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Amazon India has begun to see early success for its Seller University initiative, launched by the multinational e-tailer for India.
It aims at bringing on board more sellers through initiatives such as a YouTube channel, modules for web-based training and local experts. After the launch in October-December, it has got inquiries from “thousands of sellers from more than 700 Indian cities”, Amit Deshpande, director and general manager, seller services, Amazon, told the Business Standard.
The enquiries have come from Ladakh, Guwahati, Salem, Darbhanga, Bhilai, Karur, Panipat, Anand, Aurangabad, Udaipur, Goa, Aurangabad, Indore and Surat, among others, he said.
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The company had started operations in India in mid-2013 with 100 sellers. It now has a seller base of more than 20,000. If one includes the seller base of its affiliate site, Junglee.com, the number goes up to more than 100,000 vendors.
Under the initiative, Amazon India runs a slew of programmes enabling new vendors to come on board the e-tailer's platform by either getting trained by professionals or engaging with fellow vendors. A channel on YouTube teaches potential vendors about the marketplace model and how to sell through it. Teams at Amazon India also provide web-based training to vendors at remote locations, to help them understand the platform's functioning and the benefits it can provide to small businesses.
The company also has Amazon Trained E-commerce Specialists (ATES), who are freelancers and work in remote locations with vendors.
“We ran a pilot project across four cities and in the few months that this started, we trained more than 100 ATES. Of these, 40 are already active and have begun to offer services,” Deshpande said. “More than 350 assignments have been handled by them from more than 100 sellers.”
The company is also hosting seller forums on the web, where vendors can engage with each other for queries. In the first few weeks of the launch, Amazon saw a little more than 1,000 sellers joining the forum, which has 184 discussion threads and more than 400 messages.
