After Flipkart, Amazon Goes In Direct Competition With Olx And Quikr Amazon to sell used goods on its platform.
By Ritu Kochar
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With eCommerce firms looking to expand aggressively at a time of investment draught, Amazon is giving these firms a hard time coping up. Before, firms like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Jabong faced direct competition from the eCommerce giant, but other popular sites, like Olx and Quikr, famous for selling old goods were safe from this competition.
However, not anymore!
According to leading media daily, Amazon is looking to enter the market of used goods and will now allow consumers to sell their used things online.
The Seattle-based company is using its subsidiary firm, Junglee to launch a pilot which lets an individual sell second-hand goods across different categories like mobile phones, tablets, pre-owned watches, books, among other such items.
With this service, Amazon is looking to expand its user base among small sellers who are often unable to sell their businesses online. This new service will help them get on board. This service is currently available in Bengaluru and will soon be expanded to other cities looking at the consumer response.
Confirmed by Amazon's spokesperson, this service has so far been receiving good response. This makes them a direct competition for online portals like Quikr and Olx, besides Ebay, which has not been able to corner the Indian market, unlike the US. Like Quikr, Amazon will be providing pick-up and packing services for the used goods at the consumer's doorsteps as well as delivering the product to the buyer. The online retailer will only charge a commission once the transaction is complete between the two parties.
Recently, despite losing Tiger Global as a major investor, Amazon had been growing by over 150 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2016 in India. Largest in the world, in India Amazon stands at the second position in terms of online marketplace but is gradually narrowing the gap with Flipkart, who are not having the best of times right now. The online retailer already has a warehouse in the outskirts of Hyderabad and a development centre in progress.
