11,000 offline stores in Maharashtra are now part of Amazon's 'Local Shops'

With the upcoming festive season, the e-commerce firm said it is focused on helping 'Local Shops' grow their business and recover from the economic disruption caused by the pandemic

Over 11,000 offline retailers and neighbourhood stores from Maharashtra are now part of ‘Local Shops on Amazon’.With the upcoming festive season, e-commerce firm Amazon said it is focused on helping Local Shops sellers grow their business and recover from the recent economic disruption caused by the pandemic.

“We are excited to see the rapid scale-up of the Local Shops on Amazon program across the country including Maharashtra,” said Vivek Somareddy, director of fulfilment channels at Amazon India. “In less than 18 months of launch, the program has over 11,000 local offline stores from the state who have registered as sellers and are benefiting from selling on Amazon.in.”

This brings to light how digital enablement can help lakhs of offline retailers, micro-entrepreneurs and other small businesses across the state get online and contribute to a digital economy.

“With the upcoming festive season, we remain committed to bring more and more local offline retailers on the program and help accelerate their business,” said Somareddy.

Launched in April 2020, the Local Shops on Amazon program played a key role in helping sellers across the country sustain and grow their business amidst the unprecedented pandemic. The programme is witnessing remarkable momentum in the state and is seeing adoption from local shop owners across categories - fresh flowers, home and kitchen products, furniture, electronics, books and toys.

Among them is Parvin Shaikh, owner of Gorgeous Princess Beauty Centre, who started selling cosmetic products from a small shop in Chinchwad, Pune in 2016. Amidst the challenging times last year, she brought her business online with Local Shops on Amazon to reach a wider customer base and an opportunity to boost sales. Since then, she has witnessed a three times increase in sales and today, she is able to cater to a much wider customer base, beyond her local neighbourhood. These include localities like Kothrud, Baner Gaon and even areas in the outskirts of Pune like Manjri and Undri., “The consistent growth we witnessed through the program helped us expand our customer base and product offerings,” said Shaikh. “We have now registered our brand ‘PinkMee’ with Amazon.in for selling Mother and Baby Care products.”

Launched in 2020, Local Shops on Amazon today has more than 75,000 offline retailers and neighbourhood stores from over 450 cities, including metros and tier 2 and tier 3 cities. This includes 11,000 stores from Maharashtra that are spread across cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli. The program brings the benefits of e-commerce to offline retailers and neighbourhood stores. It helps supplement the existing footfalls at their offline stores with a digital presence on Amazon.in and expands their reach. Amazon had announced its commitment to onboard one million local offline retailers from across India as part of the Local Shops on Amazon program by 2025.