Amazon is all set to battle Reliance JioMart and Flipkart with its own online partnership with retail company Future Retail, which has brands like Big Bazaar under its helm. The US-based e-commerce player will use this tie up to strengthen its base in the grocery delivery segment in the country, something that JioMart from Reliance is also promising.
Amazon India will become the authorized online sales channel for Future Retail stores and FRL will ensure the participation of relevant stores on the Amazon India marketplace, and its programmes, the companies said in a statement.
The agreements focus on key categories like grocery and general merchandise and fashion and footwear. Future Retail currently attracts over 35 crore footfalls across its retail network like Big Bazaar and Foodhall, the statement pointed out.
In addition to this, Future Retail Ltd will be part of the Amazon Prime Now offering, which allows customers to get food, grocery and general merchandise delivered within two hours. This is currently available in metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
The deal also emphasises Future Retail will make use of its existing store-infrastructure to facilitate seamless packaging and pickup of products ordered online by consumers.
This way, Amazon can bulk up its inventory, without having to invest in setting up for warehousing the products, using the existing space available with Future Retail.
In addition to this, the company will soon list stores like Big Bazaar and Foodhall in more cities on the Amazon India marketplace. The arrangement is a win-win for both the brands, and will allow Amazon to compete with JioMart in a strong fashion.
Using Future Retail’s presence in more than 400 cities with over 1,500 stores that cover over 16 million square feet of retail space, Amazon’s reach in the Indian market is set to grow manifold.
(With IANS inputs)
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