Amazon is working to deliver essential goods to customers, while protecting sellers impacted by the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, the ecommerce giant’s Country Head Amit Agarwal to CNBC-TV18.
"Our priorities are to keep employees and facilities safe and to deliver essential products. We are working closely with state governments and local authorities to get clearances and curfew passes so that we deliver essential goods to customers," Agarwal said.
Amazon is currently delivering only essential goods, and is prioritising existing orders, Agarwal pointed out, adding that in some cities the ecommerce company has started accepting new orders.
Also, keeping in mind the time that millions of people have during the lockdown, the ecommerce giant has made its e-books and audiobooks available for free for customers.
“We are making sure our ebooks library, Audible and Kindle services are made available for free. We are working on distance learning initiatives as well," the Amazon India head said.
He noted that Multiple discussions were held with the government to allow smoother operations of ecommerce services. While, the situation has improved, there are several challenges that exist on ground.
"It has to get down to the lowest
“The decline in delivery personnel has also become a pain point. We need more people to provide essential services to consumers,” he stressed.
He advised customers to first find out what the situation is in terms of status of deliveries via their pincode through the app.
“Deliveries have started in many cities. Demand is more than what the capacity is. We are trying to clear the backlog as soon as possible,” the Amazon India head said.
Amazon Fresh is operational in four cities and the company has restarted deliveries for Amazon Pantry orders in a few cities.
Moreover, Agarwal said that the company is working to support sellers whose businesses have been disrupted due to the lockdown.
“It is a big disruption and a new change in business for sellers. Our supply backbone is dependent on sellers on the platform. We have communicated to them that we are focussing only on 'essentials'. We are relaxing operational metrics to avoid penalties,” he said.
He added that the company has relaxed some seller fees like long term storage.
“We are ensuring sellers' products are stored safely during the lockdown without any penalty,” he said.
First Published: Apr 2, 2020 10:04 PM IST
