Amazon brings back offers, fast deliveries
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bengaluru: 08.02.2019
After a week of operational disruptions, discounts and fast deliveries are making a comeback for users across Amazon India as top sellers like Cloudtail, Appario and Amazon Retail returned on the platform on Thursday.
Amazon has restructured its stake in holding companies of both Cloudtail and Appario Retail to be compliant with updated norms. Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy’s investment firm Catamaran has increased its stake in Prione Business Service, the holding company for Cloudtail, to 76% from 51%. Similarly, the Ashok Patni family office will also hike stake in Appario parent Frontizo Business Service to 76%.
The US-based retailer is quickly filling up products that were not available on the platform since the new FDI rules kicked in on February 1, with Cloudtail alone adding 3,00,000 products in 12 hours after returning, according to Marketpulse, which tracks seller data.
Amazon is not planning to change the board structure of either Prione or Frontizo, where several company executives, including India head Amit Agarwal, are directors, according to sources briefed on the matter. While Amazon India has 4 lakh sellers on the platform, Appario and Cloudtail together move at least 50% of daily volumes, according to estimates.
Flipkart, too, has held talks with large offline distributors to work closely with them to ensure adequate listing on its marketplace and faster deliveries. Both Amazon and the Flipkart group (including Myntra and Jabong) are clocking daily shipments of 6-7 lakhs each. Amazon is still awaiting clarity on whether retail chain Shoppers Stop — where it holds a 5% stake — can start selling again, according to sources briefed on the matter.
While sales were hit by the rules effective February 1, both Amazon and Flipkart are now expected to bring back normalcy to their daily operations in the coming days. Several other products like Amazon devices are now estimated to be delivered within a day or two from the estimate of 36-40 days hours after the policy was implemented.
The range of discounting has also gone up on products across categories. The large sellers are part of what is called the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) programme, which ensures adequate inventory and faster shipping, once an order is placed on the platform.
“It was expected that Amazon would take four to six weeks before it can get back to a regular scale of dayto-day business after the new FDI clarifications were effective from February. With Cloudtail and Appario back on Amazon, it would definitely help the company to cut the turnaround time by at least two weeks. However, a clearer picture would emerge in the next few days once things stabilise,” said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester.
The new policy puts a series of curbs on how both Amazon India and Flipkart operate — restricting discounts, no ownership in sellers on the marketplace platform and disallowing exclusive product launches — forcing them to restructure operations and take a hit on sales. As reported by TOI on Monday, a new set of sellers like Sigma Online and Meera-Enterprises have also come on Amazon to cover private labels, smartphones and grocery products.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bengaluru: 08.02.2019
After a week of operational disruptions, discounts and fast deliveries are making a comeback for users across Amazon India as top sellers like Cloudtail, Appario and Amazon Retail returned on the platform on Thursday.
Amazon has restructured its stake in holding companies of both Cloudtail and Appario Retail to be compliant with updated norms. Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy’s investment firm Catamaran has increased its stake in Prione Business Service, the holding company for Cloudtail, to 76% from 51%. Similarly, the Ashok Patni family office will also hike stake in Appario parent Frontizo Business Service to 76%.
The US-based retailer is quickly filling up products that were not available on the platform since the new FDI rules kicked in on February 1, with Cloudtail alone adding 3,00,000 products in 12 hours after returning, according to Marketpulse, which tracks seller data.
Amazon is not planning to change the board structure of either Prione or Frontizo, where several company executives, including India head Amit Agarwal, are directors, according to sources briefed on the matter. While Amazon India has 4 lakh sellers on the platform, Appario and Cloudtail together move at least 50% of daily volumes, according to estimates.
Flipkart, too, has held talks with large offline distributors to work closely with them to ensure adequate listing on its marketplace and faster deliveries. Both Amazon and the Flipkart group (including Myntra and Jabong) are clocking daily shipments of 6-7 lakhs each. Amazon is still awaiting clarity on whether retail chain Shoppers Stop — where it holds a 5% stake — can start selling again, according to sources briefed on the matter.
While sales were hit by the rules effective February 1, both Amazon and Flipkart are now expected to bring back normalcy to their daily operations in the coming days. Several other products like Amazon devices are now estimated to be delivered within a day or two from the estimate of 36-40 days hours after the policy was implemented.
The range of discounting has also gone up on products across categories. The large sellers are part of what is called the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) programme, which ensures adequate inventory and faster shipping, once an order is placed on the platform.
“It was expected that Amazon would take four to six weeks before it can get back to a regular scale of dayto-day business after the new FDI clarifications were effective from February. With Cloudtail and Appario back on Amazon, it would definitely help the company to cut the turnaround time by at least two weeks. However, a clearer picture would emerge in the next few days once things stabilise,” said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester.
The new policy puts a series of curbs on how both Amazon India and Flipkart operate — restricting discounts, no ownership in sellers on the marketplace platform and disallowing exclusive product launches — forcing them to restructure operations and take a hit on sales. As reported by TOI on Monday, a new set of sellers like Sigma Online and Meera-Enterprises have also come on Amazon to cover private labels, smartphones and grocery products.
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