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Amazon India is now live

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Re: Amazon India is now live

#81

Post by PakG1 »

rluhar wrote: post #47
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 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…

Off-topic, but can you expand more on this? I only remember reading article after article about how you could pay for everything in Japan using chips in your mobile phone. And article after article of Japanese companies lamenting how they did not manage to internationalize their mobile payment technology. And then the iPhone came along. And then Square came along.

If you are saying that Japan is still very much a cash based society, what percentage of transactions are done in cash and what percentage are done via mobile phones, judging from your personal day-to-day experience?

Re: Amazon India is now live

#82

Post by amjd »

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.

That's right. Most of these books have a developing country edition (that's what one of my books' cover says). Though most of these economical editions aren't of the same quality as their original counterparts. The printing is mostly black and white and the paper quality is much inferior.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#83

Post by [deleted] »

tellarin wrote: post #76
garindra wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As far as I know, the company keeps the goods. And the more high-priced items (laptop, TV, etc.) can't be paid in cash on delivery (only credit card or Internet banking accepted for those).

[deleted]

Re: Amazon India is now live

#84

Post by irahul »

tellarin wrote: post #76
garindra wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As far as I know, the company keeps the goods. And the more high-priced items (laptop, TV, etc.) can't be paid in cash on delivery (only credit card or Internet banking accepted for those).

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.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#85

Post by amjd »

prakster wrote: post #69
fakeer wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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)

It isn't a major player at all. Indian Post Office is mostly used for sending documents and stuff and people prefer it because it's cheaper and available in most destinations ranging from metro cities to small villages. Most ecommerce players use private logistics companies like BlueDart, DTDC, etc. They use Indian Postal Service only for rural orders where BlueDart and the like don't service.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#86

Post by amjd »

kamaal wrote: post #71
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.

I think FDI in e-commerce and retail sectors is something that will come to pass in India. Its inevitable.

It will. But when, nobody knows.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#87

Post by [deleted] »

Sven7 wrote: post #50
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.

Take a look at e-commerce in China. Lots of people forget, that the big Chinese players are now orders of magnitude larger than the Amazon's and Ebays in the west. The "end result" thanks to "protectionist legislation" is not as straight forward as people imagine. If it was wouldnt Alibaba have been allowed to buy Yahoo ;)

[deleted]

Re: Amazon India is now live

#88

Post by irahul »

calpaterson wrote: post #35
samirahmed wrote: post #3

Interestingly amazon is in the backseat here and it will be interesting to see how they succeed. From my understanding http://www.flipkart.com/ is the dominant player in the online shopping marketing in India

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.

> The end result is that Indian book prices are quite high for a country with largely third-world living standards.

Indian book prices, especially for foreign books which are published in India, is quite low.

http://www.flipkart.com/feynman-lectures-physics-mainly-mech...

Price: Rs 236

http://www.amazon.com/The-Feynman-Lectures-Physics-Vol/dp/04...

Price: USD 38(about Rs 2100)

That's almost a 10 fold difference. The paper quality isn't good, it's mostly paperback[1], but paying 10 folds for a hard cover isn't worth it. Books which aren't published locally(imported) are an issue. Prices are too steep compared to books which are published here.

http://www.flipkart.com/algorithm-design-manual-0002/p/itmdy...

Price: Rs 5163

[1]: In the examples above, both books are low quality paperback books.

Re: Amazon India is now live

#89

Post by atgm »

PakG1 wrote: post #81
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…

Off-topic, but can you expand more on this? I only remember reading article after article about how you could pay for everything in Japan using chips in your mobile phone. And article after article of Japanese companies lamenting how they did not manage to internationalize their mobile payment technology. And then the iPhone came along. And then Square came along. If you are saying that Japan is still very much a cas…

Japan is very cash-based. I've never seen Square or the domestic one (Coiny, I think?) in the wild.

Many stores still do not take credit cards.

A lot of convenience stores will take credit cards, most will take Suica cards (mass transit cards pre-loaded with money). Some vending machines will take Suica cards.

Mobile phone payment is kind of a hassle and requires a credit card as well as a phone that supports it (osaifu keitai). Not all phones do.

Cash is still the preferred method of payment online too -- three of the four options are basically cash: bank transfer (done with cash at an ATM or online if you use a bank that supports it), COD, and payment at a convenience store.

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