As Holi draws near, sellers on Amazon’s Local Shops program are gearing up to offer customers an array of festive products. Last year, the platform saw over 2000 orders of gulal, pichkaris, and sweets from more than 30 sellers.
This year, close to 200 sellers have already joined the program, offering more than 3500 Holi-themed products across India. Customers from Delhi and other cities can have their last-minute festive shopping completed with same-day delivery from local stores to their doorstep.
Launched in 2020, Local Shops on Amazon today has more than 3.5 lakh offline retailers and neighbourhood stores from over 344 cities, including metros and tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Abhishek Jain, Head for Local Shops at Amazon India said that in about two years, it has onboarded over 39,000 local offline stores from Delhi alone.
“The impact created by the program in the state highlights how digital enablement can help lakhs of offline retailers, micro entrepreneurs, and other small businesses to get online and contribute to a digital economy. With Local Shops on Amazon, our focus is to bring more offline retailers online, accelerating their business by providing them access to a larger customer base, and providing them impetus to create strong brands,” he claimed.
Deepak Shukla is the second-generation owner of ‘All Season Impex,’ a store from Delhi’s Sadar Bazar. Established in 1967 by his father, the outlet sells pooja essentials and festive selections such as rakhis, diyas, and other décor. In 2019, they digitized their store with Amazon.in, bringing their festive selection online during major Indian festivals like Raksha Bandhan and Diwali, which Deepak claimed boosted their festive sales by 20-30%.
For Holi, he has already listed over 90 varieties of gulals and other herbal selections along with pichkaris for same-day deliveries across Delhi. Deepak also confirmed that he has already received over 30 local orders for Holi selection within seven days of listing his products.
Deepak is amongst the 39,000 offline retailers and neighbourhood stores from Delhi registered as sellers on the 'Local Shops on Amazon' program. It enables offline retailers and neighbourhood stores to digitize their business and helps them supplement the existing footfalls at their offline stores with a digital presence on Amazon.in to expands their reach.
With this program, sellers can also sell to customers beyond their immediate vicinity, using their existing delivery mechanisms or engaging with identified courier partners. They can also leverage other fulfilment programs from Amazon like Easy Ship and Seller Flex to further expand their business within their cities and other locations across India.
