Ecommerce giant, Amazon, is looking to boost its delivery network across Tamil Nadu, in the run-up to the festive season.

On Thursday, the company launched its largest delivery station in the state, spanning 24,000 square feet. This comes on the heels of a similar launch in Telangana, where the ecommerce major added 20,000 square feet capacity to its delivery operations.

CNBC-TV18 learnt that Amazon plans to open similarly sized delivery stations across eight major Indian cities.

“Large delivery stations in large metro cities optimise delivery and enhances existing routes,” said Prakash Rochlani, speaking to CNBC-TV18 on the company’s capacity addition, “Amazon has doubled its delivery network in Tamil Nadu between 2018 and 2019. We now have 120 delivery stations across the state.”

In all, Amazon’s undisclosed investments in Tamil Nadu have resulted in six fulfilment centres totalling 1.8 million cubic feet of storage space, three sort centres with over 80,000 square feet of processing area, 120 delivery stations and over 1,400 ‘I have space’ stores — small retail establishments that aid in storage and delivery of products.

What does not quite add up, however, is the fact that Amazon is betting big on more deliveries — and larger, more spacious delivery stations — at a time when the economy is reeling under a much-talked-about consumption slowdown. But the company is quick to play it down.

“We at Amazon India have not witnessed a consumption slowdown in the e-commerce industry,” said Rochlani, “That could perhaps be because e-commerce accounts for only three percent of the Indian retail business. But it also means we can only move forward from here.”

Rochlani added that larger delivery stations could stand to condense delivery timelines by a few hours or even days, as Amazon heads into the much-hyped Indian festive season.

First Published:Aug 22, 2019 7:16 PM IST