Amazon India to set up 3 more fulfillment centres by year-end

E-commerce giant Amazon will set up three more fulfillment centres in India taking the total number to 27 by the end of this year, a senior executive of the company said here today. Noor Patel, Director Category Management, Amazon India told reporters in a press conference,

Right now, we have 24 fulfillment centres. By the end of this year, we should be closing with around 27 fulfillment centres. That would give a storage capacity of around 7.5 million cubic feet. That is one of the largest investments we committed to India.

However, Patel declined to reveal the locations for the proposed centres. But the three fulfillment centres are a part of earlier announcement by Amazon India aimed at opening 6 centres in Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai.

A senior official of Amazon said currently 24 centres are located across 10 states in India.

This is the only country where Amazon is having its own delivery infrastructure, he added. He also said the sale of 4G phones have significantly gone up during the past few months. He, however, did not directly attribute it to the launch of Reliance Jio.

Amazon has announced the Great Indian Sale from October 1 to 5 to take on Flipkart's Big Billion Days scheduled for Oct 2 to 6. Amazon spokesperson claimed that Diwali, in 2015, had witnessed sale four times more than that was in the previous year. Amazon also announced opening 24 ‘seller cafes’ in cities and towns to offer on-ground support to its 1.2 lakh sellers to help them getting ready for the festive season.

The consumer electronics selection in Amazon India today stands at over 24 million products offered by 29,000 sellers on the platform, he added.

India Mobile phones and speakers are the fastest growing sub-categories on Amazon India platform that witnessed over 170 per cent and nearly 240 per cent increase, respectively, during last one year.

Earlier this week, Amazon.in announced the launch of a platform in Hyderabad, where customers can shop for over 4,000 everyday essentials.

"Using Amazon Pantry, customers can now shop for over 4,000 everyday essentials such as groceries and household products on the website and mobile, fill a virtual box of items and have them conveniently delivered at their doorsteps the following day," a company statement said.

"Amazon Pantry makes it convenient for customers to stock-up for a basket of frequently purchased items while also increasing savings when compared to shopping at supermarkets," it added.