Ecommerce giant Amazon has introduced “country of origin” as a mandatory attribute that sellers need to include in their listings. The company has given a deadline of August 10th for its sellers to attribute their listings or they would face action that includes suppression of the listing.
The company said on its seller dashboard- “You will be required to provide information for “country of origin” mandatorily for all your new and existing listings. We urge you to provide information on the other listing attributes (including mandatory declarations required to be provided by you under applicable law) so that customers get detailed information about your product prior to purchase.”
Competitors Flipkart and Snapdeal have provided an option to sellers to fill details of the country of origin but it wasn’t a mandatory requirement. With Amazon’s move, sellers are also expected to provide contact details of the person or company they are importing products from.
This move can be associated with India’s attempt to curb imports and promote local vendors, however, there has been no government directive on making this tag mandatory.
Government initiatives such as Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self Reliant India) and Make in India would be promoted with this move as local vendors might see more preference for their products.
Ecommerce platforms have seen a significant increase in usage during the COVID-19 outbreak as more consumers shifted to online means for essential items during the lockdown. The digital wave has not taken over e-commerce but also all other businesses that have reworked their offerings to suit digital capabilities.