Uber looks to tap quick commerce and hyperlocal deliveries of FMCG for growth in India

Ride hailing and transport business Uber plans expand its offering to tap into the rising demand for swift e-commerce deliveries in India. The business has begun to launch delivery services in nine Indian cities through two wheeled vehicles.

“Uber is starting with delivery of prepaid items from neighbourhood kirana shops, department stores, pharmacies, and several other use cases… but the product will be expanded where it would collect from and make the payments on behalf of the customer to the shop,” an anonymous source close to the matter told ET Tech.
 
For its current delivery service customers can purchase goods from a store, pay the store directly, and have an Uber driver pick up the goods and deliver to them. A spokesperson for Uber confirmed this development to the Economic Times and stated that the pickup service is currently available in Chennai, Ludhiana, Delhi NCR, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Lucknow.
 
“Store pickups is a new addition to our package service where users can request an Uber driver to pick up the prepaid items from a store,” Uber’s spokesperson told the Economic Times. “Store pickups will give customers the option to pick any store in serviced areas so long as they share its location and make the payment directly.”