Amazon unveils DSP 2.0 to help aspiring entrepreneurs launch delivery biz

E-commerce giant Amazon is launching the next level of its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) programme in India. The programme helps aspiring entrepreneurs, even with little to no delivery experience, develop and launch their own delivery businesses.

These new small business owners are backed by Amazon’s more than 20 years of operational experience, technology, and a suite of exclusively negotiated services and assets required to deliver Amazon packages safely and successfully.

With this offering, new entrepreneurs can start their businesses with low start-up costs. They require low working capital that will help them operate their business seamlessly.

“The new offering will serve as an incubator and enable rapid growth opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs in the logistics sector,” said Akhil Saxena, vice president, Customer Fulfilment, APAC, MENA and LATAM, Amazon. “They will, in turn, be able to create additional job opportunities and a great working environment for their associates while building a strong foundation for their own entrepreneurial journey.”

Amazon India has already onboarded the first batch of more than 40 new DSPs through the programme and will open up more opportunities for entrepreneurs in the future. This new evolution of the DSP program has also been launched in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, Netherlands, and now India, enabling these small businesses to create thousands of job opportunities.

“We’re incredibly proud of the hundreds of small business owners growing and benefiting from the Delivery Service Partner programme,” said Saxena. “With the programme’s growth, we have innovated to enhance the experience for our DSPs and their associates.”

The biggest challenge in developing a delivery network is building great teams who understand their communities, and small business owners do that best. They hire and develop great associates, while the DSP programme supports them with consistent volume, logistics experience, technology, and custom resources that help their businesses thrive. Since Amazon launched its DSP programme, it has invested over $1 billion in technology globally, with new exclusive tools for DSPs. Because of this investment, 2,500 small logistics companies are thriving and have created more than tens of thousands of jobs for aelivery associates around the world.

Ever since the DSP programme was launched in India, Saxena said, it has not only helped Amazon provide growth avenues to SMBs, but also enabled it to reach India’s hinterlands. The programme has more than 300 entrepreneurs in India, managing 1,500 DSP stations across 750 cities and towns creating jobs for tens of thousands of locals. With the launch of this offering, Amazon India will further strengthen its last-mile network and reach.

“What it has helped us do is that it has helped us in taking customer orders and fulfilling them in some of the most remote and difficult parts of the country,” said Saxena. “These include Leh, northeast towns, and Kodagu in Karnataka. It is an opportunity for these entrepreneurs across the country to partner with Amazon, and grow themselves along with us.”

One such entrepreneur is Anshul Dubey, a partner from the DSP programme. He said that innovation and a conducive support system are essential for small businesses to recover and build resilience after what the country has been through in the last 16 months.“For someone who ventured into a completely new space, this offering has equipped me with all the necessary knowledge and tools to build a strong foundation for a sustainable business,” said Dubey. “The seamless onboarding process, hands-on training, Amazon’s technology and logistics expertise combined with the on-demand support have not only enabled me to save on capital but also raise the bar right at the beginning of my journey.”

Saxena said the extension of the programme, the DSP 2.0 programme, has given the company a chance to welcome and onboard a new set of entrepreneurs and help them build their own logistics companies. “When they build their own businesses and their own companies, what we do is add (a host of) value-added services,” said Saxena. “Amazon has a very large size and scale. We are able to negotiate and provide great rates and prices for assets and services which these entrepreneurs can avail like vehicle cost, insurance, and payroll,” he said.