Amazon is preparing to make another push into India's booming fashion and lifestyle e-commerce market, setting up another fight with Flipkart, owned by Walmart; Reliance's Ajio; and SoftBank-backed Meesho.

The e-commerce giant plans to launch a "special store" called Bazaar, where it would not levy any "extra charges" to sellers who will offer unbranded and "trendy" fashion and lifestyle products. According to a communication sent to its partners,.

The items to be sold through Bazaar, according to the company communication, are under 600 Indian rupees or $7.2. "Your products will feature in a special store on Amazon, so that the customers can find them more easily," said the company in its communication.

Bazaar will allow sellers to access tens of millions of customers, and the delivery will be "hassle-free," the company said in the email. Last week, referring to job recruitment posts, TechCrunch reported that the company was looking to enlarge its focus on fast fashion.

Indian daily Economic Times reported about Bazaar early on Wednesday, adding that the company will likely offer two to three days of delivery to the new venture.

Recently, the fast-fashion e-commerce space has gained ground in India as local startups take inspiration from global fast-fashion pioneers Zara, H&M, and Uniqlo. Top player Flipkart leads the category but faces mounting competition from Ambani's Ajio, which has amassed about 30% market share, according to research firm Bernstein.

Last year, Ajio quietly launched Ajio Street, a wide range of clothing and accessories with a price starting from as low as 199 Indian rupees, or $2.4. According to the website of Ajio, it promises no delivery charge and "lowest price" guarantee along with a hassle-free return process.

Shein, a global pioneer name in the category and which was earlier banned by India, is set for a comeback with a joint venture with Reliance, the two firms said last year.

Analysts at Bernstein wrote recently in a note:

Ajio has been adding users to the pocket and at ~30% market share in MAUs terms, yet Myntra maintains the lead on the highest market share among active users, with over 50% of the same. During Dec-23, Myntra showed the highest growth rate among the peers with a 25% rise. A closer look at the business suggests that users on the app are not transacting as much as previous trends, Myntra's GMV grew only 12% in FY23 as compared to 35% in FY22.
The fashion market is extremely fragmented offline, and the online market is seeing similar trends with multiple players emerging to gain share. In Dec-23, Nykaa Fashion reported 23% YoY growth, its fastest growth rate since May-22, as the business was propelled by product tech changes and premium product offerings. Ajio maintained its growth rates above the industry average, increasing to 22% MAU YoY in Nov-23. Acquired majority of its users post Shein's ban due to a similar product offering, Urbanic was unable to sustain its growth owing to lagging user experience and inefficient return policies.

Bazaar is one of the new key initiatives from Amazon, which has invested over $7 billion in India, after the firm shut down three of its businesses — wholesale distribution, food delivery and online learning — in India in late 2022.

The company said it will invest about $2.3 billion in its e-commerce operations in the country by 2030-a far lower budget than that of its rival Flipkart. (Amazon is doubling down on AWS in India and plans to deploy $12.7 billion in the cloud business in the country by 2030.)