E-commerce

Cloudtail replacements explore a life beyond Amazon

Pranav Balakrishnan

July 03, 2023 | 8 Min Read

Plagued with low margins and regulatory uncertainty, many big sellers on Amazon are looking at starting private labels and selling through other avenues to secure their future.

Key Takeaways

After shutting down its biggest seller, Cloudtail, Amazon India lined up many new sellers to take its place
While these sellers are still getting to grips with the sprawling portfolio of brands they inherited from Cloudtail, they’re already looking to the future
They realise the regulatory risks of being exclusive to Amazon, and the low-margin nature of remaining mere sellers
Increasingly, they are looking beyond Amazon and considering selling on govt-backed ONDC, launching their own private brands, and even selling offline

With Prime Days—Amazon India’s flagship sales event—just weeks away, the e-commerce giant’s sellers are a busy lot. Executives at these companies describe the current period as hectic, with days running into nights as they negotiate frantically to secure deals with brands.

This mad scramble was only to be expected. In years gone by, just two large sellers—Cloudtail and Appario—handled the vast majority of top brands on the platform and accounted for huge sales volumes. At one point, the former generated nearly 50% of Amazon’s sales. This is no longer the case.

The platform shuttered Cloudtail—a joint venture between Amazon and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy’s family office Catamaran Ventures—in May 2022. Appario—another joint venture, this time with the Patni Group—is in the process of winding down as well.

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