 "From mid-October you can order packaged food and beverages from Amazon India")
It’s no secret that Amazon has big plans for India, potentially one of its fastest growing geography. A few months ago, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos announced the company would be pumping in a staggering $2 billion into its India operations to make sure it rules the roost in the country’s booming e-commerce sector. And Amazon isn’t wasting time in trying to set itself apart from competitors like Flipkart and Snapdeal.
According to The Economic Times, Amazon is likely to begin selling packaged goods and soft drinks around mid-October, just before Diwali.
While the e-commerce site has already started taking orders for Coca-Cola Zero, it is apparently in talks with the likes of Kelloggs and Cornitos, sources have told ET.
“Amazon will start with about 100 gourmet products for now and expand to a much wider assortment in a few months,” a source has been quoted as saying.
The online groceries and food ordering sector is still quite nascent in India, with sites like BigBasket and LocalBanya providing services in a few cities. Amazon will be the first big-ticket name to venture into this sector. However, with gourmet products becoming more easily available in brick and mortar stores and on some online platforms, it will be interesting to see how Amazon tries to differentiate itself.
Another area that Amazon is looking at is fashion. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Bezos , currently in India, said he expects the category to do especially well in India given the various regional fashions.
Amazon, which opened its Indian website last June, has drawn up the battle lines by slashing prices, launching same-day delivery, adding new product categories and embarking on a high-voltage advertisement campaign.
Bezos has said that he has been pleasantly surprised by the response from Indian consumers.
“After our first year in business, the response from customers and SMEs in India has far surpassed our expectation. We see huge potential in the Indian economy and for the growth of e-commerce in India. With an investment of $2 billion, Amazon team can continue to think big, innovate and raise the bar for customers in India. At current scale and growth rates, India is on track to be our fastest country ever to a billion dollars in gross sales,” hesaid.
Amazon will also be investing in back-end services to ensure its Indian customers remain happy. The company will set up performance centres, upgrade logistics services, and develop mobile platform and new tools and techniques to help small and medium businesses grow.
With inputs from agencies