 "Watch out Flipkart, Amazon's stepping up its game to become #1")
Amazon India is pulling out all the stops in its attempt to overtake Flipkart as the leader of India’s booming e-commerce industry.
The _Economic Times_reports that Amazon India is unveiling a number of new services to win over merchants and customers. According to industry watchers, the paper states, Amazon has registered about$200 million in sales, and could hit the magic $1 billion number by March 2016, if it continues at its current rate.
Here’s a breakdown of the new goodies Amazon is rolling out for the various parties involved in its online transactions -
Merchants:
- As of today, merchants can register with Amazon and begin listing their wares immediately; in comparison, on rival platforms like Flipkart it takes two to three weeks for merchants to begin selling.
- A new service, easy ship, will allow merchants to ask Amazon to pick up and ship a product. The_ET_ reportsays that Amazon will allow cash-on-delivery for such orders, a practice that was earlier reserved only to merchants who stocked with the e-tailer. The service will initially be available in 30 cities and so far has 400 sellers registered.
Customers:
- Amazon has decided to increase the product categories that come under the one-day delivery model, a move that will benefit both customers and merchants.
- As was earlier reported by Firstbiz , the e-tailer is also testing a pick up service, in partnership with BPCL, that allows customers to pick up their orders from In & Out stores located in the oil company’s petrol pumps. So far, this service is available in Mumbai and Delhi.
Research firm Forrester expects India’s online retail spending to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 50 percent over the next five years and reach $16 billion by 2018, an eight-fold increase from 2013.
There are some more steps the etailer is taking . For details, read the entire Economic Times article here .