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Amazon India is now live

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Re: Amazon India is now live

#61

Post by fakeer »

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.

Extremely low cost and I practically(and truly) can't afford a book Amazom USA, even an eBook. So, ones that is not available in India or is available at sth like INR 3000 or 4000 or so, I pirate.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#64

Post by ajju »

shreyansj wrote: post #44
general_failure wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allowing foreign investment into e-commerce can't come soon enough. The main reason the e-commerce space in India has not picked up fast enough is this.

Why do you feel that foreign investment into e-commerce is the solution?

a solution? I don't think there is a problem to solve. I do think allowing FDI in e-commerce can only help the Indian consumer (not to mention the economy, because it will result in more hiring, more exit options for e-commerce startups etc)

Re: Amazon India is now live

#65

Post by fakeer »

houshuang wrote: post #6

Great to see a good selection of Hindi novels, wish they were available for Kindle though. (Don't think the e-ink Kindles can even render Hindi though)

and at good prices. Earlier I sometimes had to call Rajkamal and order over phone and used to pay VPP.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#66

Post by Alterlife »

shared4you wrote: post #25
mey wrote: post #15

Finding it odd that they are using an image instead of unicode for INR, ₹. Is the browser support simply not there?

Somebody needs to tell Amazon about this site: http://webrupee.com/ This pulls in a web font (woff) to display ₹. If Javascript is disabled it shows up as "Rs" instead. A fair compromise instead of images everywhere.

This is one of those technical things that makes little or no difference to a customer.

They'll probably get to it eventually.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#67

Post by kamaal »

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…

Cash-on-delivery already solves most of what you are trying to say. Flipkart and many other sites are already very successful implementing this model.

These days anybody who can order things through internet, actually orders things through the internet.

Just wondering if you are an Indian or if you are staying India?

Re: Amazon India is now live

#68

Post by goombastic »

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 already happening. Some ecomm sites have tied up with a coffee chain here in India and doing NFC&QR code based item image display and allowing people to order them with their mobiles.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#69

Post by prakster »

fakeer wrote: post #56
sameerp1 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 p…

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)

Re: Amazon India is now live

#70

Post by kamaal »

shreyansj wrote: post #44
general_failure wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allowing foreign investment into e-commerce can't come soon enough. The main reason the e-commerce space in India has not picked up fast enough is this.

Why do you feel that foreign investment into e-commerce is the solution?

There are many reasons. Biggest is competition works wonders for consumers.

Secondly, It creates an environment where a lot can be learn't from others.

The current environment for start ups in India is in large part due to inspiration, effect and to an extent competition from the silicon valley.

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