New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS): With Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ordering a week-long lockdown on Monday, online delivery platforms saw a huge rush in orders, with order waiting time increasing by three-four days in the capital as well as in the NCR.

On BigBasket, the online traffic soared, and order delivery time spiked to Thursday, with slots filing up very fast, triggering fears of shortage of daily essentials like last year as people went into frantic buying of daily use staples like atta, dal and vegetables.

With the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic and state-wise lockdowns, Grofers said that it has been experiencing a high surge in demand on its platform for essential items.

"The platform has built a robust supply chain and has been taking every measure to ensure the delivery of essential groceries to households across India," the company said in a statement.

Grofers said that due to the unpredictable nature of Covid-19 spread, it has faced (temporary) shutdowns of store facilities as well.

"With some state governments already announcing stricter lockdown norms, we are also ramping up our capacities to serve more consumers safely and securely," it added.

The online delivery platforms urged customers not to go for panic shopping and hoard essentials, a behaviour that disrupted the supply chain in 2020.

In 2020, the lockdown news led to panic buying and stockpiling of groceries in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas as long queues were seen outside the grocery stores.

"However, this time around, we want to urge everyone to not resort to panic shopping - we are prepared for this second wave and are confident in our ability to keep up the supply. To solve this issue at the operational level, we introduce 'surge' from time to time, to manage inventory limits without negatively impacting consumer experience," Grofers said.