The shipping service ensures that the vendors do not require to stock products in Amazons warehouses and, conversely, Amazons delivery person will pick up the product from the sellers doorstep when a consumer order comes in, indiatimes.com reports.
India does not allow foreign investment in companies that sell online directly to consumers. Ecommerce companies, including Amazon and foreign-funded local rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal, operate as marketplaces where they lend their platforms for other vendors to sell products to consumers. A major challenge is delivery of the goods because the seller may be far away from the warehouses or fulfillment centres from where ecommerce companies traditionally process the shipments. The company launched Easy Ship in April 2014 and it already accounts for 60% of Amazons total shipments, reaching out to as much as 13,000 of the total 20,000 vendors on Amazons platform.
Via Easy Ship, the sellers do not have to first deliver the products to the fulfillment centres. For the consumer, this avoids delivery delays. Flipkart and Snapdeal also use similar models. Amazon is confident that the model could work with small retailers in other nations as well. A year into India after entering the country in 2013, Amazon realised that it would require more than its global Fulfillment by Amazon logistics mechanism and a better seller friendly delivery model to boost its growth in the country.
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