Amazon India Announces 'Multi-Seller Flex' Ahead of Prime Day Sale

Amazon India, the leading ecommerce brand, has launched the 'Multi-Seller Flex' (MSF) initiative for reducing operational costs for sellers in Tier-II cities and beyond, ahead of its ‘Prime Day’ sale.

Multi-Seller Flex sites or fulfillment centers (warehouses) are operated and maintained by authorized third-party service providers (local entrepreneurs). The initiative allows Amazon India partners to work with local entrepreneurs to help sellers access storage space for their inventory and processing of customer orders. Amazon also launched a new seller plan to combat the warehousing tax woes in case of dead stock. 

“With this launch, sellers can engage with local entrepreneurs to send their products to the nearest MSF site and make them available to customers across the country,” said the company statement.

The idea behind using the nearest MSF is to save on transportation costs associated with sending products to the Amazon Fulfilment Centres (FCs) outside the city, the statement added.

Reportedly, the initiative is launched ahead of its popular sale event, Prime Day, which is scheduled on July 26-27 in India. Also, the company has launched another program to expand its fulfillment network by opening 11 new warehouses and expanding nine existing facilities to minimize the storage capacity ahead of the upcoming festive season and the Prime Day sale.

Srikant Sreeram, Director (Seller Flex) at Amazon India, said, “With a higher number of sellers joining ecommerce from Tier II and below cities, we are partnering with third-party service providers who can benefit from the revenues they earn for owning and operating MSF sites...The launch of MSF will also reduce the time to launch sellers' products on the marketplace significantly and will also help in eliminating significant operational costs.”

These benefits can help support and drive the digitization of SMBs (small and midsize businesses) seeking to access and service a wide customer base through the online marketplace, expressed Sreeram.

He further added that "This launch will enable Amazon to offer customers a wider Prime selection and faster deliveries for Prime members, while enabling entrepreneurship and creation of thousands of indirect jobs in tier II and below geographies" 

Factually, the local entrepreneurs will generate additional revenue streams by joining the initiative while becoming an integral partner in awareness spreading and understanding of the eCommerce marketplace as a whole.

Besides, the local entrepreneurs will get a chance to expand their business by joining other Amazon programs like Amazon Easy (Assisted shopping experience to customers) and Amazon Digital Kendras (a brick and mortar resource center), the statement added.