deliveries all over the country for both essentials and non-essentials,” said a Snapdeal spokesperson.