Amazon Now: 300 Dark Stores by Year End

New Delhi, Dec 1 (PTI) E-commerce firm Amazon plans to be aggressive in the quick-commerce business, Amazon Now, with plans to open two new dark stores every day and take the total count to over 300 by year-end, the company said on Monday.

The company plans to deepen penetration in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai to step up competition with rival Flipkart and incumbents like Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart etc.

“We're excited to see customer response to Amazon Now and have accelerated our expansion plans. We will end the year at well over 300 micro-fulfillment centres and are not slowing down - opening two such centres a day across Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai," Amazon India, Country Manager, Samir Kumar said in a statement.

Amazon Now is estimated to have around 250 fulfillment centres at present.

"This rapid scale-up reflects our commitment to serving more neighbourhoods with the speed and selection customers expect from Amazon – from essentials in minutes through Amazon Now and a broader selection with deliveries in a few hours, the same day or next day," Kumar said.

Amazon Now at present promises to deliver essentials in minutes, full grocery assortment and additional 40,000 items in hours, over a million items same day, and another 4 million the next day.