Amazon India to open 5 centres for faster delivery
The US-based firm already has two fulfilment centres (FCs) in Mumbai and Bangalore
New Delhi: Global e-commerce giant Amazon will open 5 new centres across India to ensure faster product delivery in the fiercely competitive online shopping space, which is dominated by homegrown players like Flipkart and Snapdeal.
The US-based firm already has two fulfilment centres (FCs) in Mumbai and Bangalore. With the addition of the five centres, Amazon's total storage capacity will almost double to over half a million sq feet. "As part of its ongoing commitment to continually enhance services to customers and sellers, Amazon Seller Services India today announced its plans to open five more FCs in Delhi, Chennai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Tauru (outskirts of Gurgaon)," it said in a statement.
The centres will meet the needs of retailers and small and medium-sized businesses in Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan, while customers will benefit from faster shipping times and greater availability, it added. "The fulfilment centre in Chennai is already operational and the remaining four FCs will be operational next month," Amazon said. Players in the e-Commerce market have been aggressively investing in infrastructure and logistics to improve delivery time and quality of service to woo more customers. Both Flipkart and Snapdeal, in the last few weeks, have opened such centres to ensure delivery within 24 hours as they compete with other e-commerce firms to sell products like apparels, electronics and other lifestyle products. Flipkart has four FCs - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore - and the firm plans to open more such centres as it aims to expand its seller base to 12,000 covering 30 cities to cater to about 18 million registered users.
On the other hand, Snapdeal has 40 FCs across 15 cities, which the firm will further increase covering 30 cities, to help its 30,000 seller base reach out swiftly to about to over 25 million members. e-Commerce firms have benefitted greatly from increasing Internet penetration. As broadband consumption in the country grows, these firms have found customers in even remotest corners of the country and analysts are of the view that such centres will help in delivering the same quality of service in these parts. According to consulting firm Technopak, the USD 2.3 billion (2014) e-tailing market in India is projected to reach 3 per cent of the Indian retail space to touch USD 32 billion, by 2020.