500+ local stores now enabled under Amazon Pay Smart Stores Program in Hyderabad

500+ local stores now enabled under Amazon Pay Smart Stores Program in Hyderabad

Amazon Pay announced onboarding of 18,000 merchants across India through its ‘Amazon Pay Smart Stores’ program. In addition to this, more than 800 local stores in Telangana signed up under this program. Amazon Pay Smart Store is an innovative offline shopping experience which enables offline stores to be discovered by customers and improves instore sales by offering best in class affordability propositions across the widest array of payment options. It strengthens Amazon Pay’s endeavor to digitally empower offline Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), retailers and micro merchants and unlocks new growth opportunities for them. Furthermore, more than 4000 Amazon Pay Smart Stores are from the Southern states of India.

Commenting on the initiative, Girish Krishnan – Director, Rewards and Merchant Services, Amazon Pay India, said, “We are committed to enable merchants and customers with easy access to credit, reduce friction in their everyday transactions and maximize their savings. Amazon Pay will continue to offer innovative solutions to customers choosing to shop offline including better discoverability of nearby stores, affordability propositions like No Cost EMIs, bank discounts, value added services such as insurance, warranty and much more.”

Merchants registered on the Smart Store Program witness a consistent incremental growth in their overall sales. The Amazon Pay Smart Stores Program is expanding in multiple cities across India, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana. In the past one year, the program has seen an 72% increase in sign-ups from SMBs dealing in mobiles, electronics, laptops, large appliances, clothing, shoes, grocery, and kitchen. Customers can also shop across 1000-1500 electronics stores in Hyderabad, Warangal, Nizamabad, Nalgonda, Khammam, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Tirupathi, Kurnool, and Rajamundry, (Andhra Pradesh & Telangana) using the Smart Stores experience.

Amazon Pay Smart Stores Program was started in 2020 to facilitate improvements in offline shopping experience to provide seamless credit to offline shoppers, improve discoverability for offline stores and offer various affordability propositions for customers. Once inside a Smart Store, customers can simply scan the store’s QR code using the Amazon app to explore the products available within the store. They can also choose to pay by their preferred method including UPI, Amazon Pay balance, Credit or Debit cards; along with flexible EMI options and a wide range of Bank offers.

“We have been using Amazon Pay since 2020, Customers are happy to choose Amazon Pay as their payment mode since payments made with it is quicker and more convenient, and consumers love the instant cashback incentives. With the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank card, we were able to give our customers much better deals as they get unlimited 2% cashback. Customers primarily choose to pay with Amazon Pay in-store and we now have daily at least 10+ transactions through Amazon Pay,” says, Vasudev, Store Owner Krithika enterprises, Hyderabad.

The program provides merchants across India a unique opportunity to expand their business through the following value propositions:

500+ local stores now enabled under Amazon Pay Smart Stores Program in Hyderabad

·        Provide the widest payment Instrument choice:  Amazon Pay Smart Stores enable merchants to offer the entire suite of contactless payment options including UPI, net banking, Amazon Pay balance: Money (PPI), credit, and debit cards, without investing in a separate point of sale device

·        Offer easy credit and make it affordable to customers: Customers can get easy credit at Smart Stores by using the EMI option with eligible bank credit cards or debit cards. With the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card, customers get an always on, unlimited 2% cashback in all offline stores. With Amazon Pay Later, customers can instantly get a credit line at the store and pay for the transaction

·        Widest range of offers sourced from our partners: Amazon Pay has partnered with major banks and financial institutions in the country to bring the best payment offers to customers shopping in offline stores, thereby helping them to maximize their savings. Further, merchants may offer reward coupons to attract new customers and increase customer conversion at the store through attractive incentives. These rewards and incentives help increase footfalls and build customer loyalty in offline stores.

·        Drive more sales from Amazon Customers: With Smart Store Program, merchants can easily set up a store page with their logo and promote themselves to over 100M customers who are able to discover this storefront on their Amazon app. The enhanced discoverability drives more footfalls and sales for offline stores. While at the store, customers can read reviews, evaluate the best offers for each product transparently and also easily avail add-on services like insurance and warranty.

Amazon Pay Smart Stores program has onboarded thousands of local shops across the country. In addition, several top brands, including OPPO, Lenovo, HP, Xiaomi, Samsung, Prestige, USHA, ASUS, More, Pepe Jeans, CCD, Barista, Miniso, Puma have already partnered with Amazon Pay to offer customers the best value and in-store purchasing experience through the program. By joining the Amazon Pay Smart stores program offline shops now can offer an assisted in-store shopping experience to customers, along with the best bank and brands offers as well as easy credit through Amazon Pay, making it a win-win proposition.

Learn about and locate your nearest Amazon Pay Smart store here.

Amazon’s ‘I Have Space’ Program is supporting Telangana’s small store and business owners

Amazon’s ‘I Have Space’ Program is supporting Telangana’s small store and business owners

As Amazon scales and expands its delivery network across Telangana this festive season, it will continue to enable individuals to unlock their entrepreneurial potential, and will create opportunities to expand their horizons through various last-mile delivery programs, including ‘I Have Space’ (IHS). Through the program, Amazon India partners with local stores and business owners to deliver products to customers within a 2 to 4 kilometers radius of their store, allowing them to supplement their regular income. Launched in 2015, the program has more than 28,000 neighborhood and kirana partners in close to 420 towns and cities across its network in India, including thousands of ‘I Have Space’ (IHS) stores in Telangana. 

Bhagya Raju, a 35-year-old ‘I Have Space’ (IHS) partner from Hyderabad, is a story of inspiration. Despite his physical challenges from birth which limit his movement due to limping he wanted to be financially independent and support his family. He is not only delivering smiles to Amazon customers, but he is also shaping the future of children as a teacher at his Eshwar Tuition Point.

Bhagya Raju started his tuition centre in 2016, and while he had a regular set of students attending his classes, the earnings were not enough to meet his expenses. The pandemic made it even more difficult for Bhagya as footfall of students started declining. It was then he decided to look out for an additional source of income and came across Amazon’s ‘I Have Space’ program through a neighbor and started as an ‘I Have Space’ Partner in Sep 2021. 

Becoming an Amazon I Have Space partner has been very empowering for me. With the additional income from the IHS program, I have not only overcome my financial challenges but have also purchased my dream bike, which I use to deliver packages to Amazon customers. I am very excited for this year’s festive season as things are back to normal. By delivering packages to customers, I indirectly became part of their festivities and joy. My physical limitations, which have been with me since my birth, have never stopped me from dreaming big. It in fact motivates me to achieve more in life,” says Bhagya. 

Bhagya’s story is an inspiration for everyone who lose hope in life due to certain physical limitations, and often find it challenging to start something of their own because of financial reasons or lack of prior experience.

Amazon’s ‘I Have Space’ Program is supporting Telangana’s small store and business owners

Karuna Shankar Pande, Director – Last Mile Operations, Amazon India says, “Amazon India is committed towards building a diverse, equitable and inclusive (DEI) workforce and is empowering individuals from various walks of life. It is inspiring to see how Bhagya Raju has turned his life around with the support of the I Have Space program. He is a great example and a role model for others who does not believe in giving up in life.”

Bhagya is one of the many persons with disability (PwD) across Amazon India’s operations network. Through its different onboarding and training programs, Amazon India is committed to helping PwD associates and partners realize their true potential and empower them to achieve their goals. 

Aspiring ‘I Have Space’ Partners can apply here –http://www.amazon.in/i