E-commerce major Flipkart plans to add more large fulfilment centres called “Big Box” over the next three years in a bid to strengthen its supply chain. Compared to conventional fulfilment centres and warehouses, which go up as high as 10-12 metres, Big Box’s height can reach 18 metres, which gives more volume of storage.

Flipkart operates one such Big Box at Haringhata, around 50km from Calcutta, which is the biggest fulfilment centre for the Walmart-backed firm in India at a single location with a total built-up area of around 2 million square feet and 5 million cubic feet of storage space.

The facility deploys robotics packing arm and automated storage and retrieval aided by a total of 9km of conveyor belt system to help fast-track shipments. Hemant Badri, senior vice-president and head of supply chain, Flipkart Group, said that there is a plan to add more Big Box facilities at strategic locations over the next three years.

They are at Haringhata, where the company has around 110 acres of land, a facility at Manesar and one facility in southern India. “Flipkart has been innovating and disrupting homegrown e-commerce. Big Box is our fundamental strategy to create differentiation. This gives us the scale and different levels of efficiency, which will give us a competitive advantage. We will be at least 2-2.5 times better in terms of efficiency, scale and productivity which is going to be a differentiator,” Badri told The Telegraph.

Besides more storage, a large facility offers Flipkart the benefit of sorting, packaging and shipment in an integrated set-up.