SUMMARY
Ecommerce giant Amazon has invested INR 1,125 Cr in its India unit Amazon Seller Services as the country’s festive season nears
The fund infusion comes two months after the company had infused INR 2,310 Cr in Amazon Seller Services
As the festive season nears, other ecommerce players Flipkart and JioMart are also raising funds from their parent companies or otherwise
Ecommerce giant Amazon has infused INR 1,125 Cr into its Indian unit, as the country’s festive season and the biggest sales opportunity for etailers in India nears.
The fund infusion comes two months after the company had infused INR 2,310 Cr in Amazon Seller Services, its India marketplace. The development was reported exclusively by Inc42.
In January 2020, during his visit to India, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos had announced that his company would invest $1 Bn in India to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Amazon’s recent fund infusion in its India unit, reported first by ET, comes as some of the biggest ecommerce players in the country gear up to fight a price war and offer bumper discounts across product categories to get sales during the Indian festive season, which runs from mid-October to mid-November.
Earlier this week, it was reported that JioMart was planning to diversify its categories and offer more discounts across fashion and consumer electronics segments to rival Amazon and Flipkart.
The US-based retail giant Walmart has also beefed up its Indian subsidiary Flipkart with fresh funds worth $560 Mn.
In a year where the financial disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic severely affected businesses of ecommerce companies for at least two months of a hard lockdown, the festive season assumes more importance for driving up sales.
Last month, Amazon India witnessed a bumper Prime Day sale, with items worth $600 Mn being bought through the company’s portal. On the other hand, Flipkart was reported to have sold goods worth INR 2,600 Cr ($352 Mn) during its Big Savings Day sale last month.
Both ecommerce platforms were said to have witnessed a strong demand led by consumer electronics, smartphones and small and large appliances.
As of June, the Indian ecommerce sector had recovered 90% of its pre-lockdown volume according to SaaS ecommerce platform Unicommerce. While electronic products had mainly led the recovery, the fashion sector had also recovered 70% of its pre-lockdown amount of sales.
Forrester Research has noted that the Indian ecommerce segment is expected to grow by 6%, amounting to $35.5 Bn this year.
