India's Flipkart to replicate Jet.com’s 'smart cart' service

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Dec 12, 2016

India’s leading e-tailer Flipkart is looking to introduce a discount pricing model based on popular American e-commerce startup Jet.com’s Smart Cart service that encourages consumers to pick multiple items that can be shipped in one box to save on delivery charges.
 

Flipkart is expected to start the service later this month, two people familiar with the development told the Economic Times.
 
Jet.com, which was acquired by retail giant Walmart Stores Inc for $3.3 billion earlier this year, pioneered the concept through its Smart Cart service that offers its customers deals whenever they order multiple products into a single shipment so that Jet is able to save on multiple shipping charges.

“Courier price slab changes with every 500 grams. For example, a pair of shoes typically comes in a 1.5 kg box volumetrically but the box is partially empty as it only occupies 1 kilogram and one hundred grams volumetric so you still end up paying cost of the 400 grams,” said a person familiar with Flipkart’s plans.
 
“So Flipkart will suggest consumers, say a T-shirt or toiletries that can be included to complete the 1.5 kg,” the person said.
 
Barely two years after its arrival in the US e-commerce scene, Jet is particularly popular among urban millennial consumers due to its dynamic pricing strategy and everyday low price it offers through its algorithm and technology.

A New Jersey-based e-commerce company, Jet currently adds more than 400,000 customers a month and processes on an average 25,000 orders every day.
 
In September, Walmart acquired Jet to help its battle against e-commerce giant Amazon that is challenging Walmart’s supremacy in the US retailing space.