Amazon is one of the best companies in the history, in sectors like e-commerce of nearly every possible retail product, video content, research, etc. And if the latest “MORE deal” is taken into account, Amazon might be wanting to replace your regular Grocery shop!
Amazon recently bought India’s fourth-largest grocery chain, MORE. MORE had 20 hypermarkets and 523 supermarkets, which by a deal of over 4,200 crores, now belongs to Amazon. With this deal, Amazon might now want to join the grocery market. This, as always expected, will bring dawn mainly small sellers, which are killed every day with the ever-growing number of malls, e-commerce websites, etc.
- What’s the challenge?
For every one of us, who has ever bought groceries, know the importance of local stores. They not only offer faster delivery, control freshness, and quality but also provide products on credit for regular customers. The real challenge comes to this. Though MORE had a large chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets, Amazon will likely push it to e-commerce market.
A similar service was launched in 2016 by Flipkart, called Flipkart Nearby. The customer demands were so poor that Flipkart shut it down quickly. Also, there are low margins on Grocery items. But, this 2016, also brought demonetization which opened up scope for digital cash, and now no one wants to be in an ATM queue to get cash, and that’s the reason we have seen tremendous growth in cashless transactions and commerce.
While Amazon is currently selling groceries, but the diversity and demand are not promising. The MORE deal will tackle two things. The first remains, quality and freshness of groceries, as MORE had a wide range of suppliers. The second is that MORE deal will allow Amazon to bring fresh vegetables and fruits right at your doorstep, booked on Amazon app or website and paid in digital cash!
- What about local sellers?
As expected, local sellers will now have to fight with a Giant, who are already hit by inflation, droughts, floods, etc. A giant who is going to step into their stalls and cycles to replace them!
- Why now?
All e-commerce brands, are focusing on opening offline stores, and while Amazon has a lot of stores in the USA, it lacks it in India. For brands, this is a long-term success plan. This MORE deal will be that key to start.
