AMAZON'S FIGHT AGAINST ‘BUDGET'

In a build-up to Amazons Great Indian festival that starts this week, the e-commerce brand showcased a unique Amazon Festive Home in Delhi, where every single item placed in the three storey apartment was shopped on Amazon. Ravi Desai, Director, Mass and Brand Marketing, Amazon India tells us what more is in store for the festive season

- Neeta Nair

Q] Was the Amazon Festive Home activation aimed at showcasing Amazon as a one-stop destination for all kinds of festive and household needs?

This stems from one of the core pillars of our business, which is selection. This week we will enter Diwali with more than 170 million products for our customers, but it’s sort of difficult to fathom what 170 million products mean. Our team took up a challenge of setting up a home by using products sourced only from Amazon.in. So, right from electronic items to the sofa set to the toothbrush in the bathroom; all of it is available on Amazon. We basically wanted to highlight the fact that this is the kind of selection we are offering our customers this Diwali.

Q] Tell us about the expected sales during the 5-day shopping festival between October 10-15?

While I can’t reveal a number, I’d like to tell you about something I am most excited about, this Diwali- the fact that we now have the Amazon app and the interface available in Hindi. Widely available statistics suggest that there are just 150-180 million Indians who are conversant and comfortable with English. That literally means that with the app now available in Hindi, millions of Indians who have Hindi as their native language will probably not have the apprehension of language because they will now be able to browse, shop and go through the entire shopping cycle in a language of their choice. Over 85% of our new customers actually come from Tier II and Tier III cities. We are very excited by the initial response to the Hindi interface in the last few weeks, which was rolled out to our entire customer base and are looking at millions of new customers coming to Amazon as a result.

Q] Your ‘Chonkpur Cheetahs’ were very popular during IPL and now you have the Amazon Great Indian Band...