Amazon India launches 'Multi-Seller Flex'

Ecommerce major Amazon India has announced the launch of 'Multi-Seller Flex' (MSF) that will help reduce operational costs for sellers in Tier II cities and beyond.

Multi-Seller Flex sites are fulfilment centres (warehouses) operated by authorised third-party service providers (local entrepreneurs). Amazon India partners with these local entrepreneurs to help sellers get access to storage space for their inventory and processing of customer orders.

With this launch, sellers can engage with local entrepreneurs to send their products to the nearest MSF site and make them available to customers across the country, a statement said.

Using the nearest MSF will enable sellers to save on transportation costs associated with sending products to the Amazon Fulfilment Centres (FCs) outside their city, it added.

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The move comes ahead of Amazon's flagship sale event, Prime Day, that will be held on July 26-27 in India. The company had recently announced the expansion of its fulfilment network in the country with the launch of 11 new warehouses and expansion of nine existing facilities to ramp up storage capacity ahead of the upcoming festive season and the Prime Day sale.

With a higher number of sellers joining ecommerce from Tier II and below cities, we are partnering with third-party service providers who can benefit from the revenues they earn for owning and operating MSF sites....The launch of MSF will also reduce the time to launch sellers' products on the marketplace significantly and will also help in eliminating significant operational costs," Srikant Sreeram, Director (Seller Flex) at Amazon India, said.

These benefits can help support and drive the digitisation of SMBs (small and midsize businesses) that seek to access and service a wide customer base through the online marketplace, he added.

"This launch will enable Amazon to offer customers a wider Prime selection and faster deliveries for Prime members, while enabling entrepreneurship and creation of thousands of indirect jobs in tier II and below geographies", he said.

The local entrepreneurs also benefit from this programme as they can generate additional revenue streams while playing an integral role in creating greater awareness and understanding of ecommerce.

Local entrepreneurs will also have the option to expand their business by joining other Amazon programmes like Amazon Easy to provide assisted shopping experience to customers or set up Amazon Digital Kendra a brick and mortar resource centre, the statement said.