Flipkart temporarily suspends services; Amazon stops ‘lower-priority’ orders

Online retail giant Flipkart announced early on Wednesday that it had temporarily suspended services as a result of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

In a message posted on the homepage of its website, Flipkart announced "These are difficult times, times like no other. Never before, have communities stayed apart to stay safe! Never before has being at home meant helping the nation!" Flipkart notes that consumers’ "needs have always been our priority and our promise is that we will be back to serve you as soon as possible".

A cursory search of the Flipkart website lists all items as ‘out of stock’.

Business Standard had reported that Flipkart had issued internal communications that it would stop taking new orders from Tuesday night. Business Standard reported that Flipkart senior vice president Adarsh Menon issued an email stating, “All the 3 supply chains viz. grocery, non large and large will stop taking orders from tonight (Tuesday) or tomorrow morning." Flipkart had previously informed sellers that it would be shutting down fulfilment centres till April 2.

The announcement by Flipkart comes after Amazon, its chief competitor, announced that it was prioritising shipment of household staples, health care and hygiene products to address "operational requirements" related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a blog post on its website, Amazon India informed its customers, "This also means that we have to temporarily stop taking orders and disable shipments for lower-priority products. For all pending customer orders on lower-priority products, we are reaching out to customers and giving them a choice to cancel their orders and receive a refund for prepaid items."

The suspension and restriction of operations by Flipkart and Amazon comes amid the severe disruption in the online retail sector as a result of COVID-19 –related measures. BigBasket and Grofers, which specialise in delivery of groceries, had to cancel orders on Tuesday and shut their warehouses in north India.

While delivery of essential items such as food and medical supplies by online retailers are exempt from the lockdown, the collapse of their supply chains has hit these companies hard.