Amazon reported more than 150% jump in its seller’s base in 2016

Amazon, world’s largest online retailer, has reported 160% jump in its seller base during 2016 calendar year. The company has been making it easier for small merchants to onboard on its platform and start selling their products.

Gopal Pillai, Director and GM Seller Services, Amazon India said that “We currently have a selection of over 9.5-crore products across categories. We have also built an ecosystem of 1,900 freelance Amazon Trained Ecommerce Specialists in 30 cities and over 300 service providers who help sellers with imagery, cataloging, transportation and legal requirements. Amazon Tatkal scheme, which was launched in February, has covered 120 cities and helps a seller get on the marketplace under 60 minutes”.

With the year-end shopping season round the corner, Amazon is trying to ramp up its seller base and reducing its dependence on a single vendor Cloudtail. The government of India is also coming out with regulations on ecommerce marketplaces with a clause mandating no single vendor could account for more than 25% of the overall sales on the marketplace. Also, the ecommerce players are moving away from inventory based model to a capital light model of open marketplace. In order to achieve that goal, both Flipkart and Amazon will be courting the sellers to join their platform.