Karnataka lockdown: Supply issues hit online delivery services

TNN | Updated: Apr 6, 2020, 09:38 IST

Entry to Central Market Mangaluru was barred for common people. (File photo)

MANGALURU: The Dakshina Kannada district administration has released a list and phone numbers of online delivery agencies, stores and supermarkets willing to do home deliveries in Mangaluru. However, not all of them are able to cater to the increase in demand.
Following the government’s announcement of a 21-day lockdown, several e-commerce giants have restricted home deliveries to select pin codes in a few cities. However, local companies have taken up the challenge, despite facing problems. Due to supply issues, customers are forced to wait for almost a week for their orders.
Deekshith Shetty, CEO, Chitki Retails Private limited, said, “We are not able to meet 100 % of the demand due to supply issues or decisions taken by the district administration. There was a rise in registrations, and people have placed orders, but unfortunately, we did not have sufficient stock due to a shortage in supply. We were forced to stop taking orders or cancel a few orders, because we are not sure how long this phase will continue,” he said.
On the rise in demand, Shetty said that on the first two days of the lockdown, demand for goods went up almost 30 times. However, now, with the government fixing timings for purchase of essential commodities, the process is being streamlined. Supply issues too are being looked into by the district administration.
After a meeting with the deputy commissioner, we have listed only essential products on our app and website. “We have obtained passes to make deliveries, but we are not sure about the suppliers and distributors. Panic buying is adding to the woes,” he said.
Durgadas Baliga, partner, Baliga Stores, prefers that people walk to stores and make purchases. He said that he will offer home deliveries only if a customer is buying essentials for a month, and lives in the vicinity of the store. On challenges in the current scenario, he said, “In the past, when we placed our orders with the distributor, it used to be delivered to us. Now, distributors are claiming that they do not have truck drivers and labourers. Hence, stores are collecting their orders directly from distributors.”
On the current stocks, he said, “We have around 80%-90% stocks, and there is no need for people to panic. In such a crisis, only the traditional system works. Big names in the e-commerce industry have shut down distribution.”
If small kirana shops faced problems in getting supplies from the wholesaler, larger hypermarkets with adequate supplies, faced problems due to the callous behaviour of customers. “Some of our customers have left perishable items like milk and vegetables in shopping carts, in their hurry to leave the store. We discovered these carts when we came in the next day,” said the owner of Fieldstar, which is a hypermarket at Ballalbagh. In order to limit such losses, the hypermarket has since decided to reduce its indent for perishable food. “We initially operated in a period of confusion over timings. Technical issues with the refrigeration system compounded our losses,” she said. Meanwhile, the owner of Nagesh Provision Store at Gandhinagar said he was not able to get adequate supplies from the wholesaler in Bunder, while showing his almost bare shelves, that are normally filled with goods.