Amazon India is now live • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon India is now live

#51

Post by sshrin » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 12:55 AM UTC

shreyansj wrote: post #45

calpaterson wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason they are in the backseat is that protectionist legislation prevented them from trading in India. The end result is that Indian book prices are quite high for a country with largely third-world living standards.

I was under the impression that the books sold in India (and some other Asian countries) are low-priced international editions of those books. This is specially true for college textbooks with foreign authors.

Yes, it is called the "Eastern Economy Edition". However, if the book is not a standard textbook, the chances of you finding an EEE is slim.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#52

Post by mayanksinghal » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 1:03 AM UTC

Sven7 wrote: post #49

mayanksinghal wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also the case that Debit Cards are insanely popular in India, a lot more than Credit Cards. Secondly, Online Banking (banks exposing merchant APIs) is also very popular for internet purchases as it removes the middleman.

What's an example of "banks exposing merchant APIs"?

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any documentation for these services. It is possible that the APIs are published only for the merchants who are authorized to use them, payment gateways like CCAvenue and TPSL being some of them.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#53

Post by nleach » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 1:24 AM UTC

Interesting that the IP address resolves to their datacenter in Ireland. I would have assumed either Singapore or Tokyo. Is there any reason that a continental connection is preferable to an.. aquatic one?

Re: Amazon India is now live

#54

Post by canttestthis » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 1:26 AM UTC

nleach wrote: post #53

Interesting that the IP address resolves to their datacenter in Ireland. I would have assumed either Singapore or Tokyo. Is there any reason that a continental connection is preferable to an.. aquatic one?

Bandwidth is very expensive in both Singapore and Tokyo.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#55

Post by nleach » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 1:31 AM UTC

canttestthis wrote: post #54

nleach wrote: post #53

Interesting that the IP address resolves to their datacenter in Ireland. I would have assumed either Singapore or Tokyo. Is there any reason that a continental connection is preferable to an.. aquatic one?

Bandwidth is very expensive in both Singapore and Tokyo.

In e-commerce, doesn't latency == $$? Is the bandwidth premium really that much higher? Or is the performance difference between the geographies negligible?

Re: Amazon India is now live

#56

Post by fakeer » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 2:05 AM UTC

sameerp1 wrote: post #39

ErrantX wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So out of interest; what's it like in India at the moment, buying online? For example; with Amazon in the UK and can order before about 5pm (often later) and have it arrive tomorrow. That even works for some marketplace sellers. Is there comparable service from Indian retailers? (I ask out of genuine interest to see how the markets compare!)

The most interesting thing about Indian e-commerce shipping to me (someone who lived 28 years in the USA and the last 1 year in India) is that there is no concept of choosing delivery speed. There is only standard shipping. You need the product tomorrow? Well you're out of luck. It'll be there in a couple days if you're in a metro, which definitely isn't bad for standard shipping. But you don't get to control the shi…

>>You need the product tomorrow?

If you are in a metro then you get the item shipped next day. I've shopped with Flipkart, Myntra etc and this has always been the norm and when usually it becomes 2-3 days it's because your stuff is being sent from a warehouse in another metro. As I live in B'lore Myntra has almost always done 1-day shipping or 2 at most.

You want your items to be shipped to a small town? There's a problem. You want to ship it to your parents in a very small town or rural area? Forget it!

There are other services like eBay India, which has recently, started 3-4 day shipping. Earlier for them it was 7-8 minimum as standard. Deal sites like SnapDeal etc follow the same minimum 7-8 days golden rule.

Sites like IndiaPlaza are plague. You get your stuff in months or fortnights and then you congratulate yourself.

The thing is there are so many options in India, even on smaller scales, for online shopping and people actively use them where they best deals. In USA when I try to buy sth, to get it via a friend who is coming form USA, I have more or less one option - Amazon!

Re: Amazon India is now live

#57

Post by nmridul » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 2:08 AM UTC

tellarin wrote: post #48

rluhar wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is quite similar to way convenience stores work in Japan. You can pay at a convenience store and get Amazon to ship your goods to a convenience store. Japan (similar to India) is still very much a cash based society and I suppose some people prefer to pay in cash at a convenience store instead of paying online. India also has loads of tiny convenience stores, I think this is an excellent idea. It also simplifies…

In China you can have Amazon (and other major e-commerce firms) ship things to your home or office and pay in cash on delivery (for most items). The amount of delivery people in Beijing, especially near lunch time, is quite impressive.

Most Indian online stores (Flipcart etc) has cash on delivery option.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#58

Post by fakeer » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 2:12 AM UTC

It's the beginning so I wouldn't say "the inventory disappoints me" outright. But it does. It's not a garage startup's inventory for haven's sake.

Two friends have started a sort of startup for books and movies and their inventory is comparable, though with a shitty interface for which I have shamed them many times.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#59

Post by garindra » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 2:14 AM UTC

tellarin wrote: post #48

rluhar wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is quite similar to way convenience stores work in Japan. You can pay at a convenience store and get Amazon to ship your goods to a convenience store. Japan (similar to India) is still very much a cash based society and I suppose some people prefer to pay in cash at a convenience store instead of paying online. India also has loads of tiny convenience stores, I think this is an excellent idea. It also simplifies…

In China you can have Amazon (and other major e-commerce firms) ship things to your home or office and pay in cash on delivery (for most items). The amount of delivery people in Beijing, especially near lunch time, is quite impressive.

What's the protocol when the customer can't pay on delivery?

Re: Amazon India is now live

#60

Post by fakeer » Wed, Jun 05, 2013, 2:39 AM UTC

Sven7 wrote: post #49

mayanksinghal wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also the case that Debit Cards are insanely popular in India, a lot more than Credit Cards. Secondly, Online Banking (banks exposing merchant APIs) is also very popular for internet purchases as it removes the middleman.

What's an example of "banks exposing merchant APIs"?

I think this is how it goes:

Banks/credit card companies have their payment APIs[0] open to parties they deal with (usually) payment gateways(now don't ask me for public methods and web service URIs) ->> payment gateway firms[1] deal with the banks and have access to those APIs ->> merchants/sellers[1] deal with payment gateways ->> customer checks out on seller/merchant's website ->> is redirected to (usually) payment gateway's portal where basic card/account credentials[2] are entered ->> is redirected bank/card's secure authentication page[3] ->> user enters login/password ->> is redirected back to seller/merchant's page with success/fail message.

[0] You might have to get in touch with some bank and/or payment gateway.

[1] When the seller is big, sometimes, they are themselves the payment gateways. Some PG examples are Citrus, Billdesk, SBI,CCAvenue(the shittiest) etc.

[2] Here in India the basic credentials include card number, exp date, name, CVV. In the USA these same basic details are more than enough for final purchase - sometimes even minus the cvv.

[3] Usually Mastercard's NetSafe or Verified By Visa etc.