Amazon to discontinue wholesale distribution unit in India

After shutting down Amazon Food and Amazon Academy, the global e-commerce giant is now also discontinuing Amazon Distribution, its wholesale e-commerce website for small neighbourhood stores around Bengaluru, Mysore and Hubli.

“As part of our annual operating planning review process, we have made the decision to discontinue Amazon Distribution, our wholesale e-commerce website for small neighbourhood stores around Bengaluru, Mysore and Hubli. We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing this program in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners and we are supporting our affected employees during this transition,” said a company spokesperson.

However, the company reiterated its commitment to India and intent to continue investing in grocery, smartphones and consumer electronics, fashion and beauty, as well as its B2B offerings such as Amazon Business.

At the time of discontinuing Amazon Distribution, it was operational in three cities in Karnataka, catering to the purchase needs of small neighbourhood stores in the local area through a dedicated portal.

The company officially announced layoffs from the devices and services team on November 16. Post this, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate wrote a letter to Union Labour & Employment Minister, Bhupender Yadav, condemning the layoffs started by Amazon in India and asked for the minister’s intervention into the matter. 

The worker union said it has received complaints from employees of Amazon that they are being forced to quit company voluntarily. Following this, The Ministry of Labour and Employment sent a notice to Amazon and NITES for a joint discussion over the alleged unethical and illegal layoffs by the company in India. 

To which, Amazon India said that no employee has been fired and some people have resigned after accepting the “voluntary separation programme.” The Labour Ministry is now reportedly setting up an inquiry on whether these resignations were actually layoffs that violate labour laws or terms of service.