The e-commerce giant, Amazon.com, has announced that it is discontinuing Amazon Distribution, its wholesale e-commerce website available to small neighbourhood stores in Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Hubli.

Amazon Distribution was designed to help small stores, pharmacies, and department stores in India to secure inventory from Amazon. “We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing this program in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners and we are supporting our affected employees during this transition,” a spokesperson of the company said in a statement.

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The e-commerce giant last week had said that it would be shutting down its food-delivery business and online learning academy in India.

“At Amazon, we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers. We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products and services to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments,” a spokesperson of the e-commerce giant said.

“As part of our annual operating planning review process, we have made the decision to discontinue Amazon Distribution, our wholesale e-commerce website for small neighbourhood stores around Bengaluru, Mysore, and Hubli,” the spokesperson said.

The exit would result in layoffs of hundreds of workers, with Amazon now focusing only on its core business like online retail, according to the report.

On November 17, Amazon began the process of cutting jobs across the company this week, US media reports said.

“After a deep set of reviews, we recently decided to consolidate some teams and programs. One of the consequences of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be required,” hardware chief Dave Limp wrote in a memo to workers on November 16.