Amazon India is set to expand its horizons which will benefit small-scale businesses. The online giant is all set to rope in in Kirana stores as part of its retail strategy. Amazon is convincing tens of thousands of neighborhood stores to sign up to the e-Commerce platform. It will then sell their products.
Amazon’s first step is to enroll small mobile phone sellers on its platform which they will scale it up, extended its branch from food to general merchandise. It has also tied up with a Bengaluru startup ShopX, that will digitally connect Kirana stores with such large retailers and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies.
An Amazon spokesperson said, “We have long worked to enable small and medium businesses, including Kirana stores, with pioneering programs such as AmazonEasy, I Have Space, Service Partner program, among several others. While we continue innovating for this ecosystem, we have nothing new to announce at the moment.”
Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of retail consultancy Third Eyesight said, “The bulk of the business still flows through the traditional retail channels. So, if you coopt with kiranas, you are addressing two issues. One is that you are bringing kiranas on the digital trend and secondly you are passing the message that we are not harming but helping the small retailers.”
Since Walmart acquired Flipkart, it has disrupted the retail market. Now, the Walmart-owned company is planning to use 15,000 small convenience stores, pharmacies, beauty salons, bakeries, and, among others, to sell smartphones, a product such shops normally don’t stock.
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