Festive Season Sale: Amazon Sets Up Kiosks Outlets in Offices, Campuses For Delivery

In preparation of The Great Indian Festival, the festive sale of Amazon, the company is planning to set up physical kiosks stores in large offices and educational institutions to act as a pickup spot for delivered products.

Amazon came up with the idea of these pickup stores to meet the rising volume of orders, especially during the festive season. The season is the peak time for sales for many companies, especially the fast-moving ecommerce and retail businesses. At this time, sales go up by 60% compared to annual sales.

These new outlets will serve the customers who cannot receive their orders while on work or in colleges. The new Amazon-managed pickup spots will be set up in educational institutes like IIM-Ahmedabad, Lovely Professional University and offices like Manyata Tech Park in Bengaluru.

Amazon Strengthens Its Services

In addition, Amazon has also ramped up its logistics and delivery network by doubling the delivery partner network to more than 1400 delivery stations in 750 cities. Last year, the company had 700 delivery centres in 500 cities.

Moreover, the company also increased its delivery presence in many states like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Jharkhand.

The company has also launched an Amazon Flex programme to offer part-time jobs for students, homemakers and retired professionals. The individuals with two-wheelers can sign up for the programme, create their own schedule and deliver packages. This step is another way to ensure faster deliveries during peak season. The company has also extended its grocery services to more than 125 cities.

Flipkart To Give Competition

When it comes to Indian ecommerce, Homegrown ecommerce Flipkart is Amazon’s biggest competitor.

Flipkart announced, on September 9, that it has on-boarded about 27K Kirana stores to strengthen its last-mile delivery. These stores are spread across 700 cities to make the user experience more comfortable during Walmart-owned Flipkart’s festive season sale, The Big Billion Days. The ecommerce company, with the Kirana stores, is planning to target 150 Mn customers and create a stronghold on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

The company also announced expanding its services to 800 cities and towns under its initiative The Reach Project. The company claimed to have recorded a 40% growth in serviceable areas by incorporating new PIN code areas. The company has increased its services by 50%, especially in Tier 3 and beyond.