Payments platform Bango is making Amazon Prime membership available to mobile and media bundle resellers in India. The move is the latest move from Amazon in its attempts to win the lion’s share of Indian ecommerce and triumph over rival Flipkart.
India’s largest mobile network operator, Bharti Airtel, is the first to make Amazon Prime available as part of a bundled package offered to its customers. Eligible customers can activate the offer through the Airtel TV app, entitling them to enjoy the benefits of a free one-year Amazon Prime membership.
The Bango Platform ensures that the moment the customer accepts the service it becomes active and they receive uninterrupted access for as long as they continue to subscribe. This launch represents a new application of the Bango Platform to enable reselling at scale.
CEO Ray Anderson said: “Bango partners have identified another way to meet customer needs for instant, uninterrupted access to the best content and services. Bundles and resale are a natural business model extension for merchants wanting to increase customer reach. This launch highlights the versatility of the Bango Platform and strength of relationships that have seen Bango take partners into new territories, for new types of goods and services, through one, standard platform.”
Bango is already offering services to Amazon. Last year they launched Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) for Amazon customers and also Amazon Prime and Prime Student membership programmes via the platform.
Offering Amazon Prime via mobile phone packages is a canny move and speaks to the nature of the ever developing Indian ecommerce market. It’s a young country and the vast majority of online buying takes place on mobiles. By being part of a bundle Prime can easily be activated by shoppers, without extra expense, further tying them into Amazon. It’s the sort of deal that could perform very well in the UK.
