Future Group, Amazon sign pact to sell goods online

Kishore Biyani-led Future Group and global retail giant Amazon today entered into a strategic partnership to build on synergies of experience in online and offline businesses.

This comes days after Biyani complained of e-commerce companies, particularly Flipkart, of under-cutting the market and selling products at even below the cost price.

The alliance will leverage strong product knowledge, extensive brand portfolio and sourcing base of Future Group, and the e-commerce platform, customer base and reach of Amazon.

The partnership will initially focus on Future Group's fashion brands and will subsequently cover all other categories, Future Group said in a statement.

Future Group’s current portfolio of over 40 brands will be retailed exclusively online through Amazon.in platform.

"The bottomline in each of our retail success stories is "know your customer". Insights into the soul of Indian consumers - how they operate, think, dream and live - helps us innovate and create functionally differentiating products and experiences. "Partnership with Amazon, which obsesses to be earth's most customer-centric company, will enable us to leverage their strengths, investments and innovations in technology to reach out to wider set of consumers across India," it said.

Commenting on the tie-up, Biyani said: "Partnership with Amazon, which obsesses to be earth's most customer-centric company, will enable us to leverage their strengths, investments and innovations in technology to reach out to wider set of consumers across India."

"We are excited to collaborate, leverage each other's unique strengths and serve customers across India. The product portfolio of Future Group, their innate understanding of the Indian consumer mindset and our ability to serve and deliver a convenient, easy, trusted and reliable delivery experience to a nationwide set of customers is a win-win for all," said Amit Agarwal, Vice President and Country Manager, Amazon India.

Amazon will also partner Future Group brands in promoting the existing and new brands in markets, explore co-branding opportunities and accelerate new product development in categories which are currently not served by retailers, the company said.

The two firms will also explore synergies in areas such as distribution network, customer acquisition and cross-promotions.