NEW DELHI: Future Group’s ‘Sabse Saste Din’ sale, centred around Republic Day, will also feature on Amazon.in, reflecting a broadening of the alliance between the two sides, said two persons with knowledge of the matter. Items are offered at a discount during the sale that runs for five-six days at Future Group stores such as Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar. Amazon acquired a stake in Kishore Biyani’s retail venture last year.
The sale will operate through a web store on Amazon’s marketplace. The Future Group will deliver products ordered on the web store through its network of outlets and warehouses.
“All Future Group big properties (discount events) will also be celebrated on Amazon,” said one of the persons. “This is the first time ‘Sabse Saste’ sales will happen outside of Future Group’s stable,” said the second person.
Amazon and Future Group didn’t respond to queries.
The Future Group already sells its private brands and other products ranging from food and fashion to furniture on Amazon.
The marketplace also has an arrangement with Big Bazaar outlets for pickup and delivery of groceries to consumers purchasing through online supermarket Amazon Pantry.
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The ‘Sabse Saste Din’ sales are the biggest discounting event for the Future Group, generating millions of footfalls at its stores nationwide. However, it’s been on the wane in recent years due to the rapid growth of ecommerce platforms such as Flipkart and Amazon that offer discount sales through the year besides similar campaigns by other brick-andmortar stores.
Last year, Amazon agreed to acquire a 49% stake in Biyani’s Future Coupons, which owns 7.3% of Future Retail, with an option to buy the entire holding at a later stage. This gives the US ecommerce titan roughly 3.6% stake in India’s largest listed retail entity and Biyani’s flagship venture, Future Retail.
In November, Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to invest about Rs 1,500 crore to acquire the 49% stake in Future Coupons.
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The ‘Sabse Saste’ initiative on Amazon is part of a wide range of joint programmes that both are planning, according to the persons. Biyani told ET last month that his group expects $1 billion of incremental revenue from its association with Amazon in the next two-three years.
“The Amazon partnership that rolls out now will build upon this in gaining new business and customers without additional costs or capex,” Biyani had said. “We believe we can create around a billion dollars of additional new business from the Amazon partnership alone in the next 24-36 months.”
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Amazon plans to tap Future’s vast network of physical stores to expand hyperlocal platform Amazon Now into newer cities, ET reported in December. The two sides are also exploring the possibility of allowing Amazon Prime members and digital wallet Future Pay customers to avail of common benefits and privileges.
