With the news that Amazon are to open up another seven FBA warehouses in India, there’s an interesting battle hotting up between the US marketplace and Flipkart, India’s other big player.
Flipkart also have fashion focused Myntra and a new partnership with eBay, but Amazon offer so much more than just product alone. Amazon’s goal is to inveigle themselves into every part of your life and as they’ve done in the US, UK and around the world, they’re doing the same in India.
“The launch of Prime last year was a big turning point. We’ve increased Prime selection by 75% since launching that nine months ago in India, also increased the fulfillment capacity for sellers by 26% this year. On the content side, we’ve announced A-Team in the original TV series and we’re customizing the content, so it’s a really vast selection of local and global movies and TV shows that are available to the Indian public.
“You’ll also notice that the Fire TV Stick was – a new version of it was launched in India with some important features there such as the ability to search in Hindi and in English, free data usage for three months and also data monitoring, which is important there. So again, we continue to be encouraged by both the response from customers and sellers.”
– Brian T. Olsavsky, SVP, Chief Financial Officer, Amazon
India is one of Amazon’s biggest areas for investment and, as the 2nd most populous country after China, they see a lot of potential for the country and our business there. Amazon also have more available cash for investment than Flipkart. Amazon traditionally seek growth over profits and they’re not going to blink at spending a few billion to capture the market.
Growing Prime membership is key for Amazon as once you’ve paid for unlimited deliveries over the course of the year there’s naturally an inclination to maximise your investment and Amazon soon becomes you’re preferred source when considering a purchase. All things (such as price) being equal, free delivery under Prime trumps any paid delivery from an alternative venue.
India is without a doubt one of the fastest growing territories in the world for ecommerce. Either Flipkart or Amazon are likely to become the dominant player and Amazon, with it’s side benefits that come with Prime, are well placed to succeed.
The UK and London in particular is one of the top tourist destinations for Indian tourists, they’re familiar with our culture and many Indians speak good English. If you’re not already selling in India, we’re aware that it’s a tricky territory from a legal and tax perspective, but the country should still be a consideration and, with Amazon’s growth trajectory, they look a likely marketplace to partner with.
