Amazon crosses 1 mn sellers mark in India; 450,000 added since Jan 2020

Amazon India on Wednesday said it now has over 10 lakh sellers on its platform with more than 4.5 lakh new merchants joining the platform in the past two years.

More than 90 per cent of the sellers on Amazon.in are local small and medium businesses (SMBs) and over half of these sellers on the marketplace come from tier-II and -III cities, according to a statement.

Since January 2020, over 4.5 lakh new sellers have joined Amazon.in.

Of these, over one lakh are local offline retailers and neighbourhood stores that have been onboarded on the Amazon marketplace through the Local Shops on Amazon programme, it added.

"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 e-commerce and placing their trust in Amazon to grow their business by selling online, participating in last-mile deliveries, joining assisted shopping and more," Amazon India Vice-President Manish Tiwary said.

He added that the rapid growth of sellers joining Amazon.in reflects the tremendous entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian businesses and the key role e-commerce 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 digitising 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 USD 1 trillion ambition," Tiwary said.

Since its entry into the Indian market in 2013, Amazon has been investing in creating the infrastructure and ecosystem to support SMBs to adopt e-commerce.

This includes initiatives like taking Chai Cart and Tatkal vans to markets and SMB hubs in cities across India for increasing awareness about e-commerce and launching several India-first innovations for Amazon like Seller Flex and Easy Ship.

The company also operates key seller cohorts like 'Karigar' for weavers and artisans, 'Saheli' for women entrepreneurs and 'Launchpad' for emerging direct-to-consumer brands.

Amazon has been engaging with the vast network of local neighbourhood stores across India, integrating e-commerce into their operations through focused programmes like Local Shops of Amazon (for online selling), Amazon Easy (for assisted shopping), I Have Space (for last-mile deliveries) and others.