Amazon expands Project Udaan coverage
Amazon India has expanded the reach of its Project Udaan service, which allows customers to order online goods through computers installed in local stores. The online giant has ramped up Project Udaan by extending its partnership with ConnectIndia.
In a recent statement posted on its website, Amazon India said: “The partnership will see ConnectIndia Centers (CICs) – which earlier functioned as rural distribution centres for Amazon – also act as assisted shopping points for customers. The service has been initially launched at CICs in Punjab and will soon be extended to locations across the country.”
Amazon added: “Under Project Udaan, Amazon.in appoints offline associates across retail points like kirana stores, medical stores and mobile shopping outlets and provides them a PC-based website.
“The store owners are trained to help customers find and buy products of their choice, while earning a commission in the process. Amazon.in then delivers the products to the customer’s doorsteps or to the CICs and they pay in cash while receiving the packages.”
Amazon India started Project Udaan as a pilot in mid-2015 and has since expanded across 11 states with partners like Vakrangee, Smart Buy, Rajasthan Government’s eMitra program and now ConnectIndia.
Kishore Thota, Head, Consumer Marketing, Amazon India, commented: “The ConnectIndia partnership for Project Udaan allows us to expand the reach of Amazon.in into newer regions across India. Going forward, coupled with the logistics strength of ConnectIndia, we expect to go further into the hinterland and address the challenges of lack of access to ecommerce and weak logistics networks. Project Udaan is going to play a key role in our effort to make Amazon.in accessible within a few minutes to all our customers, and bring the joy online of shopping to everyone.”
LR Sridhar, Founder ConnectIndia, added: “We have been working with Amazon as a logistics service provider in lower tier regions, focusing on providing the same efficiency levels as urban markets. Assisted shopping is the next leap forward for e-commerce and we expect this to truly change the way consumers across India buy products.”
Local sources report that Amazon has also signed an Udaan-related partnership with StoreKing, which has installed tablets in 10,000 “kirana” local stores in four Indian states.
