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Amazon India is now live

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Re: Amazon India is now live

#111

Post by Tichy »

hpagey wrote: post #31

I think the key to successful ecommerce model in India is hybrid of online and offline experiences. I had the following idea floating in my mind for long time now . Let me know if it makes sense a) You franchise out "ecommerce" physical shops. This is a physical location where customer can come in surf ecommerce websites and place an order. b) There is someone at this shop who will collect money on behalf of ecommerc…

I've been thinking about this a lot, but I wonder if the ususal affiliate fees would be enough to pay for rent, staff and demo objects. I rather doubt it, and maybe online shops can't pay much more without raising prices.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#112

Post by fakeer »

krat0sprakhar wrote: post #80
prakster wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Fakeer, Do you have an idea (or know someone who does) as to 1. How is the Shipping Label (with tracking# if that's feasible) generated? 2. Which are the major couriers picking up the packages from the small ecommerce shop locations and delivering them? 3. Is the Indian Post Office a major player at all (in the US, the USPS is the largest ecommerce delivery company...bigger than UPS, FedEx and DHL combined)

My dad happens to lead the e-commerce division at a logistics company and from what I've heard, Indian Post Office is not a major player at all. A large of e-commerce companies/startups are using Bluedart (now merged with DHL) as their primary logistics provider and tracking is provided as a service to the customers. Flipkart, I believe, runs their own logistics service.

Flipkart, Myntra etc run their own logistics unit Bangalore only and maybe other metros too, but when it's about tier 2 cities and blow the traditional courier firms handled it.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#114

Post by Indyan »

sameerp1 wrote: post #22

The key thing that people need to be aware of is that Amazon is still not allowed to sell anything in India. They are exclusively a marketplace because the Indian govt does not allow foreign investment into e-commerce. Instead for now they are an intermediary. The end customer pays Amazon the money who passes it onto the actual seller (after taking some commission). Amazon might even handle the logistics for some sel…

Btw, a lot of the big names in the Indian e-commerce space are also using the marketplace model instead of the inventory model. And they are doing this out of their own volition, as it reduces costs and increases diversity. Eg. Snapdeal, PepperFry, and Shopclues. Even Flipkart recently opened a marketplace, which will complement its inventory model.

Here's an article quoting Snapdeal CEO as saying that inventory model is dead in India: http://www.livemint.com/Industry/D2Xufph6zu7w9ZYg8Ze0dM/Snap...

Re: Amazon India is now live

#115

Post by kamaal »

irahul wrote: post #100
kamaal wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have taken one book, but in most general cases foreign author books are quite expensive in India.

> You have taken one book, but in most general cases foreign author books are quite expensive in India. Books which are published in India are quite cheap(especially if they happen to be popular). Most of the pearson books are LPE(low price editions). Books from other publishers which are published here(marked for the Asian subcontinents) are cheap. Foreign books being cheap is the norm, not the other way round(unles…

I don't know from where you are buying 'foreign books for cheap' and I'm not sure if you are referring only to LPE text books.

But most of the novels, and other books that I know are definitely expensive.

Text books are not the only books. And of course it also depends on the definition of cheap.

But pirated books sold on by footpath hawkers sell like hot cakes only because many foreign best sellers are generally expensive.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#116

Post by irahul »

kamaal wrote: post #115
irahul wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have taken one book, but in most general cases foreign author books are quite expensive in India. Books which are published in India are quite cheap(especially if they happen to be popular). Most of the pearson books are LPE(low price editions). Books from other publishers which are published here(marked for the Asian subcontinents) are cheap. Foreign books being cheap is the norm, not the other way round(unles…

I don't know from where you are buying 'foreign books for cheap' and I'm not sure if you are referring only to LPE text books. But most of the novels, and other books that I know are definitely expensive. Text books are not the only books. And of course it also depends on the definition of cheap. But pirated books sold on by footpath hawkers sell like hot cakes only because many foreign best sellers are generally exp…

> I don't know from where you are buying 'foreign books for cheap' and I'm not sure if you are referring only to LPE text books.

I don't have special shops to buy books for free, and I am not referring to LPE editions only. I am saying most of the foreign books are LPE whether explicitly or implicitly. They do compromise on paper quality, printing and covers.

> But most of the novels, and other books that I know are definitely expensive.

An average novel costs me 350. That is by no stretch expensive. Sure you can get a "lord of the flies"(or may be not; I mostly see Chetan Bhagats and Sidney Sheldons) on a pavement for 50 bucks, but that doesn't mean 350 is expensive.

> But pirated books sold on by footpath hawkers sell like hot cakes only because many foreign best sellers are generally expensive.

Pirated books are cheap doesn't mean most of the foreign books aren't reasonably priced.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#117

Post by k4rtik »

axomhacker wrote: post #101
irahul wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In India, laptops can be cash-on-delivery. When I order from Flipkart(India's very own Amazon), I always opt for cash-on-delivery. I see no point in paying up-front when sometimes they don't have the goods and I have to wait for refunds. The delivery person carries card reader, so there is no need to carry large amounts of cash.

Mostly everything from Flipkart (and for that matter, it appears, from Amazon) can be bought cash-on-delivery.

> (and for that matter, it appears, from Amazon) Amazon has put an upper limit of 50K on Cash on Delivery.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#118

Post by vilgax »

fakeer wrote: post #108
kamaal wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admire your courage for saying this. For others, this is how it always happens here in India. On the other hand when the books are priced well. There is actually sweet spot for which Indian consumers will happily pay. For example I can quote of Rashmi Bansal's books. Especially 'Stay hungry, Stay Foolish'. It was priced so well, I hardly saw any pirated books on the footpaths people were more than happy to buy the…

I had bought Rashmi Bansal's book when it was released. I am not sure how high it was priced at the time but I guess it was not more than 125 or so. It was a well priced book. I think she had reduced the middleman's[0] commission to a great extent. Funny thing about that book, you can buy it legitimately at ~90 and even street vendors(pirated copy sellers) usually sell it at 50+ and people still buy :-) I think they…

For movies checkout Bigflix. Their subscription plan seems cheap but don't know anything about movie collection or T&C.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#119

Post by NIL8 »

hpagey wrote: post #31

I think the key to successful ecommerce model in India is hybrid of online and offline experiences. I had the following idea floating in my mind for long time now . Let me know if it makes sense a) You franchise out "ecommerce" physical shops. This is a physical location where customer can come in surf ecommerce websites and place an order. b) There is someone at this shop who will collect money on behalf of ecommerc…

This is very similar to the way the old JCPenney catalog worked in the U.S..

I would go for it.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#120

Post by fakeer »

vilgax wrote: post #118
fakeer wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had bought Rashmi Bansal's book when it was released. I am not sure how high it was priced at the time but I guess it was not more than 125 or so. It was a well priced book. I think she had reduced the middleman's[0] commission to a great extent. Funny thing about that book, you can buy it legitimately at ~90 and even street vendors(pirated copy sellers) usually sell it at 50+ and people still buy :-) I think they…

For movies checkout Bigflix. Their subscription plan seems cheap but don't know anything about movie collection or T&C.

Tried them. The quality is at least 3-4 times worse than the DVDRips and not even mentionable in the same breathe as a BRRip.

And it used to decide to crash from time to time and then it would simply stop streaming and buffering and you couldn't do anything about that.

There's a new player in town CatchFlix. Haven't checked them.

There's also BoxTV which worse than them all.

And range sucked in all of them.

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