Amazon Expands Global Selling Service With Almost 6000 Merchants Now

With the expansion of its global selling program, Amazon intends to dominate one of the largest Asian markets.

Amazon’s Indian marketplace is rapidly extending its global seller program, which permits its third-party businesses to deliver home furnishings, ethnic apparel along with other items to customers in nine overseas markets, including Germany, US, UK and Japan.

Now, over 6000 merchants in India use Amazon Global Selling as compared to only 200 merchants in May when the facility was introduced. Merchants then could only deliver to the customers of Amazon in UK and US. Out of the 6000 merchants, a significant number has signed up for the logistics service of the Seattle based company, known as Fulfillment by Amazon, said official of Amazon, Eric Broussard. He refused to reveal the exact figure though.

Under FBA, third-party merchants of Amazon ship goods to its warehouse even before customers place orders. Logging up for FBA is capable of transforming the business of a merchant, as goods are sold/delivered to consumers in 48 to 72 hours. Even according to the global selling program, Indian merchants who use FBA could get their goods delivered within 1 or 2 days to consumers abroad.

Since its introduction in June three years ago, Amazon India has become the largest threat to its Indian competitors Snapdeal and Flipkart. Up till now, Indian organizations have not ventured overseas, primarily due to the large size of the Indian market.

In 2020, online sales might cross $50bn (about 3.2 trillion INR) from $4.47bn in 2014, financial service ‘UBS’ suggested in April last year. Because India does not let FDI enter the online retail sector, Amazon is working as a market, connecting consumers with third party merchants on its platform. It currently has over 52,000 merchants while adding numerous sellers on a monthly basis.

The global selling program attracts sellers for the company in a manner different from that of its Indian rivals, Snapdeal and Flipkart, which is not sufficient for these marketplaces to become famous among buyers. They also need a large number of merchants who could consistently offer high quality goods that are packed well and ensure their shipping on time.

Amazon is currently offering the global selling service to merchants in its overseas markets. Such selling across the border contributes to around 20% of its total third party sales. For example, sales by Chinese merchants to the North American region increased by 1000% in the past three years, Amazon stated. It is reigning the industry as a dominant force in the market.