Amidst the debate over whether e-commerce companies should shift focus
from websites to mobile apps, Amazon India head Amit Agarwal indicated
to that the debate was not very meaningful.
"Amazon does not see itself as either an app or a web company, but rather as a consumer company," he said, suggesting that the e-commerce company would be present where the consumer is. The statement appeared to be a dig at rival Flipkart's persistent references to its focus on the mobile app, the need for a mobile-only strategy, and the need to get its employees away from a "desktop mindset."
In an exclusive interaction with , Agarwal said that Amazon India's business volume had grown by 500% in the third quarter of this year, compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago. "Such growth can only be achieved when you are focused on consumers," he said, and claimed that Amazon has the largest stock among Indian e-commerce players, at 40 million products, with per day addition of 55,000 products. He said a million products -over 70% of the requirement -are available for next-day delivery.
The range of products, their prices, and the speed of delivery are seen to be the three keys to e-commerce success. Agarwal said these elements had helped the Indian arm of the American ecommerce firm to become No. 1 in web traffic, and said its app installs were rising the fastest among domestic e-commerce players.
Flipkart has a big lead over rivals in mobile traffic.Mobile today accounts for 70-80% of traffic for most ecommerce players. Flipkart was one of the first companies to start pushing consumers to install apps. Its fashion focused subsidiary , Myntra, became the first e-commerce firm --among those who started on the web -to go app-only. Some later e-commerce entrants like Paytm started with the mobile, and have remained focused on it.
Asked if Amazon India could hope to be No. 1 in app installs and in number of active users on mobile, Agarwal said, "We managed to be No. 1 in website in 2.5 years. So becoming the leader in mobile apps is a matter of time. One can do an easy calculation to know when that would happen."
Flipkart was founded in 2008, and Amazon came to India only in 2013.
Agarwal said Amazon would double down on every aspect of business to keep accelerating growth in India. "We don't have restraints on fresh capital for investment. We are looking to open more fulfillment centres next year to help our sellers reach larger consumer bases," he said.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos last year had announced a $2 billion investment for the Indian arm, an announcement that came just a day after Flipkart had raised $1 billion from its investors. Agarwal did not specify if he had already used up the allocated investment. Amazon has 21 fulfillment centres across 10 states in India covering a total of over 2 million square-feet of space. It has over 1 lakh sellers on its platform, and over 65% of orders come from non-metro cities.
"Amazon does not see itself as either an app or a web company, but rather as a consumer company," he said, suggesting that the e-commerce company would be present where the consumer is. The statement appeared to be a dig at rival Flipkart's persistent references to its focus on the mobile app, the need for a mobile-only strategy, and the need to get its employees away from a "desktop mindset."
In an exclusive interaction with , Agarwal said that Amazon India's business volume had grown by 500% in the third quarter of this year, compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago. "Such growth can only be achieved when you are focused on consumers," he said, and claimed that Amazon has the largest stock among Indian e-commerce players, at 40 million products, with per day addition of 55,000 products. He said a million products -over 70% of the requirement -are available for next-day delivery.
The range of products, their prices, and the speed of delivery are seen to be the three keys to e-commerce success. Agarwal said these elements had helped the Indian arm of the American ecommerce firm to become No. 1 in web traffic, and said its app installs were rising the fastest among domestic e-commerce players.
Flipkart has a big lead over rivals in mobile traffic.Mobile today accounts for 70-80% of traffic for most ecommerce players. Flipkart was one of the first companies to start pushing consumers to install apps. Its fashion focused subsidiary , Myntra, became the first e-commerce firm --among those who started on the web -to go app-only. Some later e-commerce entrants like Paytm started with the mobile, and have remained focused on it.
Asked if Amazon India could hope to be No. 1 in app installs and in number of active users on mobile, Agarwal said, "We managed to be No. 1 in website in 2.5 years. So becoming the leader in mobile apps is a matter of time. One can do an easy calculation to know when that would happen."
Flipkart was founded in 2008, and Amazon came to India only in 2013.
Agarwal said Amazon would double down on every aspect of business to keep accelerating growth in India. "We don't have restraints on fresh capital for investment. We are looking to open more fulfillment centres next year to help our sellers reach larger consumer bases," he said.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos last year had announced a $2 billion investment for the Indian arm, an announcement that came just a day after Flipkart had raised $1 billion from its investors. Agarwal did not specify if he had already used up the allocated investment. Amazon has 21 fulfillment centres across 10 states in India covering a total of over 2 million square-feet of space. It has over 1 lakh sellers on its platform, and over 65% of orders come from non-metro cities.
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