How Amazon is going deeper into the hinterland with a gambit of unique offline-online blend

Amazon is in the news again with its project Udaan. An initiative that Amazon rolled out to expand its reach in Rural and semi rural areas by partnering with offline partners. Started in May 2015. We discussed the What, Why, How, Who and partners for the Project Udaan

The following was originally posted in ET

Started in May 2015, Amazon rolled out Project Udaan to expand its reach in rural and semi-urban areas by tying up with offline partners such as kirana, medical stores and mobile shopping outlets so that local entrepreneurs could assist the uninitiated in shopping online. What started with just two partners, including business correspondent Vakrangee, which also acts as a last-mile link to villages, and 15 stores across two locations in Maharashtra and Rajasthan has now penetrated deeper into the hinterland. (A business correspondent is authorised to collect small deposits and extend credit on behalf of banks.)

Wooing the Village
Udaan now boasts 18 partners, 6,000 stores, delivery in 1,700 pin codes across 650 locations in 21 states and union territories. The target for next month, before Diwali, is to scale up to 10,000 stores. The results are beginning to show: some 75% of new customers for Amazon come from tier-III cities and smaller towns and villages. That share can only grow once Amazon rolls out one-of-its-kind exclusive outlets with assisted ecommerce platform StoreKing in rural Karnataka. (Tier-II, -III and -IV comprise semi-urban centres, and tier-V and -VI rural centres.)