Guwahati: Amazon India, the largest e-commerce company in India with more than 17 crore products on offer, announced the extension of its footprint to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim here on Thursday.
With this expansion of its own delivery network, Amazon will now cater to its customers in all the eight states in the region through 20 service partner nodes. This is a two-fold increase in its service partner nodes set prior to Diwali last year.
The service partner programme is one of the "last-mile" models by Amazon Logistics wherein entrepreneurs act as Amazon.in's local distribution network providers to reach customers in tier 3 and tier 4 locations.
The company has also set up a sorting centre at Gorchuk on the outskirts of Guwahati to ensure faster delivery of products.
India Customer Fulfilment vice-president at Amazon India, Akhil Saxena, said: "Amazon aims to transform the way India buys and sells goods. We provide a wide selection of products at good prices, ensure faster delivery and seek to build the trust of customers by providing the right products. We have invested in technology for efficient order processing and in infrastructure to enhance the delivery system. There are 62 'fulfilment centres' as part of the Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) scheme where we store our products, sort them out according to orders, label and despatch them. Under the 'I Have Space' programme, local store owners deliver Amazon parcels in a radius of 2km to 4km. There are now 17,500 such stores in over 225 cities."
"The Northeast is an important market for us. The region is rich in resources, culture and tradition. There has been great changes in the region. It is growing rapidly with smart phones in every hand and good Internet penetration. There are now 10,000 sellers in the region who sell through us. Earlier, their market was limited to the nearby towns and cities, but now they can sell their products to the whole of India. We have now extended our service to all the eight states of the region. Anyone with the desire to become an entrepreneur can join our service partner network. There are many success stories of individuals who evinced a desire to do something apart from their regular business and are now running successful delivery businesses."
Buyers in 100-plus places with PIN codes in the region are serviced by Amazon Logistics while the rest are serviced by third party delivery firms.