Amazon India hires new head for seller services from parent firm
Amit Deshpande will be replaced by Gopal Pillai, general manager, consumer electronics, at Amazon
Amit Deshpande, one of the top executives at Amazon India, will take up a new role at the online retailer’s parent firm in the US.
Deshpande will be replaced by Gopal Pillai, general manager, consumer electronics, at Amazon.com Inc.
Deshpande headed Amazon India’s seller business and was part of the team that launched the company’s business in India in June 2013. Along with Amazon India country manager Amit Agarwal and category head Samir Kumar, Deshpande ran the company’s operations in India.
Amazon India is set up as a marketplace, as foreign direct investment (FDI) in direct online retail is banned in India.
Deshpande was in charge of running the sellers business, which is a key function in a marketplace.
A spokesperson for Amazon India confirmed Deshpande’s return to the parent company and Pillai’s appointment, but declined to give details about Deshpande’s new role.
“Amit Deshpande played a key role in helping us build a strong seller ecosystem. In the two years since he led the seller services team that has been innovating on behalf of the sellers with an aim to transform the way India sells. Today over 100,000 sellers have used our various seller offerings to benefit from the thriving digital economy," the Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
Deshpande’s return to the US was planned months in advance. He quit the board of Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd last year, while Amazon looked for a replacement.
Since launching in June 2013, Amazon India has emerged as the biggest threat to local rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal—partly because of the fast expansion in supply. Amazon claims to be India’ largest online store with more than 25 million products.
Under Deshpande, Amazon India increased its seller base to more than 30,000 in two years. He also helped launch initiatives such as global selling for sellers under which Amazon connected the small Indian businesses to customers in the US and the UK; easy ship, a logistics service for sellers; and various seller training programmes.
Pillai’s recruitment from Amazon’s US headquarters is in keeping with the hiring pattern Amazon India has followed. Many of its senior executives including Deshpande, Agarwal, Kumar and others worked at Amazon US.
Amazon India has also hired local executives in senior roles including Vikas Purohit as head of its fashion business and Raghava Rao as chief financial officer.
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