New Delhi: Amazon Inc. on December 5th announced the launch of its global programme for start-up products, Launchpad, in India.
“Launchpad is a destination for start-ups to showcase unique products to millions of consumers world over,” Jason Feldman, Director of global innovations, Amazon, said at an event in the capital.
Mint first reported in October that Amazon India, which is aggressively expanding its fashion and consumer products categories, was preparing to unveil Launchpad in India.
As part of the Launchpad programme, Amazon globally lists consumer products from start-ups to customers through its online marketplace.
“These start-ups usually face a few challenges—uncertainty of demand, they have to invest a lot to start (selling), (face) difficulties in going global…” said Amazon’s India Chief Amit Agarwal.
“Launchpad is able to address these (challenges) and provide a red carpet programme to these start-ups to launch very fast by using our (Amazon’s) website, target marketing and global infrastructure to go global.“ he added.
Amazon provides the marketing, discovery and logistics support for these products, which it claims get access to a global consumer base of over 300 million.
Products of 25 Indian start-ups are currently listed on Launchpad, which includes Bengaluru-based smart devices maker Witworks Consumer Technologies Pvt. Ltd and Mumbai-based myDaily (CMYK Health Products Pvt Ltd) that sells healthy food supplements and Gurgaon-based MamaEarth (Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd) that sells organic baby products.
India is the seventh country where Launchpad has started. Other countries include the US, Germany, China, France and UK, among others.
Overall, Launchpad lists products from 600 start-ups across these seven markets.
As minimum criteria, these start-ups are required to have a ready, consumer facing physical product that can be ordered and shipped.
Amazon India has also partnered with government-led Start-Up India programme, Nasscom 10000, Indian Angel Network, among various other accelerators and venture capital firms. Start-ups associated with any of these organizations will automatically qualify for Launchpad program, said Agarwal.
Amazon, which has completed three years in India, has introduced a few of its global programmes in the country, this year. Earlier in July, Amazon brought Prime membership to India, which offers one-day and two-day delivery, followed by the launch of a product recommending feature, Amazon’s Choice programme. Later in October, Amazon launched Global Store for Indian shoppers, offering products from its US online store that isn’t available in India.
Amazon has already pumped in $2 billion of investments into India and earlier this year, pledged to invest a further $3 billion as part of its attempt to outgun local rivals such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, Mint reported in October.
Source: livemint
