Amazon India Launches New Categories For Sellers Under Local Finds Program

In order to expand its seller base, Amazon India has introduced a number of new categories to the sellers under its Local Finds program.

Launched in 2017 as a pilot in Bengaluru, Local Finds program is aimed at putting a diverse selection of local products and services under one roof. In past one year, the program has now been expanded to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai.

It initially started with categories showcasing products like silk thread bangles & jhumkas made at home by local designers, classics, self-help & academic books from individuals as well as used electronics offering great value for money.

Amazon India has now added a number of other categories, including mobile & computer accessories, fashion, home, kitchen, pets, beauty, health, appliances, sports, toys, garden, bags & luggage, media and industrial products. Here, the delivery and payments needs of both sellers and consumers are being catered by Amazon India only.

Talking about the expansion, Mahendra Nerurkar, Director – Amazon Pay, said, “Our Local Finds program is is in line with our objective of providing our sellers with the best opportunities to grow and our customers with the widest selection to choose from. We are humbled to see over 70,000 sellers list their products on Local Finds since January last year.”

 Despite Indian ecommerce being a market worth $33 Bn at present times, a large chunk of Indian population still feels it convenient to buy at the nearby offline store. With Local Finds, Amazon is attempting to bring those nearby stores online, thereby serving two purposes at the same time.

First, this will let Amazon India add more sellers to its platform. Second, Amazon India can easily cash upon the existing level of trust, the consumers have on these local stores.

The Local Finds program enables sellers of all sizes and scale to easily start selling on Amazon India platform with simplified documentation, the convenience of doorstep pickup and delivery and faster payment disbursements. To start selling in these new categories, sellers have to simply log in using the Amazon.in shopping app

With Local Finds program, Amazon India is also targeting a number of homepreneurs, students, women entrepreneurs, and people looking for part time jobs, giving them a chance to sell online.

According to a 2017 NASSCOM-Zinnov report, the online housewive resellers are going to touch 21-23 Mn by 2022. Further, the online resellers space, which counts Housewives, ex-SMEs, college students, unemployed males, etc., has been projected to grow to $48 Bn-$60 Bn by 2022.

These online resellers currently sell majorly on social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and more. Although, there exist ecommerce SaaS platforms like Shopify, Zepo, Martjack and more, the typical housewives in our country, cannot afford even the minimum fees requirements to start with their own. Plus, these resellers work with typically low volumes and putting up an entire website may not be a feasible option for them.

Amazon India’s Local Finds program can be an apt place for these sellers to start their crafts and goods online.

Apart from Amazon India, there are also other players which are specifically catering to the online selling needs of the local sellers and homepreneurs. Shopmatic, KartRocket, Kraftly, are a few to be named here.

Also, in October 2017, YouTube opened a pop-up space in Hyderabad to offer individual content creators a chance to create their own video content. The participants also got classes on video production and building an online business.

Although the concept behind Local Finds program is not new, Amazon India can definitely reap in benefits here by cashing on Indian consumers’ trust on nearby and local sellers. However, with the majority of Indian consumer still on a backfoot when it comes to pay online, certainly Amazon Pay have to wait a bit more to increase its transactions on the Local Finds store.

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