Amazon India piloting CoD payments with India Post; what can you expect?

In an attempt to further increase its presentation in the country, Amazon India is piloting cash on delivery (CoD) with India Post, according to an Economic Times report. Note that the company already uses India Post as one of its end-mile delivery partners. Collecting cash via India Post will further increase Amazon's reach as India Post covers around 25,000 pin codes, a lot of them lying in rural areas that other logistics companies might have a hard time reaching.

Citing internal sources from Amazon, the report stated that the pilot had already begun a short while ago. "We are trying to add capabilities like cash on delivery and reverse logistics. Consumers don't want to make an upfront payment. We are developing software to start the cash-on-delivery service with Amazon," ET quoted a senior official from India Post as saying.

Amazon has been leaving no stone unturned to grab a lion's share of the Indian e-commerce pie. The Indian site, Amazon.in (started in June this year), currently offers over nine million books and 1.9 million eBooks, and over 1.4 lakh products. These are offered in 15 categories, including books & e-books, movies & TV shows, the Kindle family of e-readers & tablets, mobile & tablets, computers & accessories, camera & photography, audio & video, beauty & health, toys & baby products, fashion jewellery, watches, and home & kitchen.

In addition to Amazon.in, the company runs a price comparison site called Junglee.com, which it had launched in February 2012.

Last week, we had reported that the company is planning to offer its in-house logistics services, for order fulfilment for retailers running other e-commerce sites as well. The company has also begun efforts to bring in a hybrid model for product retailing in India, by engaging with the Government to relax the FDI norms.