Watch out for how Amazon helps women entrepreneurs earn space in the logistics sector

Amazon India’s strategy of partnering with neighborhood mom and pop shops for last-mile delivery through its ‘I Have Space’ (IHS) program is well known. The local store owners use additional space in their stores to stock Amazon orders, which they go and deliver to addresses in and around their stores. The store owner on average ends up earning an additional Rs 15,000-20,000 per month by letting Amazon use its space. The e-commerce platform has close to 23,000 such partners across the country. The American retail giant is now using IHS to get more women to be part of its delivery and logistics network.

PZ Noorjahan, a Biotechnology student in Kochi, is one such example. The last-mile delivery program of Amazon called “I Have Space” (IHS) has helped her find out an additional source of income as well as pursue her post-graduate course. Noorjahan owns the store Za-One Naturals and joined as a partner in IHS in August 2021 after her father – a delivery partner with Amazon – met with an accident and has been bed-ridden ever since. She joined IHS and started delivering packages on her two-wheeler within a 2-4 km radius of her shop.

“It is not just Noorjahan alone, but several others are benefiting out of Amazon initiatives after the pandemic crippled their business leading to a drop in footfalls in several stores,” said Karuna Shankar Pande, Director, Last Mile Operations at Amazon India.

Associate-Owned Stations

Partnering with small and mid-sized companies (SMBs) to ship packages additionally supplied them with development avenues. At the moment, there may be greater than 100 supply service partner-owned stations in Kerala. In total, Amazon India has greater than 1,850 supply stations each owned and operated by Amazon, in addition to Supply Service Companions in more than 750 cities, he mentioned.

The corporation additionally intends to develop Amazon Flex which was launched in Kerala in March. This can present a chance for people to create their very own schedule and earn revenue throughout their spare time by delivering packages. Greater than 65 Indian cities and cities have now been included in the program, he mentioned.