In a bid to bolster its presence in India,
Amazon
AMZN
has established its first micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)-focused digital center called ‘Digital Kendra’ in the country, which is located in Surat, Gujarat.
The Digital Kendras are brick-and-mortar resource centers, with the help of which the e-commerce giant strives to encourage MSMEs to adopt advanced technologies to go online by delivering knowledge, skills and support to them.
The company will also provide shipping and logistics support, GST and taxation support, digital marketing services, and cataloging assistance, to name a few, to MSMEs.
Amazon will help MSMEs to join as sellers on Amazon.in by offering them onboarding services via Digital Kendras.
MSMEs will be able to join programs like Amazon Global Selling, Amazon Pay, Amazon Karigar, Amazon Saheli ‘I Have Space’, and Amazon Easy, if interested.
The digital centers are expected to expand theseller base on the company’s e-commerce platform in India. These are also likely to aid MSMEs to overcome the negative impacts of the pandemic on their businesses by allowing them to expand their reach to customers bygoing online.
Further, via the online mode, customers will be able to shop items sold by MSMEs amid the pandemic.
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Amazon’s Focus on Small & Medium Sellers
The e-commerce giant’s strengthening focus on small and medium businesses in India is likely to continue aiding its presence in the country’s online retail market, which holds promise.
The latest move is a step toward Amazon’s last year’s commitment to building digital centers in cities and villages of India.
The company announced an investment of $1 billion in India at the Smbhav summit in New Delhi in 2020.
With the $1-billion investment, the e-commerce giant aims at building digital centers in 100 cities and villages of India. We believe that the proposed digital centers will 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.
Amazon continues to prosper in the e-commerce market of India on the back of growing export volume of the country’s small and medium sellers to global markets. Last year, the volume exceeded the $2-billionmark.
Amazon’s Efforts in India
Apart from the commitment of a $1-billion investment, the company has made notable efforts, whichwill benefit its e-commerce business in India.
The company is 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 trade of liquor.
The company’s launch of MiniTV, which is only available to audiences inIndia, remains noteworthy. MiniTV is a freely accessible and ad-supported streaming service on Amazon’s shopping app for Android users. With this, the Amazon shopping app has become a one-stop destination, wherein customers can shop thousands of products, make payments and enjoy the MiniTV video-streaming service.
Amazon recently acquired Perpule, which provides mobile payment devices to offline retailers in order to help them accept digital payments. On the back of thebuyout, Amazon will be able to gain strong momentum among India offline retailers by helping them boost their customer reach through digital payment acceptance.
Amazon is likely to gain a competitive advantage against
Facebook
FB
,
eBay
EBAY
and
Walmart
WMT
, which are also deeply focused on the India retail space.
Facebook acquired a 9.99% stake in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms last year, which remains its notable step in the sector. Further, its WhatsApp messaging service might beintegrated with JioMart within the next six months.
Amazon’s investment spree in India is likely to strengthen its position in the online retail market of the country.
Currently, the company 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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