Amazon, in Hunt for Lower Prices, Recruits Indian Merchants
But Amazon also sees India as a source of cheap and high-quality products
that can be sold on its American site, especially in crucial categories like apparel, to help it take market share from competitors like Walmart.
Mr. Murari often imitates designs sold by big American retailers,
but tried to undercut them on price, selling his versions for about $30 a set, slightly below Target’s prices and less than half of Bed Bath & Beyond’s prices for similar items.
Abhijit Kamra, who heads Amazon’s global selling program in India, said
that Americans already buy many products that are made in India, such as cotton towels.
For the holiday selling season that kicked off with Black Friday, the company spent months helping sellers prepare by stockpiling goods in the United States
and programming special “lightning deals” to generate shopper interest.
A merchant who chooses the full array of Amazon services, including buying advertising
and contracting with the company to store and deliver the products from Amazon’s American warehouses, typically hands over about one-third of the item’s sale price in fees and commissions.
Amazon, always on the lookout for ways to lower prices, has been aggressively recruiting
Indian vendors to sell their goods directly on the e-commerce giant’s American site.
For Indian merchants like Abhishek Middha, founder of The Boho Street, Amazon provides almost turnkey access to the American market.
