Amazon acquires Indian social commerce firm GlowRoad

Amazon

Amazon said the move will help the company make inroads with its commitment to digitizing the nation’s 10 million businesses by 2025

Amazon may be attempting to take on Shopify in the west, but in India, it is gearing up to explore social commerce.

Amazon has acquired the Indian social commerce startup GlowRoad in an all-cash deal as the e-commerce giant makes a bigger push into one of its key overseas markets, a source directly familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the acquisition, saying the move will help the company make inroads with its commitment to digitizing the nation’s 10 million businesses by 2025.

The American giant, which has invested over $6.5 billion in its India operations, added: Amazon continues to explore new ways to digitize India and delight customers, micro- entrepreneurs and sellers and bringing GlowRoad onboard is a key step in this direction.

Together with GlowRoad, Amazon will help accelerate entrepreneurship among millions of creators, homemakers, students, and small sellers from across the country. This acquisition will complement GlowRoad’s already loved service with Amazon’s technology, infrastructure, and digital payments capabilities, bringing more efficiency and cost-saving for everyone, it said.

GlowRoad sells products to customers at wholesale prices and helps them resell it on Facebook and WhatsApp. It also provides them with logistics network and the ability to collect cash. On its website, the startup says it has built a network of over 6 million resellers who earn on an average of 35,000 Indian rupees ($460) per month.

Earlier this month, GlowRoad said it will expand to some markets in the Southeast Asia region.

GlowRoad is committed to creating more ‘homepreneurs’ and bringing many unique and unbranded suppliers to the platform. Even after four years, we have just scratched the surface, and there’s so much more to do, said co-founder Shekhar Sahu.

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