Amazon are expanding their fulfilment capabilities in India, planning to add another seven warehouses (taking the number of FCs in the country to 41) and employing another 4,000 staff. Shipments from India FBA grew almost 85% in the first quarter of 2017.
“This will double our storage capacity this year as compared to last year. We continue to invest in strengthening our infrastructure to match our pace of business expansion in India”
– Akhil Saxena, Customer Fulfilment VP, Amazon India
Amazon India’s FCs give local Indian retailers the ability to store their goods in an Amazon warehouse making them available through the Amazon Prime program. Amazon are dedicating 7 warehouses just to handle large appliances and furniture category.
As the second most populous country (after China), India is not only the fastest developing ecommerce market in the Asia-Pacific region, but it is also one of the fastest growing online markets worldwide. Amazon’s main rival in India is Flipkart, who also own Myntra (eBay are out of the picture having partnered with Flipkart).
Amazon India is run by ‘Amazon Seller Services Private Ltd’, an affiliate of Amazon.com. It’s a strange set up in Amazon terms to meet with India’s restrictions on foreign ownership of companies. It’s similarly tricky for Western retailers to sell in India, you’ll probably need to partner with an Indian company. However, even with the complexities of selling into India, the size of the market is so large and for those retailers that get it right the rewards outweigh the upfront costs.
