In a bid to expand its footprint in the retail sector of India,
Amazon
AMZN
has acquired Perpule, a Bangalore-based retail tech start-up.
Notably, Perpule provides mobile payment devices to offline retailers in order to help them in accepting digital payments. Its point-of-sale (POS) device, which is based on cloud, helps the retailers go online by making a presence on various apps.
Also, Perpule aids offline retailers in seamless inventory and checkout process management.
On the back of the latest buyout, Amazon will be able to gain strong momentum among India offline retailers by helping them boost their reach to customers through digital payment acceptance.
This, in turn, will aid it to rapidly penetrate the booming retail sector of India.
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Amazon’s Deepening Focus
The Perpule acquisition bodes well for the e-commerce giant’s deepening focus on India sellers, especially small and medium ones, as well as a strong focus on bolstering retail initiatives in India.
Apart from the buyout, Amazon announced an investment of $1 billion in India in 2020 at its Smbhav summit.
With a $1-billion investment, the e-commerce giant aims at building digital centers in 100 cities and villages in India. We believe that the proposed digital centers are likely to help more than10 million small and medium businesses to come online.
Further, the investment is focused on making exports of products made in India worth $10 billion by 2025.
We believe that Amazon is well-poised to capitalize on the immense growth prospects present in the retail space of India on the heels of its growing momentum across sellers.
Intensifying Competition
With Perpule, Amazon is likely to gain a competitive advantage against
Facebook
FB
,
eBay
EBAY
and
Walmart
WMT
, who are also deeply focused on India retail space.
Notably, Facebook acquired a 9.99% stake in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms last year, which remains its notable step in the particular sector. Further, its WhatsApp messaging service might get integrated with JioMart within the next six months.
Hence, retail competition is intensifying in India.
Nevertheless, Amazon’s growing retail initiatives in India are likely to keep it ahead of the above-mentioned companies in the battle.
Amazon is reportedly looking to venture into the multi-billion dollar alcohol delivery market in the country. The retail giant has already secured a clearance to carry out online retail of liquor trade.
Further, the company’s 49% stake in More, a food and grocery supermarket chain, remains noteworthy.
Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
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