Amazon opening its second fulfillment centre in India in Bangalore next month

Two years after launching its first fulfillment centre in Mumbai, world's largest e-commerce firm Amazon Inc, which runs an e-commerce marketplace in India through Amazon.in, is set to open another centre in Bangalore, which will enable online retailers to stock their inventory. The new centre is spread across 150,000 sq ft, and will start operations next month for both inbound and outbound services.

The company said that Bangalore centre will enable e-retailers to stock and store millions of products of all sizes across several categories. It claims that customers can expect immediate shipment and will be eligible for its recently-launched next-day guaranteed service.

"The launch of the new fulfillment centre in Bangalore is part of our continued investment in providing fast and reliable delivery across vast selection of products, and enabling sellers of all sizes to achieve nationwide scale," said Amit Agarwal, vice president and country manager, Amazon India.

Amazon Fulfillment Centers are warehouses where online retailers who use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) services, stock their inventory of their products. When using FBA, sellers across India send their products to Amazon's fulfillment centres and once an order is placed, Amazon packs and ships the order to the customer without the sellers having to do anything.

Orders fulfilled by Amazon are not only eligible for cash on delivery, free delivery promotions and guaranteed next-day delivery but also benefit from Amazon's customer service and returns management, enabling sellers to focus on their core business.

Sellers save money by replacing their upfront capital expense with low variable cost and pay only for the storage space they use and the orders Amazon fulfills.

"Sellers have greatly appreciated our Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, a pay-as-you-go fulfillment service and a key feature of our e-commerce platform. With the new FC in Bangalore we will enable many more SMEs in India, particularly in South India to take advantage of this service and help them expand their online business. We will continue to do the heavy lifting on behalf of sellers so that they can focus on providing our customers with vast selection at low prices," added Amit Deshpande, director and general manager seller services, Amazon India.

Amazon's first and current Fulfillment Centre is located in Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai, and is also spread across 150,000 square-feet area.

The company launched its premium shipping services in the country last month whereby customers would get guaranteed delivery of their items for a fee. However, the guaranteed delivery options are available only for items fulfilled by Amazon. A month before this development, we had reported the company is planning to offer its in-house logistics services, for order fulfillment for retailers running other ecommerce sites.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)