Amazon.com Inc. is in talks with Indian retail chains Future Group, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd.'s More and Shoppers Stop Ltd. to help the e-commerce giant enter the offline retail market in the country, The Economic Times (India) reported Sept. 5, citing three senior industry executives.
The U.S. e-commerce giant owns stakes in the three retailers and the planned foray into offline retail is part of the company's strategy to better compete with Reliance Industries Ltd. and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd., the ET said.
The report said Amazon is looking to initially offer its private label brands — including those under its AmazonBasics line of products — in brick-and-mortar stores before scaling up to include most of the top-selling products on the Indian online marketplace.
The company already sells two of its private apparel brands, Prowl and Just F, via some Shoppers Stop outlets, the report said.
The ET said Amazon, Future and Shoppers Stop did not respond to requests for comment, while More declined to comment.
