Amazon, celebrating ten years in India, will cut seller fees by 10% on all transactions on June 5, 2023, according to a recent announcement.
What Happened? Boasting 1.2 million sellers on its platform, the e-commerce behemoth maintains a comparable number to its main competitor, Flipkart, which hosts 1.1 million sellers.
Amazon has invested over $6.5 billion (₹53,637 crore) since launching its Indian operations on June 5, 2013. This funding has fueled expansion in sectors such as e-commerce and video streaming through Prime.
The company has also introduced features like vernacular language support, two-hour deliveries, and a $250 million (₹2,062 crore) fund, Amazon Smbhav, to invest in Indian direct-to-consumer companies. However, Amazon plans to phase out several initiatives, including Amazon Food and Amazon Academy, starting August 2023.
See also: Amazon’s AWS Sets $12.7B Course For India’s Booming Cloud Requirements
Despite this, Amazon reaffirms its commitment to India. The company plans to digitise 10 million small businesses, enable $20 billion (₹1,65,036 crore) in exports, and create 2 million jobs by 2025. This comes after Amazon has already digitised over 4 million small businesses, facilitated over $5 billion (₹41,286 crore) in cumulative exports, and created more than 1.1 million direct and indirect jobs.
Nevertheless, growth prospects for e-commerce in India seem challenging. Redseer, a consultancy firm, notes a slowing growth rate in e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) after years of robust growth. GMV growth year-over-year slowed to 22% in FY23, reaching $60 billion (₹4,95,121 crore), primarily due to price pressures, fewer online shoppers, and stagnant average spending per shopper.
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