Amazon India now allows offline retailers to sell products online

Amazon India has announced a new initiative to help offline retailers in India. Called ‘Local Shops on Amazon’, the program allows offline stores to have a digital presence on Amazon. The aim of the program is to allow consumers to discover products stocked by local stores in their city. This program will allow shopkeepers to expand their stores digitally, and serve additional customers outside of their regular base. The news comes at a time when the country is currently under a coronavirus lockdown. Amazon’s initiative will help offline retailers maintain their customer base, even if footfall in their stores slows down due to social distancing protocols.

Amazon is partnering with offline retailers pan-India

‘Local Shops by Amazon’ will allow brick and mortar stores to sell their products online

While the news is certainly timely, Amazon has piloted the program over 6 months ago, working with 5,000 local stores across 100+ cities in India. The e-commerce giant has partnered with retailers in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Surat, Indore Lucknow, Saharanpur, Faridabad, Kota and Varanasi. The categories of the offline stores are also diverse, including kitchen, home, furnituer, apparel, automotive, beauty, electronics, sports, grocery, lawn and garden, books, toys, jewellery, appliances and more.

How ‘Local Shops by Amazon’ works

Amazon hasn’t imposed any limit on retailer size for this program, and it applies to stores pan-India and across categories. Shopkeepers will be able to select which areas they can offer same or next-day deliveries, allowing them to sort by pin-code. They will also be able to provide value-added services to customers, including product demos, installation, customizations, device data transfers and more.
Amazon is also giving retailers the option to expand service areas nationally, in which case they can work with Amazon directly for order fulfilment. A new app called ‘Amazon Delivery App’ has also been launched, which will provide delivery updates to both customers and Amazon, while tracking shipments on a daily basis.