In an effort to outperform local Ecommerce platforms like FlipKart and SnapDeal, eBay India has begun offering 9 hour shipping.

The new shipping option, offered currently to residents of Mumbai, will allow what eBay.in refers to as “office goers and working class people” to place an order by noon, and receive it by 9pm at the latest. Orders placed after the 12pm cut-off time will have the package shipped the next day.

Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets

The service does not cost extra and is available for select lifestyle and technology products. Other online stores in India, such as Amazon, FlipKart, and SnapDeal do charge an extra fee for next or same day shipping.

As the Ecommerce market in India is growing at a rapid pace, ability to offer the product as soon as possible has become a high priority. Being able to offer swift shipping helps with reducing customers not willing to pay and accept an item, given a large percentage of them still pay via cash-on-delivery (COD). Recently, Amazon.in partnered with the Indian postal service to offer same day shipping and COD services to customers all over the country.

Other services outside of India have begun offering convenience shipping. Service like Parcel and MyDoorman provide prearranged shipping after conventional work hours.

Source