Technology News

Technology News
We are here to provide the latest news about different technologies.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Amazon Prime to ramp up its India offerings

Amazon Prime plans to ramp up its India offerings, a year after it debuted the programme at an introductory price of Rs 499.

The subscription-based programme, which saw membership triple from January 2017 to June 2017, plans to include benefits such as event ticketing and cashbacks through the Amazon Pay wallet.

"We want to serve all your needs from shopping, family, video and any other entertainment needs you might have," said Akshay Sahi, head of Prime in India. The number of products under Prime has increased 70% to 2 million since the launch of the programme which guarantees one-day delivery in 100 cities.

ET had previously reported that Amazon Prime was on its way to launching music streaming services. The India platform has been in discussions to launch special previews for Prime members providing them limited tickets for third-party events, said Sahi.

Amazon Prime to ramp up its India offeringsAt present, Prime in India offers four benefits, including fast and free deliveries, a 30-minute preview to lightning deals, Amazon Prime Video (introduced in December 2016) and Amazon Family (introduced in May 2017) which gives parents a year-long 15% discount on diapers. In the US, Amazon's home market, Prime provides close to 20 benefits including music, deliveries from preferred restaurants, membership sharing between family members and a 5% cash back on the use of Prime credit cards.

Sahi added that Pay with Amazon or third-party payments through the wallet is an India-specific benefit which Amazon is looking at.

"Wallet has a frequency game, Prime has a frequency game and we will leverage them together. Associating with external partners creates a lot of impact on customer experience. When it is cashback, it is easy to do," said Sahi while talking about introducing cashbacks and loyalty points for the Prime customer in India.

Prime users are likely to shop twice as much as non-Prime users on the Amazon India platform, according to Sahi, as the Seattle-based online retail giant looks to repeat the success of the programme in its home market here.

In the US, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated that the total number of Prime users in July 2016 was 63 million making up more than half of Amazon's customer base. The Prime members spent an average of $1,500 per year, compared to $500 spent by non-Prime users. With the bouquet of services, the price for renewal of Amazon Prime membership is also likely to go up.

"We declared a strike-through price of Rs 999 and cut it. The programme, as we see it, has a much higher value. Over time, the price will increase, I hope so. The price increase is to generate a lot more value from customers. We do think it is undervalued," said Sahi adding that increasing the benefits will also ensure that the value derived from it is higher.

While shopping and associated perks on the marketplace continue to be the biggest draw for customers on Prime subscription, 40% of the base also watches videos through the programme.

"The multiple services provided enhance the customer experience for Amazon, a key differentiator in the ecommerce market where many businesses compete on price only, which is not a sustainable strategy in the long run. Amazon can position it self as the destination for a variety of services, which increase the customer loyalty and its margin," said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner.

Orders from Prime customers contribute up to 30% of the orders on the Amazon India platform, with 50-60% orders for Amazon Pantry, the FMCG goods service.

No comments:

Post a Comment