India on a click

Amazon's India chief presents case studies to show how the global e-commerce giant is using technology to evolve and transform lives in this exclusive article for 'India Investment Journal'. As a rule, Nadeem would come across as a predictable face in a 'National Geographic' documentary on Mumbai's humming Dharavi. His job in a small leather workshop earned him just enough to meet household expenses. However, the changing growth dynamics brought him to his destiny; an opportunity to do business on his own through the ecommerce platform of Amazon's Global Selling Program. Nadeem promptly registered on the platform and took off, listing original leather jackets at attractive prices. Today, Nadeem does business worth over $8,000 each month on Amazon.in and intends to focus more on expanding his online business.

Nadeem is among thousands of ambitious youth, eager to exploit the tremendous customer base offered by the e-commerce platform. India is home to the world's fastest growing Internet user base. Thanks to a great telecom penetration in rural areas, the number of web users in India may touch 730 million by 2020 as against 350 million in 2015. A report, compiled by Nasscom and Akamai Technologies India, says 75 per cent of new Internet users will come from rural India, leaving the US far behind, but placing it only next to China. Rightly so, Amazon has stepped on the gas in India. For one, it has launched some India-specific services like Easy Ship, Fulfilment By Amazon, Amazon Now, I have Space programme to facilitate small businesses across the country. The immense infrastructure investment by Amazon is a significant way for these small and medium sized companies to leverage the online platform without worrying about distribution and logistics, while nonetheless getting access to a pan-India and even global customers, allowing them to scale up their business. In a way, Amazon India that began operations in 2013 and is already among the top three e-commerce platforms in the country, is bringing the best of global technology to change not just the Indian e-commerce landscape, but create opportunities on the go for sellers across the country to transforms the way they sell and how consumers buy. As a corollary, Amazon.in this year outlined an additional investment of $3 billion (taking it to $5 billion) which is equal to its global marketing costs in 2015, but marginally higher than its total capital expenditure last year ($4.5 billion). A significant part of this additional fund will be to ensure the Indian customers continue to enjoy a vast selection on its platform, including with innovative programs for the local sellers, while at the same time adding to its infrastructural strength for the right logistics support. This clearly validates its commitment to the country especially leveraging its 7.5 per cent economic growth - a bright spot in the low global growth numbers - as well as the opportunity presented by the young demographic of the country. . Fashion to fibre: When sellers find more buyers Naturally, the youth is bustling among the Amazon seller base. Take Sujan Basha (30), fashioning to be the modern face of the handloom industry for nearly two years now. He runs his own company Sabita Handloom in Nadia, West Bengal and travels to Kolkata and Delhi to sell his offerings. Now, Sujan says online selling is far more profitable as it enables a seller to reach a larger customer base (even globally) with a wider repertoire of products. Says he: “I was not getting the right value for my products through offline selling as my reach was limited to local areas. I am glad to be a part of Amazon; I am learning new weaving techniques besides understanding the importance of branding for effective marketing. Today, I can confidently cater to customer demands.” It's not just fashion being impacted by prospects galore: even your local kiranawallas are happy to get more business. In fact, while opening up the retail business to large players, the Government had concerns regarding the smaller kiranawallas but the technology seems to have provided an even, level playing field. The Amazon Now program has helped local kiranas and offline players to grow exponentially. Using Amazon Now, customers can now shop for over 6000 everyday essentials from local kirana stores as well as bigger chains, and get them delivered to their doorstep within two hours. I Have Space: Know Your Customer But given India's unique heterogeneous geography as well as vastness, Amazon has launched some distinctive programs for India such as the IHS (I Have Space) programme. With this, Amazon joins hands with local store owners to provide pick-up and delivery to its online customers. Under IHS, the local kiranawalla can act as the nearest `pick-up point' for customers or can deliver products directly to customers. The programme multiplies his prospective customer base, business income and expansion opportunities. Amazon has 12,000 IHS points across the country. Neha who owns a small kiosk of cosmetic goods, “Maharani Shringar” in Patna City is a classic success case of IHS. She has been associated with IHS since last few months, attracted by the viability of the concept. Currently, she delivers 35-50 packages on a daily basis, earning an extra income of INR 18000-20000 per month over and above her regular income of Rs 12000-15000 from the kiosk. She has employed a local boy for delivery, enabling him to meet his educational expenses with this part time job. “Amazon has given me an identity in my locality which has increased my sales. I want to give a better future for my daughter with this additional income. I am also trying to get more women to be associated with this programme. It would make them independent as there are fewer opportunities for women in Patna, “says Neha. Easy Ship: Sellers leveraging Amazon logistics There are those who began to leverage the power of technology early. Vinayak Gautam who owns Todu Price, a small enterprise run by 4 friends, began selling on Amazon.in when he was just 21 years old. Though it all started to make some pocket money, he had soon built a fledgling business that turned into a fulfilling career. Into his fifth year in the e-commerce arena, Vinayak generates a turnover in seven digits, thanks largely to Amazon India's innovative Easy Ship - wherein sellers can leverage Amazon's investments in logistics to have their orders shipped straight from their own warehouses across India. In other words, all the small local sellers, with very specific kinds of products, such as kitchen ware, gardening products, etc, can unshackle their potential and improve their customer experience with the Amazon Easy Ship to make the delivery simpler and more reliable. FBA - fulfilling the customer trust Trust is another word that Rakesh Ramrakhani - owner of 'Lali Prints' in Jaipur - adds to the Amazon-customer association. Ramrakhani who runs his family textile business was slow to realise the potential of e-commerce, but joined Amazon in time to reach out to customers beyond the Pink City. He joined Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) - a pay-as-you-go fulfilment service wherein Amazon keeps sellers products in its warehouse, packs and ships them to customers, manages returns and services customer on their behalf. “The best thing about Amazon is the customer's trust,” says Ramrakhani whose sales have gone up over ten times in no time. In fact, Amazon has been acting as an enabler for India's vast small and medium businesses at every stage of their business lifecycle. Seller programmes to hone basic skills With its commitment to Indian consumers to get a vast product portfolio and to the sellers to ensure they are easily able to reach larger customer audiences, there are various seller programmes - an example is the Seller University for educating and onboarding sellers - under which current and new sellers are assisted to enroll, manage and grow their business profitably. Another pioneering innovation for sellers is Seller Flex, which allows sellers to list their entire products on Amazon.in but push them using the FBA service without moving them out of their own warehouse. This cuts the cost of transporting goods to Amazon storage and back. For customers, this means a greater selection at no or very low incremental fixed cost. At present, Amazon has 100 Seller Flex sites. Amazon Seller App is another innovation that enables buyer-seller communication, order notification, order detailing, shipment confirmation and order fulfilment notification through mobile devices. The App that enables a seamless management on the go has been downloaded by over 73,500 sellers. Much in line with the Indian tradition, Amazon has launched Amazon Tatkal, partly to debunk the myth that selling online is tough and a time consuming process. Here, SMEs can get on to Amazon.in, fill up and sell within just sixty minutes. In line with the Government vision to empower women, Amazon has launched a first-of its-kind women-only delivery stations in March this year; the first two centres came up at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Through this initiative, Amazon has taken the lead to engage women, create unique job opportunities and enable them to be achievers in this field. Amazon India's growth stems largely from its enabling role; that of a strong e-commerce platform that manages concerns of both sellers and buyers. Its steady investments in logistics and enabling services are boosting the confidence of Indian businessmen while the fulfilment services are cementing trust factor among customers. For millions of Indians, this could be the ultimate freedom to chart their own course of life. Amit Agarwal is vice-president and country head at Amazon India, responsible for Amazon's consumer and seller businesses in India. He joined Amazon.com in 1999, and has led several new initiatives in the formative stages of Amazon's seller, web-services and external payments businesses. He has served in a variety of leadership positions, including Global Technical Advisor to Jeff Bezos and vice-president, international expansion.