Amazon is looking to increase its user base among smaller sellers who may not be able to sell as a business; this programme will help get them on board, a source close to the matter said.
When contacted, an Amazon India spokesperson confirmed the development and termed it as a bold bet in organizing peer-to-peer selling and buying in India.
Amazon will be directly competing with the likes of Quikr and Olx , besides Ebay, which has not been able to corner the India market unlike the US. Auction site and shopping portal Ebay pioneered the concept of consumer-to-consumer buying and selling back in 1995.
Amazon’s providing pick-up and packing services for the used goods at the consumer’s doorsteps as well as delivering the product to the buyer. The online retailer will only charge a commission once the transaction is complete between the two parties. Presently, users can list their ads for free. Amazon, however, clearly says it does not hold any responsibility in case of any grievances between the individual seller and buyer over these used goods as it is acting only as a platform. “It was a natural extension for us to provide customers with an opportunity to buy and sell used and refurbished selection in a trusted and convenient way,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Quikr, too, has a similar end-to-end service called Quikr Doorstep which is available across 25 cities.
Amazon did not mention any timeline of taking the pilot to other cities but claimed the initial response so far has been encouraging so far.
Amazon India, which had used Junglee as the launchpad for its India foray, is battling Flipkart to get a bigger slice of the Indian e-commerce market. Over the last one year, it has been narrowing its gap with Flipkart and has invested over Rs 8,000 crore in its India unit indicating its long-term bullishness around the market. Amazon India said last year it grew more than 250% year-on-year, in terms of shipments, and by over 150% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2016.
Source: Economic Times