Flipkart’s Hemant Badri to spearhead quick commerce vertical: report

Online ecommerce platform Flipkart has awarded Hemant Badri, Senior Vice President, Group Head of Supply Chain, Customer Experience and ReCommerce Business, the additional charge of leading the company’s venture into the quick commerce segment, according to reports. 

Badri, who reports to Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, will take on the additional responsibility as Flipkart gears up to compete with the likes of Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy’s Instamart, and Zepto. This was first reported by Moneycontrol. A company executive confirmed the development to YourStory.

It was previously reported that Walmart-backed Flipkart had evaluated a potential strategic investment in Zepto to fast-track its quick commerce business, which fell through. 

Prior to joining Flipkart, Badri served as Vice President of Worldwide Planning, Analytics, Customer Experience, and Europe Operational Planning at FMCG giant Unilever. 

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In a townhall earlier this year, Flipkart CEO Krishnamurthy had highlighted the renewed push by the company in the grocery segment. The company will partner with a network of kirana stores to launch its quick commerce business, said the report by Moneycontrol, unlike its competitors which operate through a network of dark stores. 

A recent report by HSBC Global Research on quick commerce predicts that India is likely to graduate from unorganised retail to quick commerce, while modern retail penetration may remain lower than comparable countries. The report also says that quick commerce offers a large number of SKUs comparable to modern retail and proximity similar to kirana stores.