All About Selling

Now Sellers can have their Local Shops on Amazon

15/05/2020

‘How great it will be if the sellers from local physical stores can have the advantages of online selling?’

As a marketplace, Amazon always looks for new opportunities and new ways to bring ease of business for the sellers. Amazon has always been keen on promoting and supporting small and medium businesses and sellers in the country.

Up until now, the offline and the online marketplaces exist as two different selling worlds. But what if the potentials of both the marketplaces are combined together? What if the benefits of online selling can be brought to the local stores?

The thought of bringing the e-commerce world to the local stores led Amazon India to launch a new program called ‘Local Shops on Amazon’. The program aims at enabling physical stores to grow their business locally by leveraging the rich infrastructure and services of Amazon.

Sounds interesting, right? Let’s learn more about it.

What is Local Shops on Amazon?

The idea is to digitize the local stores to increase their customer base and sales. Suppose a seller has a local mobile shop in one part of the city. Now, what if, apart from selling his products in his locality, he can also expand his market to other parts of the city with the help of online selling? This will increase product visibility to new customers and get more sales. That’s what the program is meant to do – providing digital presence to the local shops to get new customers.

The program allows physical shops to join Amazon. This opens up access to all the benefits of selling on Amazon to the physical stores. The objective is to serve customers faster from their local areas. Including these physical stores into the Amazon marketplace will help in serving the customers more locally.

What do you need to join Local Shops?

Getting to Local Shops on Amazon is simple. You just need to check a few essential criteria to apply for it.

● You should have a physical store or retail store or Kirana shop in any part of the country.
● You should be able to deliver orders the same day or the next day to customers in your area through your own delivery associates or a courier partner.
● If your product involves installation, it will be helpful to provide a demo, installation, or such additional services during delivery. This is not mandatory for the program.

How to join this program?

Applying to the program is quite simple. Here’s the process:

1. Create your seller account on Amazon
2. Upload your products with details and price
3. Select those areas where you can deliver orders the same day, next day or maximum within two days

Congratulations! Your account is created. Now you can start selling online in your nearby localities and areas.

4. Prepare to deliver items as you receive orders
5. From this point on, Amazon gets you more visibility and handles all customer queries

How will sellers benefit?

Having a local store with online delivery facilities offers benefits of both online and offline selling. Thousands of shopkeepers from different cities are benefitting from digitizing their local stores. Let’s look at the benefits you get from joining Local Shops on Amazon.

1. More visibility

Joining the program lets you sell your products online locally, offering a wider customer reach than earlier. Amazon provides you a ‘Prime badge’ for your account through which the local customers can find your products faster on Amazon. This gives your store a lead over others to sell in your areas. Earlier where you could only serve your locality, now with Amazon selling, you can serve your entire town or city. More outreach means more chances of sales.

2. Boost in Sales

As your store visibility increases, the number of customers and inquiries increase. Everybody favors quick delivery. Offering same-day delivery is a great way of attracting more customers to your store. The wider reach lets your existing and new local customers discover your products online, making it convenient for them to shop from your store rather than going to other sellers. This increases the chances of more sales.

Making an Amazon account also allows you to observe how your store is performing. You can check the number of products sold, shipping and delivery time, returned goods, customer reviews, etc. These factors help in improving your business and bring more sales.

3. Flexibility

Selling online while remaining local offers multiple flexibilities. The shopkeepers can deliver on their own or through a third-party service. They can use the Amazon Delivery App to provide delivery updates to customers and track shipments. They can also provide additional value-added services like product demonstrations, easy customizations, etc., which really helps customers in trusting the product. All these services will ensure that the customers get exactly what they ordered.

The pilot of the program has been running successfully over the last six months. Here’s how one of our local sellers aptly put how the program helped in growing his business:

How does it help during and post COVID?

With the restriction of the movements of goods and people, Local Shops on Amazon can emerge as the most feasible solution for the time. While multiple e-commerces are providing essential items during the lockdown, it may take several days to deliver to the customers. People are facing difficulties in accessing essential goods. With Local Shops on Amazon, the local physical stores can step up and offer immediate online delivery of essentials. This not only provides the necessities on time but also helps sellers make money by offering instant delivery.

Going beyond the individual scope of offline and online stores, the ‘Local Shops on Amazon’ program brings the hybrid benefits of both the worlds. The shops can serve better and faster to local customers while benefitting from Amazon facilities and services. Amazon wishes to provide better-selling facilities to the local shops and strengthen the small and medium sellers through the program.

Register your local shop to Amazon today to get maximum benefits.

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