Companies

Amazon bets on brick and mortar in India

Sep 27, 2017 India

The US-based ecommerce giant has announced its first investment in the brick and mortar segment in the Asian country

According to Bloomberg, Amazon is buying a 5% stake in Indian retail company Shoppers Stop Ltd., in a deal that should be reaching something like 28 million US dollars. This new announcement follows a recent one regarding a similar deal between the giant ecommerce platform Amazon and Kohl’s (read more it about it here).

Shoppers Stop, a strong player in the lifestyle segment in Indian, is very focused on fashion brands. Its online presence is still very incipient, with less than 1% of its annual revenue coming from that segment.

With this deal with Shoppers Stop, similarly to the one with Kohl’s, Amazon gains the benefit of being presence in the physical retail, complementing its presence in the online. With an estimated presence in 80 Shoppers Stop stores, this will also bring Amazon's customers the ability to experience, seeing and trying the products on sale online.

With the investment received, Shoppers Stop will focus on a plan to grow sales and expand its retail network in India. The Indian retailer will increase its online exposure by having roughly 400 of its brands available on Amazon, which should lead to a boost in revenue.

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