Amazon has announced plans to establish India’s largest ultra-fast delivery network by expanding its quick-commerce service, Amazon Now, to more than 300 cities across the country. This comes after the company announced that Amazon Now has expanded to 100 cities across the country last month.
According to the company, Amazon Now has become the fastest-growing e-commerce business unit in Amazon India’s history, with order volumes doubling every quarter since its initial launch.
To support this expansion, Amazon intends to scale its specialized fulfillment infrastructure, which includes a network of micro-fulfillment centers and urban fulfillment centers.
The expanded infrastructure is designed to offer a multi-tiered delivery model based on urgency:
- Minutes to a few hours: Tens of thousands of daily essentials, including groceries, fresh produce, frozen food, personal care items, fashion, beauty products, small appliances, and home goods.
- Same-day delivery: A selection of more than one million products.
- Next-day delivery: Over four million products.
- Standard Prime delivery: Millions of additional items available through standard shipping.
Amazon Now is currently accessible to approximately 50 million customers across 15 metro and non-metro cities, including Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Amritsar, and Kochi.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who recently visited a micro-fulfillment center in India, noted that the model developed for the Indian market is currently being expanded to several other countries globally.
During his visit, Jassy met with delivery partners and associates to review the operational workflow that supports the ultra-fast delivery segment. The company has not disclosed the exact timeline for reaching the 300-city target.
Delivery Associate Welfare Program Launched
Alongside the business expansion, Amazon introduced “Sammaan,” a dedicated welfare program for the tens of thousands of delivery associates within its Indian logistics network.
The initiative will be funded in part by Amazon India’s recently announced $300 million investment earmarked for operations and associate well-being. The program includes the following components:
- Educational scholarships for the children of delivery associates.
- Assistance with financial inclusion programs and enrollment in government benefits.
- Comprehensive health and life insurance coverage.
- On-road safety initiatives.
- The expansion of “Ashray” rest centers to 250 locations this year, which will be accessible to delivery associates across the entire e-commerce industry.
Consumers can check the availability of Amazon Now in their specific area by opening the standard Amazon.in mobile application. The service is accessible via a ‘lightning’ Now icon located on the top banner of the app’s interface.
Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India said:
Amazon Now is the fastest-growing ecommerce business unit in Amazon India’s history with orders having doubled every quarter since launch. We are seeing a great response from customers, especially Prime members who triple their shopping frequency once they start using Amazon Now. We have further accelerated our expansion and will offer ultra-fast deliveries to customers in over 300 cities of India. None of this is possible without our delivery associates who are at the heart of our ecommerce and quick commerce business, and I am excited as we launch ‘Sammaan’, a dedicated program focused on delivery associate welfare. It is our promise that as we grow faster, the people powering that speed grow with us, with better health and wellness, education support for their families, and a safer working environment every day.