AMAZON intensifies India efforts.

A second Amazon fulfillment centre is scheduled for India. Adding to the existing facility in southern India, the new centre is to be located near Bangalore and will cover 150,000 square feet (14,000 square metres). It will be operational by this February and will be equipped with state-of-the-art warehousing systems and processes.

According to Amazon, the investment is part of the company’s efforts to improve its online shopping experience in India, and establish a scalable and bigger national platform for small and medium enterprises. It will also help customers obtain a broader selection of categories available for immediate shipment and eligible under Amazon’s Next-Day Guaranteed service.

We await with interest to see precisely how Amazon will help support SME retailers in India achieve scalable online businesses. While certainly a laudable ambition, the actual logistic practicalities of providing support for the thousands of such businesses in India may well prove too great a task, even for a company as intent on achieving the impossible as Amazon.