Amazon makes strategic moves in the Indian market in time for the Diwali online shopping boom

The Indian $2-$4 billion market for E-Commerce heats up with new launch from Amazon

In the run up to Diwali Amazon has just made some major moves in their race to win over Indian consumers from the Cash on Delivery (COD) model to the Cash Before Delivery (CBD) model.

 

Launch of Pay with Amazon

A year after their payment processing service first launched in the US, Amazon has extended ‘Pay with Amazon’ to India this month, as the intense competition with Flipkart and snapdeal intensifies in the rapidly growing Indian E-Commerce market.

This allows Indian customers to store their card details and delivery address details for use on Amazon partner sites. This payment method is now available for Amazon, Junglee.com, Fommy.co.un, Shopyourworld.com and will be available at more e-retailers shortly.

Merchants pay a fee of 1.95% for credit cards and net banking, and a lower 0.75%-1% for debit cards.

However with India experiencing some of the highest online fraud threats, I believe Amazon will need to build in checks and counter checks of a far superior nature to anything they would have used before. Barely a year after launch Flipkart withdrew it’s Payzippy, no doubt in preparation for a more robust service that I expect we may hear more about soon.

Sell with Amazon

While a lot is being said about how Amazon is trying to get people to buy,  what is less understood but very important according to me is what they are doing to allow the 1.2 billion Indian population to sell in an easy way. This Diwali, Amazon has announced contests to win over sellers, offering rewards for Super Sellers and Star Sellers.

Partnership with Biyani’s Future Group

While the small merchants will come on board over time, some big partnerships are having a more immediate effect this season. Kishore Biyani is known as the father of India retail. His Future Group controls some of the largest retail chains in India: Big Bazaar, eZone, Home Town, Brand Factory and more. Now online retailing of the 40 brands are to be exclusively through Amazon, launched in India in June 2013 and now engaged in head-to-head competition with Flipkart and Snapdeal.com, the top 2 incumbents in the Indian market.

 

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