• Announces significant reduction in the selling fees across multiple product categories to boost business growth for sellers
• Introduces new features for Local Shops on Amazon program, to improve the operations and experience of sellers on its marketplace
• Over 45,000 Local Shops from Maharashtra are selling their products on Amazon.in
To make the festive season of 2024, a big success for local sellers, neighborhood stores and kiranas in Maharashtra, Amazon has rolled out various initiatives and innovations. It has announced a significant reduction in selling fees – 3% to 12% across categories such as groceries, fashion and electronics, to help sellers increase their earnings and offer better prices to customers. This will give sellers an opportunity to optimize their operations for the Diwali shopping rush and continue to drive business growth after the festivities. Further, it has introduced a suite of new features to enhance the on boarding experience as well as enable sellers to operate across multiple locations via the Local Shops program. Customers will also now have access to an improved shopping experience with a storefront-led view on the Amazon Mobile app.
The upcoming festive season, is a big opportunity for the SMBs and local shops in Maharashtra to boost their online business through e-commerce, with a potential increase in consumer spending. This year, more than 1.8 lakh sellers, including 45,000+ Local Shops sellers from the state, will list and showcase their products on Amazon.in, reaching their customers across 100% serviceable pin codes of India. By leveraging the reduced selling fee, and the new features of the Local Shops program, sellers can take advantage of the increased demand, traffic, and special offers, to boost their sales and reach new customers.
The ‘1-Click Local Shops On boarding’ on the Amazon.in Seller Mobile app (for sellers), is one of the new features of the Local Shops program. Sellers can now enroll their account on the program through the Seller mobile app via a single-click thereby enabling quick delivery within their city. This functionality is also available to sellers who may have opted out of the program in the past and want to rejoin this program.
The 1-Click button is now available under Help > Local Shops on the app, making it easy to find. In addition to this, Amazon India is also simplifying the operations for sellers who operate with multiple offline stores. Sellers can simply operate a single account on Amazon and ship out their products from multiple offline locations. They can also list unique regional selection and decide how & where they will ship these orders from.
Amazon India has enhanced the Seller Storefront on the Amazon.in Mobile app (for customers). Available to all sellers on Amazon.in, the enhanced Storefront enables them to show their store location (locality and city) and share their storefront link, with the social shareability button, across platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram to drive more traffic.
Customers can also share their favorite shops with friends and family, helping them discover unique local selection on Amazon. The storefront dynamically curates selection for each customer, grouping products into categories like Recommended, Latest Arrivals, and Best Sellers based on each seller’s offerings. Sellers can also customize their shop name, locality/city, and add a business logo to reflect their offline identity on Amazon.in. The storefront can also be accessed offline by displaying a QR code in their physical store, which links directly to their online store front on Amazon.in when scanned. Offering an online channel ensures customers can continue purchasing from the seller at their convenience.
Abhishek Jain, Head, Local Shops on Amazon at Amazon India said, “Maharashtra is an important market driving Amazon’s growth in India. We are committed to empower the growing ecosystem of SMBs including local shops, neighbourhood stores and kiranas, in the state, by helping them leverage the benefits of e-commerce. Year on year, we have continued to roll out new initiatives and solutions that can help our sellers boost their festive sale, through better and bigger product listings and selections.
The reduced selling fees, along with the new features of 1-click on boarding, multi-location fulfillment capabilities and the revamped Seller Storefronts, will provide a strong impetus to the business momentum of our sellers, which will continue beyond the festive season as well.”
To support sellers, Amazon has introduced several new tools and features like Sale Event Planner, which assists sellers in managing and executing major sale events, and AI-powered innovations such as Imaging Services and Listing Assistants. The Self-Service Registration (SSR 2.0) simplifies on boarding with multi-language support and streamlined registration and invoicing processes. Additionally, the Sale Event Planner helps sellers craft compelling deals and provides valuable insights for effective inventory planning. The New Seller Success Center offers detailed guidance on setting up online shops and utilizing features like Ads, Prime, and deals. Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) will make it easier for sellers to reach more customers by using Amazon’s delivery network.