ANI Technologies, the parent firm of Ola Cabs, is planning to set up dark stores. A dark store is a warehouse dedicated solely to fulfilling online orders. This is as per an Economic Times report.
Interestingly, robots will be used to minimise human involvement, and the operations will be handled by Ola Cabs. As per the report, the company is also mulling to have its own payment system for consumers.
This is coming at a time when Ola Electric just came up with its IPO. The Rs 6,146-crore IPO, which closed on August 6, was subscribed more than four times on BSE. The retail portion of the IPO, which had a price band of Rs 72-76 per share, was subscribed nearly four times by retail investors.
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Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is expected to announce the plans about the quick commerce segment on August 15 at the annual Independence Day event, adds the report. However, the announcement plan is subject to change.
Speaking about the dark store, a source told the Economic Times, “It's a dark store as a service where the whole setup will be delivered with significant automation, but there will be some people involved.”
Operators of the dark stores might reportedly use Ola electric two-wheelers, depending on the agreement. In addition to it, any other business, including ONDC sellers and offline brands, can reportedly use this service. Interestingly, this won’t be the first time Ola will be focusing on the quick commerce segment. The company came up with Ola Dash in November 2021. However, it was closed just a few months after it started in June 2022.
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Several companies are eyeing the quick commerce segment with the increasing popularity of the same. The latest company to join the race was Flipkart, which launched its quick commerce platform called ‘Flipkart Minutes’. As of now, the platform is live in some parts of Bengaluru, and the delivery time for the same is 8-16 minutes.
Companies are also joining the platform for greater visibility. A recent example of the same is footwear brand Bata, which is in talks with Quick Commerce players for its entry. With this, the company, which is already in talks with two quick commerce players, aims to deliver items in ten minutes.
Gunjan Shah, MD and CEO, Bata India Limited, told the Economic Times, “The next thing we will do is a 10-minute delivery. We are already in discussions and are on the verge of closing and will be activating it very soon.”
