E-commerce giant Amazon has strengthened its infrastructure for faster delivery before its marquee festive sale event. In order to convene the same, it has partnered with Indian Post and Indian Railways, said Abhinav Singh, Vice President, Customer Fulfilment, Supply Chain and Amazon Transportation Services, Amazon India.
Amazon India has partnered with India Post, Indian Railways, and Prime Air for faster and same-day deliveries.
“There are 50 cities in which products are delivered within hours as part of the sub-same-day program,” said Abhinav Singh, Vice President, Customer Fulfilment, Supply Chain and Amazon Transportation Services.
In order to serve one-day and two-day deliveries in 116 cities, Amazon loads are moving in more than 100 trains, he noted.
It has already started operations on the dedicated freight corridor on the 659 km-long Rewari-Palanpur (Haryana-Gujarat) route, being the first e-commerce company to leverage dedicated freight corridors.
The e-commerce giant has signed an agreement with India Post for an integrated cross-border logistics solution. The initiative aims to extend the scope of e-commerce exports from micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India.
To boost the Small and Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs), Amazon started delivery service partners (DSP), where it partners with over 300 SMBs to deliver packages to Amazon customers. Currently, it has close to 2,000 delivery stations both owned and operated by Amazon, as well as delivery service partners in more than 750 cities.
Over the last ten years, Singh recollects that Amazon has grown from one fulfilment centre to fulfilment centres in 15 states, with 43 million cubic feet of space. The seller base has grown from 100 sellers to 1.2 million sellers, and the transportation network covers every single postcode.
Festival sale
Singh expects the upcoming festival sale to be Amazon’s largest-ever festival. With a seller base of 1.4 million, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival Sale goes live on 8 October for its prime users.
“We see a lot of positive sentiment from a customer perspective,” he said.
According to the Nielsen study, nearly 81% of the respondents are looking to shop online and over 75% think of Amazon as having a wide selection, he stated.