Sellers get easier 1-click join-in process on the Seller Mobile app; customers can easily discover and purchase products from their trusted local stores through a new storefront-led shopping experience on the Amazon Mobile app
In 2020, Amazon.in launched the ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ programme to help small and medium local physical stores get digitalised and reach customers in their neighbourhood through its app. In 2024, the programme is helping tens of thousands of such stores across the country to use the power of digital to get more customer orders from their neighbourhood, and the customers a convenient option of shopping from their trusted nearby local stores from the comfort of their homes.
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Ahead of the 8th ‘Amazon Prime Day’ sale on July 20-21, Amazon has announced that it has introduced new features in its ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ programme aimed at improving seller onboarding and customer experience.
Abhishek Jain, Head, Local Shops on Amazon at Amazon India, shared with reporters during a press event in Chandigarh on Tuesday: “We are excited to see the rapid scale up of the Local Shops on Amazon programme across the country.
“The programme has onboarded over 3500 local offline stores from Punjab, helping them grow and sustain their business, across categories like Home & Kitchen products, Apparel, Home furnishing, Furniture, Health & Personal care, Toys, Industrial equipment. We are preparing our sellers for Prime Day and excited to introduce our 1-click launch feature for Local Shops sellers in Punjab and across India.
“This feature eliminates multiple steps in the way, making it incredibly convenient for them to join Local Shops programme. We combined this with the enhanced Seller Storefront making it easier for customers to discover the right product from a particular shop and share the store with their friends & family to bring more traffic to the seller.
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“These innovative features mark a significant step in our mission to digitise and empower small and medium-sized enterprises across India, providing them with the tools and opportunities to grow and scale their businesses through e-commerce and our online marketplace.”
The enhanced Seller Storefront is available to all sellers on Amazon.in and allows them to showcase their location (locality and city) and share their storefront, with the social shareability button, across platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram to drive more traffic. Customers can also share their favorite shops with friends and family, helping them discover unique local selections on Amazon.
The storefront dynamically curates selection for each customer, grouping products into categories like Recommended, Latest Arrivals, and Best Sellers based on each seller’s offerings. Sellers can also customize their shop name, locality/city, and add a business logo to reflect their offline identity on Amazon.in.
The storefront can also be accessed offline by displaying a QR code in the physical stores, which links directly to their online page when scanned. Offering an online channel ensures customers can continue purchasing from the seller even when the physical store is temporarily unavailable.
Sharing his personal experience with the Local Shops Programme, Ashish Sahni, owner of Dera Bassi-based LookRavish, says, “Joining the Local Shops programme three years ago was a game-changing decision for me and my brother Sumit. After 38 years of selling beauty, health, and personal care products offline, we took a bold step to move our family’s business online.
“Registration process was smooth, and the overall selling experience has been very fruitful. Amazon also provides training materials and tools to help sellers grow their businesses, especially during events like Prime Day. In fact, we sold over 500 products on Prime Day last year. Overall, our sales have grown by 300% annually, and this online business now constitutes a significant portion of our total revenue.”
About the ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ programme
The programme brings the benefits of ecommerce to offline retailers and neighbourhood stores. It helps supplement the existing footfalls at their offline stores with a digital presence on Amazon.in and expands their reach.
The programme helps customers discover products from neighbourhood stores in their city (many they already trust and love!) from the convenience of their homes, while helping local shops transform into digital stores.
With this programme, sellers can sell to customers beyond their immediate vicinity, using their existing delivery mechanisms or engaging with identified courier partners. They can also leverage other fulfilment programmes from Amazon like Easy Ship and Seller Flex to further expand their business within their cities and other locations across India.
For more information on seller onboarding visit: https://sell.amazon.in/sell-online/local-shops-on-amazon
For Local Shops on Amazon visit: https://www.amazon.in/Local-Shops/b?ie=UTF8&node=28253258031&discounts-widget=%2522%257B%255C%2522state%255C%2522%253A%257B%255C%2522refinementFilters%255C%2522%253A%257B%257D%257D%252C%255C%2522version%255C%2522%253A1%257D%2522
