Amazon India woos sellers with B2B app store

Ecommerce major Amazon has launched its Marketplace Appstore in India where sellers can find solutions to manage a range of functions relating to trading on the platform. 

Sellers on the Amazon platform can now access apps spread across 13 categories like accounting and tax remittance, inventory and order management, among others, said a statement issued by the company. 

The app store, accessible on the Amazon Seller Central platform, features nearly 100 applications made by Amazon and third party developers.

Sellers can search, filter and compare applications to find the solution for their needs, the statement said. These solutions can facilitate business operations like sales analytics tools and locating shipping providers.

Amazon will vet each solution provider before featuring them on the seller-focused app store, the statement added.

“The platform is designed to intuitively connect the right developer with the right seller to ensure that both parties can succeed. The applications featured on the Amazon Marketplace Appstore have been verified and are completely reliable, and we believe that this will help both sellers and developers scale their businesses,” said Gopal Pillai, vice president, seller services, Amazon India. 

Apps available on the Amazon Marketplace will allow sellers the opportunity to improve customer experience by improving B2B operations. Sellers have the option of authorising the apps on the Marketplace to access the seller’s data on their behalf to carry out operations such as data analytics.

Amazon’s India arm is operated by Amazon Seller Services, an affiliate of the Seattle-based online retail giant.

Last month, Amazon India announced that it would issue a 30-day notice before terminating agreements with third-party sellers on its platform. Previously, Amazon India could block third-party sellers without notice, after which the latter would have to appeal to regain access to the platform.

Earlier this month, Amazon’s India unit signed a deal with GMR Hyderabad Airport City to expand its logistics centre in the city. Expansion of the facility would entail faster delivery in the region and scaling opportunities to local sellers. 

To further bolster its operations, Amazon helped set up a new facility for its vernacular language support unit Frontizo in Haryana. Frontizo, a joint venture between Amazon India and the Patni group, will provide voice- and text-based consumer support in vernacular languages. Its first unit was established in Pune.