Amazon India has partnered with logistics service provider ConnectIndia to expand Project Udaan.
The partnership will see ConnectIndia Centers (CICs) -which earlier functioned as rural distribution centers 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.
Under Project Udaan, Amazon has appointed 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 then delivers the products to the customer’s doorsteps or to the CICs.
Along with increasing the reach of Amazon, Project Udaan is also enabling skill development and creation of employment in these areas.
Kishore Thota, Head, Consumer Marketing, Amazon India said, “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 shopping to everyone. We believe that the initiative has the potential to be a game-changer for Amazon in India and transformational for all neighborhoods and communities.”
Amazon kicked off the assisted shopping project, internally code named Project Udaan as a pilot mid last year and has since expanded across 11 states.
