Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Indian operations intend to increase its headcount by more than two folds in the logistics and delivery space in seven months as it goes forward with its bid of providing shipping services to sellers who are registered on the e-commerce portal.
Seattle-based Amazon initiated its India operations in Jun 2013. It currently has eight warehouses across seven states in the country. At present, it has 6000 people in the delivery and logistics team.
A person directly familiar with Amazon India's plans revealed that this team will touch 14000 by July, while another executive said that the company will at first increase its headcount by 3000 by March.
A spokeswoman for Amazon India authenticated the news of the hiring strategy but refused to share the details. She said "Encouraged by our growth and plans for the year ahead we have outlined an aggressive hiring plan across all aspects of our business."
This focuses on Amazon's broader strategy of intensifying its 'Easy Ship' service. Under this service when an order is placed, Amazon undertakes delivery of goods stocked at sellers' warehouses to consumers.
Out of the 16,000 registered sellers with Amazon India, 7300 utilize this service to connect with consumers in 284 cities. According to Amazon India, Easy Ship service at present takes care of 15% of its total deliveries. Sellers on an average reported 50% uptick in sales since Amazon unveiled the service in April.
Some experts are of the opinion that this strategy is actually helping Amazon improve its operational efficiencies as it does not have to stock all goods at its own warehouse.
Amazon will have the biggest delivery and logistics team among e-commerce players in India after the hiring.
Flipkart, its biggest competitor in the country, has a strong team of 12,000, handling about 85% of goods sold on the portal.
Top e-commerce players in India – Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal are all amplifying their shipping services as they have the potential to be the key differentiator in an extremely competitive market. All the three put forward same day delivery in some cities, which could be stretched to more in the coming months. It has been seen that more than half the people who shopped online in 2014 in India were from outside metros and large cities.
Amazon currently holds a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Better-ranked stocks in this industry include Stamps.com Inc. (STMP), Geeknet, Inc. (GKNT), and Mercadolibre, Inc. (MELI). While Stamps.com and Mercadolibre sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Geeknet carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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