Without much pomp-n-show, Amazon launched its online
marketplace today in India, with which users in India can order merchandize
locally. With the launch of Amazon’s flagship marketplace in India, it appears
that the e-commerce industry in India will see some turbulence. Currently,
Amazon is offering very limited categories - only books and digital media. With
regard to its business model, Amazon is still working in lines of Junglee.com,
which compares the prices of merchandize across multiple vendors and gives you
options to choose from. This is unlike the methodology adopted by Amazon’s
biggest competitor in India, Flipkart, which manages complete delivery cycle.
All in all, at this point, Amazon’s strategy seems to be
very conservative – limited categories, lean inventory and light weight
distribution channels and to our dismay – no freebies – yup there are going to
delivery charges, additional charges for cash on delivery model and so on. It
is too early to say whether this strategy will work out in India or not. All I
can say at this point without an iota of doubt is that, if I feel like reading
a paperback book today, I will go to flipkart, order the book and not worry
about who is delivering the book to me or if I am being charged anything extra.
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