Amazon’s Latest- “Register & Sell from same day” option to attract more retailers

Amazon may have made a quiet entry into the Indian ecommerce market, with a subsequent quiet and steady growth to the top in just ten months. However, the quiet and discreet approaches seem to have been left behind, with Amazon’s more aggressive and recent approaches to maintain its top position.

In its battle to maintain supremacy over home-grown marketplaces like Flipkart and Snapdeal in the Indian ecommerce market, Amazon India is targeting small merchants and trying to lure them from other marketplaces into its fold. The following changes will be applicable soon:

• From Wednesday, merchants will be able to sell their products on the same day as they register on Amazon’s portal. Whereas, other portals take around two weeks to complete the registration and approval process.

• Range of products available to customers in a day will be expanded soon.

With 4,000 sellers currently, a few thousand sellers have already registered for the new service.

With basics in place, Amazon has taken the plunge and made a direct shift from first to fourth gear in their expansion strategy. This is in addition to the high-voltage advertisement campaign launched a few days back with the IPL season, in order to secure the largest number of sellers and offer the widest range of products to customers.

Competitor Flipkart also has about 4,000 sellers on its platform. But Flipkart has an invite-only way to sign-up new sellers and this is time consuming. According to a seller at Flipkart, it takes him two weeks to be able to start selling a new category product that he wants to add. A first-time registration takes around three weeks for a live listing from the sign-up time.

Amazon is ahead of others

• Amazon has introduced a number of services to attract sellers and help them to sell more.

• Amazon leads in the books and watches categories and is soon setting the way to be the leader in jewellery and baby care as well.

• Using Easy ship, Amazon’s latest delivery service, sellers can have a product picked up and shipped by Amazon.

• Cash on delivery payment option will be available for these orders also, previously COD being available only for those products stocked with Amazon.

• In December 2013, Amazon launched same day delivery service, following which Flipkart was forced to introduce the same.

• With a difference of just a day, Flipkart and Amazon launched Apple iPhone and iPad applications.

• Currently, Amazon is pilot-testing pick-up services from In & Out stores at BPCL petrol stations in Delhi and Mumbai. Depending on the success rate of this project, this service will be extended to other cities as well.

• Instead of running behind customers from first itself, Amazon concentrated on building up its backend processes and making them seamless. Their impeccable logistics network, warehousing facilities and large selection of products are making their climb up the ladder to the top easier with customer base widening by the day.

• Amazon focuses most on selection of products, delivery experience, logistics, payments and website experience.

• Merchants get a cut of 6-7% on Amazon, as compared to 10-12% on Flipkart.

Flipkart is not far behind

Although Amazon seems to be chipping away at the fortress built by Flipkart, Flipkart is keeping up a strong fight.

• It claims to have millions of products across 21 categories and 40 sub-categories, compared to Amazon’s 1.5 crore products on its sites and two warehouses.

• Prices of books may be cheaper or at the same price in Flipkart and Amazon.

• It has cheaper mobiles and tablets in most models and brands as WS Retail, a seller on Flipkart and its subsidiary, gets most of its inventory directly from brands.

• It also has developed effective processes, technology and team.

Amazon or Flipkart?

While Amazon is ahead right now, Flipkart is not far behind and we can probably give a true verdict on this once Amazon also enters the apparel product segment. Flipkart is rumoured to be on the final stage of talks with fashion portal Myntra, the resultant merger making it a strong leader in the fashion segment.

Amazon launched other fashion products like shoes recently and is expected to launch apparel in May this year.

Opportunity for Indian Online Seller with Amazon’s growth

Register for the new service and start selling on Amazon on the same day without having to wait 2-3 weeks to start selling. Also, with the introduction of new product categories, you can expand your product offerings as well and rake in profits as margins from Amazon are significantly higher than others like Flipkart.