Coronavirus lockdown: How Paytm Mall is gearing up to deliver essential goods across the country

The nationwide lockdown to tackle the spread of coronavirus has restricted people’s movement and increased the need for online delivery of essential goods. 

Ecommerce platform Paytm Mall has been adhering to the guidelines enforced by the government, says Srinivas Mothey, Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer, Paytm Mall, in an interaction with YourStory.

“Restricting movement of people and goods, and emphasising on social distancing are a few of the critical decisions the government has taken over the last few days. It is important that we adhere to all guidelines so that we can successfully combat the COVID-19 virus,” he explains. 

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The surge in demand of online delivery services and confusion and run-ins on the ground with local authorities had initially hampered several grocery and food delivery platforms, which had to decline or cancel orders. 

However, following a clarification from the Central government on clearing the delivery of essential goods, online deliveries have started their services again and ecommerce platforms are clearing lagging orders. 

These players are now taking various steps to ensure the smooth delivery of essential goods and products in accordance to the mandates declared by the government to combat the spread of coronavirus. 

“Paytm Mall has tied up with all leading logistics players in the country to ensure that we can service the maximum number of pin codes in the country,” Srinivas says. 

Due to delivery personnel being stopped from carrying out the deliveries by local authorities in various parts across the country, Paytm Mall has been in touch with local government bodies to ensure logistics partners do not face any difficulty in delivering essentials like household staples, healthcare, hygiene, and personal safety products.

“At this crucial juncture, we want to ensure that millions of users have all basic essentials needed for sustenance during this ongoing lockdown and pandemic,” Srinivas adds. 

He explains that Paytm Mall has tied up with various essential products suppliers to meet the increasing demands. It is also working to ensure that logistic partners provide swift delivery along with ensuring additional warehouse space for additional supplies. “We are working with all the leading logistics players to ensure a sizeable on-ground delivery fleet,” he says. 

While the normal timeframe for delivery of products for the platform has been either on the same day or the next day, due to the lockdown, Paytm Mall, Srinvas notes, is working to ensure that the products gets delivered “as early as possible”.  

Earlier, in a statement, he had said, "We are temporarily prioritising our resources to serve products that are extremely critical for our customers, including staples, packaged food, health, and hygiene products. These are extremely difficult times for the country and we want to ensure no one has to run pillar to post to look for essential items. This is our topmost and only priority till the time India is safe from this pandemic."

In the statement, Paytm Mall also said, “Paytm Mall is proactively talking to a number of new suppliers in the country who can immediately provide hand sanitisers, preventive Ayurvedic medicines, as well as other products that help in combating the spread of coronavirus.” 

(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)