After edtech, Amazon to shut food unit
The development comes a day after Amazon said that it is shutting down its edtech platform in the country. Globally, the company plans to lay off thousands of employees. Other digital platforms like Twitter and Meta have also recently fired thousands.
On Thursday, Amazon said it was shutting down the Amazon Academy platform in India that was launched early last year amid a boom in virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Representational image) A little over two years after starting it, Amazon is shutting down its food delivery service from December 29, according to a communication sent by the e-commerce firm to its restaurant partners in the country.
“This decision means that you will no longer get orders from customers via Amazon Food after this date. You will continue to receive orders till then and we expect you to continue fulfilling those orders,” a mail sent by Amazon to its restaurant partners, said. Amazon had launched the food delivery business in India in May 2020 in parts of Bengaluru and later expanded the service across the city, but it never heavily marketed or promoted the platform.
The development comes a day after Amazon said that it is shutting down its edtech platform in the country. Globally, the company plans to lay off thousands of employees. Other digital platforms like Twitter and Meta have also recently fired thousands.
Amazon has told its restaurants partners that it is committed to meet all its payments and other contractual obligations. Restaurants will have access to all Amazon tools and reports till January 31, 2023, and it will also provide support till March 31 for any compliance-related issues.
“As part of our annual operating planning review process, we have made the decision to discontinue Amazon Food, our pilot food delivery business in Bengaluru,” Amazon said. “We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing these programmes in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners, and we are supporting our affected employees during this transition,” it added.
The company said that it remains committed to the Indian market and will continue to invest across grocery, smartphones and consumer electronics, fashion and beauty, as well as B2B offerings such as Amazon Business.
Even after making investments of $6.5 billion in India in the last eight years, Amazon has not been able to become profitable in the country with negative Ebitda margins of 5-10 per cent.
On Thursday, Amazon had said that it will be shutting its online learning platform, Amazon Academy, where it prepared students for competitive exams, in India.FE
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