Amazon, Flipkart woo 'kiranas' for upcoming festive season sales

These kiranas and local stores will play a crucial role to sell and safely deliver shipments to millions of customers during these sales

Tucked away in a lane in Ghilaguri, a small village a few miles from the nearest city centre of Sivasagar district in Assam, is the kirana (neighbourhood) store of 28-year-old Moinuddin Ahmed. He earns Rs 10,000-15,000 per month from it. But now there is additional income, since he joined Flipkart’s kirana programme for delivery of products.

“The programme has improved my financials,” says Ahmed. “The store earnings did not leave enough in our hands after deducting monthly expenses.”

Across the country in Bengaluru suburbs, Raju Lakshmana, who operates Sri Sai Vinayaka Furniture shop, has joined Amazon’s “Local Shops” programme. He