A day after the deal between Facebook and Reliance Jio revealed plans of a partnership for Jiomart and WhatsApp for an O2O commerce model, Amazon has launched a new service to bring local retailers and shops online.

Amazon said this is a first such initiative for the global giant anywhere in the world, and that it will commit Rs 10 crore to scale this program.

Called 'Local Shops on Amazon', the service already has enabled over 5,000 local shops online, the company said.

"In a first for Amazon anywhere in the world, we will use our technology, training and enablement capabilities to power local shops across India to sell online," the company said in a blog post on Thursday.

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"Over the last 6 months, we have been running a pilot with 5,000+ offline retailers and local shops to bring the benefits of online selling closer to them. Code-named ‘Local Shops on Amazon’, this program helps customers discover products from local shops in their city (many they already trust and love!) from the convenience of their homes while helping shopkeepers supplement their footfalls with a digital presence and expand beyond their normal catchment. We expect this to be a win-win, as customers benefit from access to greater selection, faster deliveries, and additional value-added services, and local shops can transform themselves into digital stores."

The announcement comes soon after Reliance announced that the investment by Facebook will also entail a partnership to bring kiranas on its commerce platform Jiomart to WhatsApp's messenger service.

First Published:Apr 23, 2020 7:13 PM IST