Online retailers like sastodeal.com, muncha.com, UrbanGirl and thamel.com, among others, have been using bicycles for delivery of lighter products. For heavy products, they are collecting orders and delivering en masse.
"It is true that online retail business has growing by hundred-folds compared to few months back. With festive season nearing and fuel crisis hitting hard consumers hard, people have turned to online retailers who can deliver goods at their doorsteps," Amun Thapa, CEO and founder of sastodeal.com, told Republica.
Thapa, however, said they were not getting stuffs from wholesalers and that their stock is depleting fast.
According to online retailers, the demand for groceries and electronic goods like rice cooker and induction cookers is on the rise. But they are facing difficulty in delivering goods like TV sets, refrigerators and other electronic devices.
Niranjan Shrestha, executive manager of muncha.com, said they have been using bicycles to deliver products. "We have been delivering products by transferring them from one point to another from our warehouse," he said, adding, "There has been minimal growth in terms of international orders. However, the local orders for groceries, rice cookers and induction cookers, among others, have increased drastically."
Thamel.com is facing problem mainly due to limited stock.
"As our stock depleted very fast, we are not in a position to take orders for many goods. We are taking orders for only the goods that we have in stock," Rajendra Sapkota, gift in-charge of Thamel.com, said. "We are also facing difficulty in operations and delivery of products."
Similarly, UrbanGirl has been delivering products on foot for nearby places and using bicycles for short distance. It has also been requesting customers to come and pick the products.
"We are facing problem at the moment," Kiran Timsina, one of the founders of UrbanGirl, said. "But what we believe is, online shopping is not just about selling a product. Online retailers are a highly structured customer service company which also sells service rather than just a product," he said.
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