In India, bulk of the businesses still flow through the traditional retail channels. So, by co-opting with kiranas, Amazon seems to be addressing two issues; bringing kiranas on the digital trend and passing the message that it is not harming but helping the small retailers. Amazon is said to be getting ready to rope in kirana stores as part of its retail strategy. It plans on signing up tens of thousands of neighbourhood stores to sell products through its ecommerce platform.
- Since a long time, Amazon has been working to enable small and medium businesses, including kirana stores, with pioneering programmes such as AmazonEasy, I Have Space, and Service Partner programme, among several others.
- As part of their new strategy, the e-commerce major has launched a programme to manage the entire business-to-business (B2B) inventory supply and management for neighbourhood kirana stores in three cities in Karnataka, before taking it pan-India,
- Amazon plans to enrol small mobile phone sellers on its platform and will eventually scale it up to others selling everything from food to general merchandise.
- Amazon has tied up with ShopX, a Bengaluru start up that digitally connects kiranas with large retailers and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies.
As ecommerce expands in India, online firms are tapping into the robust network of an estimated 12 million mom-and-pop outlets to be used as last-mile delivery agents or even to sell products through them as part of omni-channel strategies.
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