The war for the crown to becoming e-commerce king is getting hotter, moving from a war of words to the war over new products.
In reply to Flipkart’s saying that Amazon showed high festival-season sales by selling things like hing, churan and membership, Amazon said it was the largest retailer of fashion products (clothes, shoes, and accessories) online – and now the focus has shifted on the goods sold.
Amazon, has now, brought four million products available currently in the US on its India platform – that too at the same price. The products are in 12 categories, including stationary, electronics, watches and clothes.
In the UK and US, Black Friday and Thanksgiving are the days to log onto Amazon to avail steep discounts, similar to Diwali sales. “We want Indian customers to celebrate Black Friday and Christmas in India, and offer the same prices as they are in the US,” said Amit Agarwal, country manager, Amazon India.” There are 100s of millions of products that are on Amazon and we would like to bring them to India.”
Amazon’s total products on its India platform, including the products in the Global Store, currently stands at 85 million. For the time being, the products are not available on cash-on-delivery, however, the delivery time for the products is two to four days and are eligible for returns. “Our objective is to provide as much of a local experience as possible,” Aggarwal said.
As a part of the festival—season sale, Flipkart sold 15.5 million products while Amazon has sold 15 million. Amazon has followed up the Great Diwali Sale with the Global Store, in less than a week. This will allow Amazon customers, from nearly 20,000 pincodes to buy international brands – especially those in small towns and villages.
Amazon’s Global Store, however, is not the first of its kind. International stores for Indian shoppers have also been done by others. For example, EBay – with over 28 million products listed from 50,000 sellers – has Global Easy Buy. One can also connect to AliExpress’s store through Paytm.
The Global Store is also available in Mexico and China, however, the India store will have much more. “We will not only add more products, we will also add products from more countries such as the UK and Germany,” said Agarwal.
It has tied up with Aramax, DHL and India Postal Services (international) for the delivery of the products. Customers can choose between different delivery options, quicker deliveries will cost more. The goods listed on the Global Store are being sold by Amazon Export Sales LLC.
According to Hindustan Times, Samardeep Subandh, marketing head at Flipkart, commenting Amazon’s move said, “We have done a pilot to get international brands, but that remains a niche. We believe that we can add a lot of value by making products affordable for our buyers here.”
