Walmart-owned Flipkart is exempting storage and cancellation fees for sellers on its marketplace and providing them with insurance coverage as it seeks to support MSMEs through the ongoing Covid-19-induced challenges in India.
These fresh efforts range from financial benefits, health and safety benefits. The India-based firm will support existing seller policies all the way through working capital and insights provided to sellers on the platform.
Flipkart will bear the entire premium of Covid-19 insurance to all sellers that transact on the platform, covering any hospitalization and consultation fees between INR 50,000 ($685) to INR 300,000 ($4095).
It will also be exempting storage fees to sellers who use the company’s fulfilment centres and waiving off the cancellation fees until the end of the month for orders that may have been cancelled due to lockdowns in various states.
The company claims that it will further ease the policies and performance metrics for its sellers. It will provide easier access to working capital where all sellers impacted by pandemic related disruptions will have an option of early settlement without any incremental cost. Transaction fee for the same will be borne by Flipkart. In addition, the firm has extended the window for the Seller Protection Fund within which sellers have to claim SPF on returned products – from the regular 14 days to now 30 days.
Implementing these schemes will help the e-commerce giant maintain cordial relationships with its 300,000 sellers facing severe disruption amid the coronavirus chaos.
Commenting on the new initiative, Flipkart senior director Jagjeet Harode said, “Through these testing times it is our constant effort to support our seller partners who face immense operational challenges as a result of the pandemic. As a democratic marketplace, we want to ensure that our lakhs of seller partners are able to continue operations and keep the economic engine running.
“With them and their family’s financial and health safety in mind, we have rolled out these initiatives that will bring them the much-needed respite to keep their businesses active.”
The news comes a week after Amazon, Flipkart’s rival in India, said it will be waiving 50% of the referral fee sellers are required to pay for this month.
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