Keeping in view the tough competition Amazon is facing with its global competitors in E-Commerce global markets- Alibaba and Walmart, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos has announced loading of cash into Amazon wallet. The announcement came on June 05 in light so as to mark the fifth anniversary of Amazon India and will only be valid on June 06. Amazon customers were offered cash back of INR 250 to be added to Amazon Pay wallet. The offer was valid for users who shopped online at Amazon India for goods worth INR 1000 or above. To be eligible for offer, Amazon customers must have an activated Amazon wallet.
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The company, in 2017 recorded 126% surge in transactions and 68% increase in unique users. According to Amazon India head, Amit Agarwal, major growth has been witnessed in mobile prepaid recharges. Also over 60% of company’s transactions in India are digital payments. Most of the new users have joined after the launch of mobile recharge feature in August 2017. In May 2018, Amazon India rebranded its grocery services from Amazon Now to Prime Now, offering exclusive express two hour delivery to Prime members. Amazon now ships packages from over 50 fulfilments locations in 13 Indian states.
In an open letter, Jeff Bezos wrote, “We are five years into our journey but as we say here at Amazon, it is still Day 1 and I’m energized and humbled by the opportunities ahead. Amazon is India ki apni dukaan.” Amazon’s e-wallet has been pushed beyond its own marketplace and has been connected with other online merchants like Fasoos, Freshmenu, Book My Show, Mc Donalds, Red Bus and Easemytrip.com to bring in innovation. For this expansion the company has spent over INR 700 crore in Indian digital payment since 2016. Although, online retail is the primary business of Amazon India, it aims to expand payments and financial technology business. Another unique feature which Amazon is offering its customers is cash load at doorstep.
Bezos highlighted all the milestones achieved by Amazon India over the duration of past five years. Presently, it reaches Indian customers from 100 per cent serviceable pin codes. The massive growth has also given an initiative to local artisans and businessmen to sell their products at Amazon’s online platform. During its journey in the Indian market, Amazon had launched several attractive products like Amazon Prime Subscription, Amazon Prime Video, Kindle Book, Amazon Music, etc. Mention was also made of Alexa and Echo Spot speakers launched in India in 2017. The online E-Book store of Amazon currently carries books in five India languages- Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati and Malayalam.
Most of the Indian e-commerce market giants like Paytm (backed by Alibaba) and Freecharge (owned by Axis Bank) also began with the similar strategy of offering cashback in order to build booming digital payments business in India. According to market experts, as cashback has become a mantra to acquire more customers, this has come as a strategy by Amazon to cast aside its opponents.
