Amazon launches Global Store in India

E-commerce giant Amazon has launched a ‘Global Store’ for Indian shoppers that would offer fashion brands, books and other products from its US online store that aren’t available in India. The store on Amazon India’s platform has 4 million products across 12 categories including apparels, shoes, watches, sports gear, home appliances and accessories, PCs and books.

Amazon India country manager Amit Agarwal says initially they were starting with the US, but would soon launch more categories, more products over the next few months. The Global Store will help Amazon boost its popularity with the few millions of rich Indian online shoppers who typically spend money on premium brands and other products when travelling abroad.

In another move, Amazon has devised a platform to allow customers to pay in the local currency via digital payment methods, such as credit cards, net debit cards and net banking. For now, the company won’t offer cash on delivery, the preferred mode of payment for a majority of Indian online shoppers for purchases made on the Global Store.

On Amazon India’s online marketplace, Global Store products will appear to consumers under a specially labelled badge, it was declared. Apart from India, US-based Amazon offers the Global Store program in two other countries viz Mexico and China.