Quickr ups e-market ante; offers free delivery for buyers, sellers

Upping the ante in the online buying-selling space, India's home-grown Quickr.com has announced direct and free shipping for both buyers and sellers.

At present, sellers need to ship the product to the buyer at their own cost. The company said it is seeking to end this inconvenient, tedious and time-consuming process.

So far no other classified portal provides delivery services.

The Mumbai-based firm is already testing the potential of delivery services in the city here for the last few months and has witnessed a 50-per cent increase in Mumbai transactions.

It plans to roll out the service in all the five major metros such as Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai in the next three months.

Pranay Chulet, founder and chief executive of Quikr, said that the decision to launch delivery services was a part of the company's constant focus on innovation. ''Delivery services in this category are a very local phenomenon and for that we are looking at tying up with local or regional movers and packers,'' he said.

Logistics and delivery is critical for any online portal, which is why several e-commerce companies including US-based e-Bay are competing on fast delivery. Flipkart is looking at delivering products in just 4 hours. Its competitors Amazon and Snapdeal are also contemplating the same.

Experts feel that Quikr's decision could also boost the used goods market, which is growing at a fast rate. But at the same time poses threat from online retailers who are selling goods at deep discounts thus luring consumers to buy new products.

Quikr is also betting big on its newly launched product – Quikr Nxt – which it claims to be the world's first instant messenger by a classifieds major to enable seamless transactions. With Quikr Nxt, buyers and sellers can immediately connect through chat.

''This feature will transform India's online classifieds market as it enables users to communicate with each other at their convenience and request more details about the product or service,'' Chulet said, adding that the company will be launching at least 7-8 more innovative products.

The company, which raised $60 million from Tiger Global in August last year, said it has grown over five times in the last one year.