Amazon will be shutting down 'Amazon Food' in India before the year ends, as the company retreats from the $20 billion estimate worth in 2020. The food-delivery service of the company launched in May 2020 in some parts of Bengaluru.
(Photo : MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP via Getty Images)
In this photo taken on September 18, 2018 an employee of Amazon India walks towards a security gate at Amazon's newly launched fulfilment centre situated on the outskirts of Bangalore. - The US-headquartered online retail giant Amazon opened its latest fulfilment centre in Karnataka as part of its long-term, multi-billion-dollar bid to expand its footprint in India's growing e-commerce industry.
In this photo taken on September 18, 2018 an employee of Amazon India walks towards a security gate at Amazon's newly launched fulfilment centre situated on the outskirts of Bangalore. - The US-headquartered online retail giant Amazon opened its latest fulfilment centre in Karnataka as part of its long-term, multi-billion-dollar bid to expand its footprint in India's growing e-commerce industry.
Amazon Food Shut Down
Amazon announces shutdown of its food-delivery business in India. According to Reuters, Amazon Food will be discontinued on December 29, after launching the service in May 2020.
This is a part of the company's broader restructuring, as it also announced a few days ago that it will be shutting down Academy, its ed-tech service in the country.
The company stated that the decisions were discussed heavily as they don't take these actions lightly.
"We are discontinuing these programs in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners and we are supporting our affected employees during this transition. Amazon remains focused on providing our growing customer base the best online shopping experience with the largest selection of products at great value and convenience," the company said.
During its launch in 2020, Amazon stated that the decision of making Amazon Food is because of the consumers who are continuously telling the retail company to open a food-delivery business prepared by Amazon, as an addition to their shopping services.
The business also 'boomed' during the pandemic when everyone is trying to be safe and trying to reduce the cases by not going out of their homes.
Through Amazon Food, TechCrunch reported that it allowed customers to order from handpicked local restaurants and cloud kitchens while experiencing convenience and the highest standards of safety to ensure the customers' state.
While the launch of the service in India made some other businesses in the country concerned as new competitor rises, Amazon fell behind. With an estimate worth $20 billion, Zomato maintains its lead in the market against Swiggy and Dunzo.
Also Read: Amazon Taps India For its Shipping Service Expansion
Discontinued Services
Aside from the food-delivery business, Amazon will also be shutting down its online learning to the same country, made for high school students.
Amazon Academy was launched early last year, as the company's efforts to join the education virtual learning area of the country in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through these services, the company offered coaching for competitive exams like Joint Entrance Examinations, which makes students have easy access to top engineering colleges in India.
Wickr Me, Amazon's free encrypted messaging application, is also shutting down before the year ends. The company stated, "After careful consideration, we will be concentrating Wickr's focus on securing our business and public sector customers' data and communications with AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise, and have decided to discontinue our consumer product, Wickr Me." The platform will no longer accept new users after December 31.
Related Article: Amazon-Owned Wickr Me Messaging App Is Shutting Down; New Signups Will Cease in December
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Written by Inno Flores
