Amazon India's ‘Bazaar’ goes live, to compete with Softbank-backed Meesho

Amazon India's Bazaar is an online market place that will feature unbranded products, which will be priced below ₹600.

After reports emerged in February of Amazon working on an online marketplace called ‘Bazaar’ (Hindi for market) for India, the platform has now gone live in the country.

That Amazon is working on 'Bazaar', was first reported in February (REUTERS)

“Amazon Bazaar is a new store on Amazon.in, offering a dedicated destination for fashion and home products at affordable prices,” says a message from the Seattle-based world's largest e-commerce firm on Bazaar's support page.

All you need to know about Amazon's ‘Bazaar’:

(1.) According to The Economic Times, which was the first to report about Bazaar, the vertical will feature lifestyle and unbranded fashion products, which will be priced below ₹600.

(2.) Items ranging from clothing, accessories, and jewellery, to handbags, shoes, and both traditional and western wear will be listed on the platform, as will be home goods such as kitchenware, towels, bed linens, and items for decoration, as per Amazon.

(3.) After a “quick review” of Bazaar, ET said that for Amazon Prime subscribers, the delivery estimate is around 4-5 days. This is probably because users typically do not prioritise faster deliveries for low-cost goods, such as the ones listed on this marketplace.

(4.) Bazaar is currently available on Amazon's Android app in India, and will be placed “prominently” for a select cohort of users, ET said.

(5.) Bazaar puts the Jeff Bezos-founded company in direct competition with Softbank-backed Meesho, while Flipkart also runs a separate app called Shopsy for similar offerings. The launch is important for Amazon also because it clocked an India user growth of only 13% in December 2023, according to a January report from research firm Bernstein.

An Amazon India spokesperson said,"We continue to invest and innovate on behalf of our customers and third-party sellers and are excited to introduce the Amazon Bazaar storefront on Amazon.in where customers can discover and shop ultra-affordable fashion and home products listed by sellers, especially from manufacturing hubs across India."