Amul to debut on Amazon overseas on Black Friday
Online marketplace Amazon India on Thursday said products from leading dairy brand Amul will be available in nine countries, starting with the US on 25 November.
In May 2015, Amazon India launched its Global Selling program, under which Indian vendors can sell their products in nine countries including the US, the UK, Japan, Canada and France with a total consumer base of 300 million.
Amul products will debut on the Global Selling platform on Black Friday in the US, which falls on 25 November.
“We are happy to announce an online exclusive partnership with Amul, the iconic and most loved dairy brand in India, giving Amul the access to new age digital shoppers. We are taking the brand to the doorstep (of consumers) across the country (US)” Gopal Pillai, director and general manager, seller services, Amazon India said in an interview.
“Amul is (also) a part of Amazon Prime program, (for which) Amul is sending products to the fulfillment centers so that consumers can get products in a day or two. We are helping Amul with logistics, (product) returns, so they (Amul) don’t have to worry about anything,” he added.
The program currently lists 25 million products listed from 18,000 sellers in India, which includes retail brands such as Biba, Fabindia, Himalaya, Organic India, Liberty Shoes, among others. These sellers pay commission equivalent to a local seller of a given country. For instance, the commission in the US ranges from 4% to 12% depending on the product, explained Pillai.
Pillai declined to share the number of orders Indian sellers receive under this program. However, he said that last year in the US, Amazon had created a Diwali-focused store to sell products from India, which saw a 400% growth in orders this Diwali.
Mint reported in January, that for US-based Amazon, such cross-border selling accounts for about a fifth of its overall third-party sales. For instance, sales of China-based merchants to North America increased 1,000% from 2012 to 2015, Amazon had said.
Since India doesn’t allow foreign direct investment in online retail, Amazon works as a marketplace, connecting customers with third-party sellers on its platform.
In the next one year, Amazon India aims to sign up as many sellers possible. “We want to make selling in India synonymous to selling to Amazon. Last year, pre-Diwali, we had 35,000 sellers (selling on Amazon India) and now, we have more than 140,000 this year. So, I can’t put a target to how many sellers we’ll have next year.” said Pillai.
In October, Amazon.com Inc. launched a Global Store for Indian shoppers, offering fashion brands, books and other products from its US online store that aren’t available in India
Source: DAIRY NEWS OF INDIA