Amazon.in crosses 10 lakh sellers milestone; Over 1 lakh local offline stores now selling on Local Shops on Amazon program

By Kalinga Voice Last updated Dec 16, 2021

Rapid growth in number of sellers coming online with Amazon – 4.5 lakh+ new sellers have joined Amazon.in since Jan 2020 including one lakh+ local offline neighbourhood stores
Amazon.in has grown from 100 sellers in 2013 to over 10 lakh sellers today – with lakhs of SMBs, weavers and artisans, women entrepreneurs, local neighbourhood stores, start-ups today showcasing crores of products to customers.

Bengaluru: Amazon India today announced that over 10 lakhsellers are now selling on Amazon.in from across India. The company had started in India in 2013 with 100 sellers and has today grown to be the preferred online destination for sellers across India. Notably more than 90% of the sellers on Amazon.in are small and medium local businesses (SMBs) and over half of these sellers on the marketplace come from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Since January 2020, more than 4.5 lakh new sellers have joined Amazon.in and over one lakh of these new sellersare local offline retailers &neighbourhood stores that have onboarded the Amazon marketplace through the Local Shops on Amazon program.

Since inception in India, Amazon has been focused on creating the infrastructure and the ecosystem needed to support SMBs to adopt ecommerce. From taking Chai Cart and Tatkal vans to markets and SMB hubs in cities across India for increasing awareness about ecommerce to launching several India first innovations for Amazon like Seller Flex and Easy Ship, to creating focused programs to address key seller cohorts like ‘Karigar’ for weavers and artisans, ‘Saheli’ for women entrepreneurs and ‘Launchpad’ for emerging direct-to-consumer brands –teams across Amazon have been focused on enabling these small businesses across India expand their reach to customers across the country and the world through ecommerce.

Amazon has been engaging with the vast network of local neighbourhood stores across India, integrating ecommerce into their operations through focused programs like Local Shops of Amazon (for online selling), Amazon Easy (for assisted shopping), I Have Space (for last mile deliveries) and more. These focused programs have been witnessing rapid adoption.

Local Shops on Amazon: Launched in April 2020, ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ brings the benefits of ecommerce to offline retailers and neighbourhood stores. It helps them supplement existing footfalls at their stores with a digital presence on Amazon.in and expand their reach beyond their normal catchment. For customers, this program brings together the safety and convenience of online shopping with the familiarity and trust of their favouritelocal stores.The program has witnessed accelerated adoption across the country, growing over 20 times since launch with the total number of sellers on the program doubling in just the last eight months. The program has already been expanded to 450 cities across India including top metros as well as tier 2 and tier 3 cities like Sangli, Osmanabad, Jamnagar, Gorakhpur, Jabalpur, Ratlam, Bikaner, Guwahati, Howrah, Tumkur, Jalpaiguri, Ernakulam, Kanchipuram, Patna, Rajkot, Agra and Dehradun. Amazon has pledged to onboard 10 lakh local stores on Amazon.in by 2025.

Amazon Easy:Launched in 2015, Amazon Easy enables assisted shopping experience for new to Amazon customers,especially in smaller towns and cities,while enabling additional income for these local stores. Customers can walk into the store and place an order on Amazon.in with guided assistance from the store staff and pick up the order from the store or get it delivered at their doorstep. The number of Amazon Easy stores ison track to the 1 lakh stores mark by end of 2021. An upgraded ‘Amazon Easy’ store format has recently been launched offering a touch & feel product experience and integrating multiple Amazon services through a single touchpoint. The upgraded format stores will soon be expanded to other parts of the country.

I Have Space: With the launch of the ‘I Have Space (IHS)’ program in 2015, Amazon has empowered and unlocked the entrepreneurial potential of many neighbourhood stores across the country. Under this program, Amazon helps local business owners to deliver products to their customers within a 2 to 4 kilometers radius of their store, allowing them to increase their sales and generate more footfalls in their stores. This is a network of close to 28,000 micro businesses and retail outlets in more than 420 cities across India.

Manish Tiwary, Vice President – Amazon India said “It is heartening to see the role Amazon is playing in enabling small local businesses across the country, including local offline retailers and neighbourhood stores from across India that are adopting ecommerce and placing their trust in Amazon to grow their business by selling online, participating in last mile deliveries, joining assisted shopping and more. The rapid growth of sellers joining Amazon.in reflects the tremendous entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian businesses and the key role ecommerce has played in their business especially during the recent challenges caused by the pandemic. As we look forward, we remain committed to our pledge of digitizing 10 million SMBs including the ubiquitous dukaans. We strongly believe that Amazon can play a significant role in fueling India’s digital economy to its $1 trillion ambition.”

Additional Notes on some seller-facing India innovations since 2014

Easy Ship: Launched in 2014, ‘Easy Ship’ enables sellers across the country to leverage the Amazon delivery network to ship their products directly to customers. The program makes it possible for lakhs of sellers from hundreds of cities and towns to make their products easily accessible to Amazon customers across the country.

Chai Cart: In 2015, Amazon had launched an awareness campaign called Chai Cart…wherein four-wheeler mobile carts navigated in key business districts across top cities, serving tea, water and lemon juice to SMBs in the area while educating interested sellers on benefit of ecommerce.

Seller App: Amazon launched the Seller App in 2015 to enable seamless registration, order notification, order detailing, shipment confirmation and order fulfilment notification through mobile devices. Over 50% of sellers on Amazon.in currently use the seller app to manage their business.

Tatkal: In 2016, Amazon Tatkal was launched as a one-stop-shop on the go to help SMBs get online in 60 minutes and sell on Amazon.in. As part of the program, specially designed studio-on-wheels called Tatkal Vans went around in key cities offering SMBs a suite of launch services including registration, imaging and cataloging services, as well as basic seller training mechanisms.

Seller Flex: There are thousands of Amazon Seller Flex sites across the country. It is an India-first innovation as part of which sellers can use their own premises to stock inventory and avail our logistics services to deliver orders to customers. It makes it convenient for sellers to have similar advantages as FBA services and serve customers faster and more efficiently.