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20 stories for “last-mile”

Vast empty warehouse interior with high racks and scattered cardboard cartons under industrial lights

Supply Chain

Flipkart Ekart adds 14 million cu ft storage and 900 hubs

Warehousing capacity jumps 50 per cent and last-mile reach widens for Big Billion Days and remote same-day.

Farhan Qureshi · 2 Oct · 4 min read

Empty warehouse aisle with stacked cartons under fluorescent light

Ecommerce

Meesho draws Nomura Reduce tag as valuation premium bites

Stock slips 5% after the broker flags premium to peers despite lower NMV growth, squeezing merchant acquisition budgets.

Ananya Rao · 27 Sep · 4 min read

Large empty warehouse interior with stacked cardboard boxes and sorting conveyors under industrial lights

Ecommerce

Amazon opens first Varanasi fulfilment centre

New 1-lakh-cubic-feet hub and sort centre cut festive delivery times in UP, squeezing local courier margins and kirana restock cycles.

Ananya Rao · 26 Sep · 4 min read

Stacks of cardboard cartons and packing tape rolls on a warehouse floor under fluorescent lights

Ecommerce

Myntra hires 26,000 seasonal staff for Big Fashion Festival

More than double last year’s festive army fills fulfilment centres and last-mile routes as October sales ramp up.

Ananya Rao · 25 Sep · 4 min read

Warehouse aisle stacked with sealed cartons under fluorescent lights

Ecommerce

Amazon sets Great Indian Festival for 8 October with 1.6 lakh jobs

Network adds 20 fulfilment centres and 150 last-mile stations just as shoppers start stocking lists.

Ananya Rao · 23 Sep · 4 min read

Empty retail aisle with festive decorations hanging from the ceiling

Opinion · Retail

Why festive capacity and MDR will decide October margins

Hiring blitzes and new payment costs land together just as festive tickets swell; the shop floor will sort winners fast.

The Desk · 17 Sep · 4 min read

Warehouse aisle stacked with festive cartons under fluorescent lights

Ecommerce

Flipkart creates 2.5 lakh festive jobs, adds 900 hubs

Walmart arm expands last-mile by 1.4 lakh roles ahead of Big Billion Days, squeezing smaller logistics players on rider supply.

Ananya Rao · 17 Sep · 4 min read

Rows of packed grocery shelves and delivery crates inside a compact urban warehouse

Ecommerce

Amazon India eyes 300 cities and 3,000 quick-commerce stores

Late entrant pushes micro-fulfilment and urban centres; Prime free speed raises the bar for Blinkit Zepto.

Ananya Rao · 16 Sep · 4 min read

Side-by-side view of a busy apparel store floor and a compact warehouse aisle under separate lighting

Opinion · Retail

Why value density still beats quick-commerce hype

Zudio’s 1,000 stores and Minutes’ 1,200 centres show physical throughput remains the real P&L lever.

The Desk · 13 Sep · 4 min read

Wide empty grocery aisles with stacked produce crates under bright mall lights

Retail

Carrefour opens 50,000-sq-ft Greater Noida store, eyes 50

French hypermarket returns via Apparel Group franchise with large-format bet that still needs floor space for the big basket.

Meera Iyer · 11 Sep · 4 min read

Retail

Zudio opens 23,000-sq-ft store at Gurugram corporate park

Tata value-fashion brand anchors M2K complex; first major apparel play in the mixed-use hub targets office and residential traffic.

Meera Iyer · 5 Sep · 4 min read

Retail

Reliance Trent Aditya Birla add 3,891 stores in three years

Combined network hits 26,067 outlets; Reliance alone ends FY26 at 20,160 stores as organised retail pushes deeper into smaller towns.

Meera Iyer · 3 Sep · 4 min read

Stacked crates and sorting tables inside a lit micro fulfilment centre at dusk

Ecommerce

Flipkart Minutes crosses 1,000 micro fulfilment centres

Two-year-old service now covers 130-plus cities and 8,000 pincodes, raising the bar for dark-store density that kiranas and riders must match.

Ananya Rao · 31 Aug · 4 min read

Gift hampers and wrapped boxes stacked on a dark-store packing table

Ecommerce

Instamart sees Rakhi order surge in premium gifts

Quick-commerce platforms record sharp rise in last-minute rakhi, jewellery and hamper demand, lifting non-grocery AOV in metros and smaller cities.

Ananya Rao · 30 Aug · 4 min read

Rows of labelled plastic bins on roller racks inside a narrow fulfilment room

Opinion · Ecommerce

Why dark-store density now decides the q-comm P&L

Minutes overtaking Instamart on nodes is not vanity; it is the only lever left once discounting fatigue sets in.

The Desk · 29 Aug · 4 min read

Stacked plastic crates and shelving inside a compact urban warehouse under strip lighting

Ecommerce

Flipkart Minutes overtakes Instamart with 627 dark stores

CLSA count across top 10 cities puts Minutes ahead of Instamart’s 615; Blinkit still leads at 969 as density race hits 477 cities.

Ananya Rao · 29 Aug · 4 min read

Empty high-street shopfronts with hanging garments under afternoon sun

Retail

Zudio Reliance Trends add stores in Ayodhya Varanasi pilgrim cities

CBRE maps fashion chains chasing spiritual tourism footfall across 14 temple towns.

Meera Iyer · 27 Aug · 4 min read

Rows of shelving inside a compact urban dark store under bright lights

Ecommerce

Blinkit Instamart Zepto dark stores hit 5,026

Combined network jumps nearly 48 percent as qcom market grows 40 percent year-on-year.

Ananya Rao · 25 Aug · 4 min read

Quick commerce dark store shelves with packed grocery totes ready for dispatch

Ecommerce

Zepto hikes free delivery minimum to ₹299

Threshold jumps up to 100 per cent in peak hours, aligning with Blinkit and Instamart and testing low-basket shoppers.

Kabir Menon · 23 Aug · 4 min read

Delivery riders lined up outside a brightly lit urban dark store at dusk

Ecommerce

Quick commerce platforms cross 9 million daily orders in August run-rate

Blinkit still leads, Zepto second, while Amazon Now and Flipkart Minutes add scale ahead of festive season.

Ananya Rao · 21 Aug · 4 min read