Amazon India launches ''STEP'' to accelerate growth of 7 lakh sellers

On Monday, Amazon India launched " STEP ", a performance-based profit programme to help promote development for the seven lakh sellers on its website.

Amazon is implementing its revamped fee structure, which was previously deferred to after Diwali, with the launch of STEP. STEP simplifies the experience of sellers by delivering personalised and actionable feedback that help sellers enhance key metrics of customer experience and their growth in turn, a statement said.

Sellers would unlock benefits across multiple tiers, such as 'Basic',' Standard',' Advanced',' Premium' and more by improving efficiency.

The statement added that these advantages include fee waivers, shorter disbursement times, priority seller assistance and world-class free account management.

All sellers on Amazon.in will earn " Standard " benefits until March 31, 2021, beginning on December 1, 2020, and will be eligible for 'Basic', 'Advanced', 'Premium' and others based on their success from January 1 to March 31, 2021, effective April 1, 2021.

Each quarter, all sellers will get an option to enhance their level and corresponding benefits based on their results.

STEP enables sellers of all sizes and tenures to drive their growth on Amazon.in by concentrating on key customer-relevant metrics on their performance. STEP offers objective and clear criteria and advantages designed to help sellers predictably boost their performance on these metrics," said Mr. Manish Tiwary, Vice President of Amazon India."

He added that each aspect of the programme has been carefully designed by the company to ensure that its sellers can have a better customer experience and in turn develop and be successful on Amazon.in.

As part of the STEP benefits, the updated fees on Amazon - effective December 1, 2020 - are related to STEP levels and include waiver of weight handling fees and lightning deal fees, the statement said.

Furthermore, the closing fees for goods in the low-price range (Rs 250-500) and zero disposal fees for items delivered from Amazon fulfilment centres will be reduced, it added.

"This year, Amazon.in has taken many steps to help its more than seven lakh seller group tackle challenges and get their businesses back on track," the company said.

These include free health insurance COVID-19 (offered by Acko in agreement with Amazon), disbursement on demand payment, performance metrics relaxation, fee waivers on inventory storage fees and 50% waiver on 'Sale on'.

It added that Amazon's fees for small sellers and its marketplace rate updates were postponed to December 2020.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.