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Tag: Amit Agarwal

  • Amazon India seasonal sale boosts Prime Video subscribers

    Amazon India seasonal sale boosts Prime Video subscribers

    Mumbai: Amazon’s bet seems to have paid off. In the past few weeks, it has been accumulating original content and striking content licensing deals. Amazon had been firming up its content strategy by tying up with several Bollywood production houses for original TV shows and films while it was gearing up for its Prime Video service launch in India. Among the few notable deals it has made were with Dharma Productions and T-Series. Amazon Prime Video, the paid subscription service of Amazon India, yesterday emerged as the highest selling product for the e-tailer.

    Amazon’s five-day festive season sale period ended on Wednesday, and one out every three units sold was membership of Prime Videos, Amazon India country manager, Amit Agarwal, told FE. The e-tailer moreover claims to have sold more than 5 million units over a period of five days. The paid subscribers of Amazon Prime will be default users of the video streaming service called Prime Videos.

    After the entry of global video over-the-top (OTT) player like Netflix in India early this year, Amazon is the second large player to announce the launch of its video streaming service in India. Amazon India is presently selling the membership at a 50 per cent discounted rate of Rs 499 for a year.

    “Despite a slump in the market, Amazon India has been growing at a rate of 150% over the the last three years. This sale was three times bigger and 30 times bigger than last Diwali,” said Agarwal. Mobile, fashion and lifestyle and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) were the other top selling categories on the platform during the sale period.

    The e-tailers claim that mobile saw a five times jump in number of orders placed apart from television which grew by 25 times. While large appliances saw a seven times growth in terms of sale.

    According to Agarwal, the platform saw a five times growth in the number of new customers who came online to shop, compared to last year. Tier 2 and smaller towns contributed to 70% of the orders. Agarwal added that during the festive season sale period, Amazon continued to witness high traffic both on the website as well as on its mobile app. “80% of the traffic came through mobile. In fact, the app recorded seven time growth in direct traffic,” he explained.

    Amazon has also signed deals with Excel Entertainment to create original TV shows for the platform and with Vishesh Films for its film catalogue. Given the backdrop of competition in the OTT space, Amazon is also reportedly participating in the IPL tender with a keen interest to bid for the digital rights.

    As a result of the partnerships with T-Series, Amazon Prime members would soon enjoy a wide variety of some of the best Bollywood movies in the country, all within a few weeks of their theatrical release, said Amazon Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani.

    Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had announced that the company would be investing an additional $3 billion in India, taking the total investment to more than $5 billion. It reportedly plans to invest around $300 million in producing original content for India. Amazon had launched its Prime subscription service in India in July.

  • Kids content growth is fastest in digital, and monetizing models need to keep up

    Kids content growth is fastest in digital, and monetizing models need to keep up

    MUMBAI: ‘Kids content has already gone digital, catering to its target audience,’ was the unanimous consensus at a session on ‘Kids Go Digital’ at the ongoing FICCI Frames 2016

    Unlike most discussions on digital media, there were no “if’s, ‘but’s and ‘maybe’s” and panelists — Chuchu TV CEO Vinoth Chander, Godimensions’ founders Shravan and Sanjay Kumaran, Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal  and Viacom 18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi – discussed how to take digital kids content to the next level, expand its market in India and make the most of the resources and eyeballs at disposal. Whizkidz Media founder Amit Agarwal, moderated the panel discussion.

    “Kids content growth is fastest in digital as its consumers are native to the medium. While you and I are adapting to the medium, they are born in the digital world and hence take naturally to it,” said Gandhi, adding that over the years the demography of kids born in the digital world will only grow.

    Currently kids’ content on digital platform is mostly on YouTube which has a few issues. Firstly, there is hardly any premium kids content available in India, then there is a lack of character driven shows, and most of the content for children is targeted at preschoolers leaving out a huge chunk of the audience. Moreover, most of the viewership comes from foreign markets, and the market in India still needs to be developed.

    Reflecting on how one markets kids content, Gandhi had a cryptic answer: “In their own language”. “You need to think like them and market your content on their own terms.”

    Speaking from personal experience, Gandhi added that using TV as a medium is a good start, as a huge chunk of the audience is still on TV. “Sampling videos on YouTube, TV and even reaching out to them through schools and play schools is also a good way to understand them and share your content.”

    As far as Chander was concerned, organic reach has worked wonders for him and his company ChuChu TV and he would vouch for strategically placed promotion within their own YouTube content. “We want to concentrate on quality content, rather than marketing as the former does the latter for us,” Chander said categorically. He also stressed that kids usually take more to visual content, and therefore propagating the message through videos and pictures would work better.

    “Kids are smart,” said Agarwal on the topic of edutainment. “Do not trick them into consuming content that you sell as entertainment, which is actually educational and is meant for learning. You need to separate your own consumers from their parents.” To back his argument Agarwal narrated about his own failed experiment with a gaming app that was intended to teach mathematics to kids. “A minute into the game they figured that this was no game but a trick to teach them, and immediately they got disinterested. For them games is entertainment, and just that.”

    The young entrepreneurs in the panel however differed. The Kumaran brothers said “Kids do like content that mirrors the teachings of their parents. Moreover, content that has an educational value that teaches a skill set like a programming code, or their everyday school syllabus with diagrams and videos, will work immensely well.”
     
    Expectedly monetizing models came up when discussing content production and business opportunity. “Time spent on content is what advertisers swear by. If that is so, as per market insight, kids will spend more and more time on digital or second screens than on TV, it is already happening,” said Agarwal hinting that ad revenue on kids content on digital platform will only grow.
     
    Gandhi shared another statistic from a BCG study: “Out of top 200 YouTube channels that garnered 10 billion views, 5 percent had kids content while 26 percent of the viewership came from children. It indicates that kids watch repeatedly, and they get obsessive over characters,” Gandhi said. Pointing out the simple demand supply ratio in economics, he added, “money will follow.”

  • Kids content growth is fastest in digital, and monetizing models need to keep up

    Kids content growth is fastest in digital, and monetizing models need to keep up

    MUMBAI: ‘Kids content has already gone digital, catering to its target audience,’ was the unanimous consensus at a session on ‘Kids Go Digital’ at the ongoing FICCI Frames 2016

    Unlike most discussions on digital media, there were no “if’s, ‘but’s and ‘maybe’s” and panelists — Chuchu TV CEO Vinoth Chander, Godimensions’ founders Shravan and Sanjay Kumaran, Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal  and Viacom 18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi – discussed how to take digital kids content to the next level, expand its market in India and make the most of the resources and eyeballs at disposal. Whizkidz Media founder Amit Agarwal, moderated the panel discussion.

    “Kids content growth is fastest in digital as its consumers are native to the medium. While you and I are adapting to the medium, they are born in the digital world and hence take naturally to it,” said Gandhi, adding that over the years the demography of kids born in the digital world will only grow.

    Currently kids’ content on digital platform is mostly on YouTube which has a few issues. Firstly, there is hardly any premium kids content available in India, then there is a lack of character driven shows, and most of the content for children is targeted at preschoolers leaving out a huge chunk of the audience. Moreover, most of the viewership comes from foreign markets, and the market in India still needs to be developed.

    Reflecting on how one markets kids content, Gandhi had a cryptic answer: “In their own language”. “You need to think like them and market your content on their own terms.”

    Speaking from personal experience, Gandhi added that using TV as a medium is a good start, as a huge chunk of the audience is still on TV. “Sampling videos on YouTube, TV and even reaching out to them through schools and play schools is also a good way to understand them and share your content.”

    As far as Chander was concerned, organic reach has worked wonders for him and his company ChuChu TV and he would vouch for strategically placed promotion within their own YouTube content. “We want to concentrate on quality content, rather than marketing as the former does the latter for us,” Chander said categorically. He also stressed that kids usually take more to visual content, and therefore propagating the message through videos and pictures would work better.

    “Kids are smart,” said Agarwal on the topic of edutainment. “Do not trick them into consuming content that you sell as entertainment, which is actually educational and is meant for learning. You need to separate your own consumers from their parents.” To back his argument Agarwal narrated about his own failed experiment with a gaming app that was intended to teach mathematics to kids. “A minute into the game they figured that this was no game but a trick to teach them, and immediately they got disinterested. For them games is entertainment, and just that.”

    The young entrepreneurs in the panel however differed. The Kumaran brothers said “Kids do like content that mirrors the teachings of their parents. Moreover, content that has an educational value that teaches a skill set like a programming code, or their everyday school syllabus with diagrams and videos, will work immensely well.”
     
    Expectedly monetizing models came up when discussing content production and business opportunity. “Time spent on content is what advertisers swear by. If that is so, as per market insight, kids will spend more and more time on digital or second screens than on TV, it is already happening,” said Agarwal hinting that ad revenue on kids content on digital platform will only grow.
     
    Gandhi shared another statistic from a BCG study: “Out of top 200 YouTube channels that garnered 10 billion views, 5 percent had kids content while 26 percent of the viewership came from children. It indicates that kids watch repeatedly, and they get obsessive over characters,” Gandhi said. Pointing out the simple demand supply ratio in economics, he added, “money will follow.”

  • Future group inks pact with Amazon India

    Future group inks pact with Amazon India

    MUMBAI: Future Group has entered into a strategic partnership with the online retail giant Amazon India under which the e-tailer will sell the retail group’s products online.

     

    The deal will leverage the product knowledge, brand portfolio and sourcing base of the Future Group, and the e-commerce platform, customer base and reach of Amazon.in.  The deal comes soon after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos visit to India during which he met Future Group group CEO Kishore Biyani.

    Talking about the collaboration Biyani comments, “The bottom line in each of our retail success stories is ‘know your customer’. Insights into the soul of Indian consumers – how they operate, think, dream and live – helps us innovate and create functionally differentiating products and experiences. Partnership with Amazon, which obsesses to be earth’s most customer centric company, will enable us to leverage their strengths, investments and innovations in technology to reach out to wider set of consumers across India.”

    According to the joint statement issued by the companies, the partnership will initially focus on the Future’s Group fashion brands and will subsequently cover all other categories. The company’s current portfolio has over 40 brands and around 10,000 unique styles that will be exclusively retailed online through Amazon.in platform. Once operational, customers on Amazon.in platform can buy Future Group’s fashion brands Lee Cooper, Converse, Indigo Nation, Scullers or Jealous21, among others.

    Moreover, Amazon India will also assist Future Group in accelerating new product development in categories that are currently not served by traditional retailers.  

    Commenting on the latest alliance in the e-commerce space, Trust Research Advisory (TRA) CEO N Chandramouli reckons, “Today the e-commerce space is no longer limited by geographic boundaries in a sense as fixed as it used to be a few years ago. With its current offering Amazon already caters to a massive Indian.

    “Future group which has been a leading retailer in the country understands the soul of Indian consumers. As one of India’s retail pioneers with multiple retail formats, they connect a diverse and passionate community of Indian buyers, sellers and businesses. The collective impact on business is staggering: Around 300 million customers walk into Future group stores each year and choose products and services supplied by over 30,000 small, medium and large entrepreneurs and manufacturers from across India, so with the Amazon tie up, this number is set to grow and venture into the on line spectrum,” he adds.

    Partnership between the two organisations will bring together the best of consumer insight from the online and offline world and create the omni channel approach to serving customers, according to the company statement.

    According to Team Pumpkin co-founder Swati Nathani, “The partnership is definitely a win win situation for both the companies. Amazon will get the support of millions of Indian consumers who have already trusted Future Group brands and Future Group will foray into e-commerce space again, but this time with the support of global leaders in this category. This partnership will not only lead to more people to purchase their favourite brands online, but will also get another door for Future Group to generate  .”

    “This definitely calls for more competition and harder marketing techniques. Future Group has been at the forefront of offline retail in India and its presence on amazon.in shall definitely be a cause of worry to some other leading e-commerce players,” she adds.

    Amazon.in will also collaborate with Future Group brands in promoting the existing and new brands in markets, explore co-branding opportunities and accelerate new product development in categories which are currently not served by retailers. The companies will also explore synergies in areas such as distribution network, customer acquisition and cross promotions, the statement added.

    Commenting on the new partnership, Amazon India vice president and country manager Amit Agarwal said, “We are excited to collaborate, leverage each other’s unique strengths and serve customers across India. The product portfolio of Future Group, their innate understanding of the Indian consumer mind set and our ability to serve and deliver a convenient, easy, trusted and reliable delivery experience to a nationwide set of customers is a win win for all.”

    Amazon.in started its Diwali sale on 10 Oct, but did not go with the kind of heavy discounts that Flipkart and Snapdeal did last week.

    “This is the coming together of two trusted brands, Amazon and Future. Even more, they are in complementary spaces of businesses which is bound to create a strength much larger than the sum of the individuals. Not only will Amazon get leadership due to the extremely well oiled supply chain, but Future will get a business outlet, that may be larger than many of its retail stores together. I am sure the competition is beating themselves as to why they didn’t think of this one,” Chandramouli comments.

    “The partnership must not be seen as an attempt at ‘indianisation’ of Amazon. It is much more than that – this partnership stands on extremely strong business logic,” he adds.

    Future Retail is the flagship company of Future Group and owns the Big Bazaar chain of retail stores. Future Lifestyle Fashions has a portfolio of over two dozen fashion and lifestyle brands.

    Biyani recently criticised Flipkart and other e-commerce retailers in India for the deep discounts they offered during a promotional sale for the festival of Diwali, saying it would hurt other retail channels.

    “Kishore Biyani reportedly lashed out against Flipkart.com, due to selling of goods below cost price, which according to him was unfair. He doesn’t seem to be against the e-commerce concept per se. Future Group already had its own portal www.futurebazaar.com, which was one of the first online e-commerce portals in India, “Nathani opines.

    The Future Group’s electronics store, Ezone, already has an online presence and adopts a hybrid approach to sales involving both online as well as traditional brick and mortar stores. The group has also been speaking about ramping up its presence online.

    In September, Tata Group Company Infiniti Retail, which operates consumer durables and information technology (IT) retail chain Croma, and Snapdeal.com also announced a similar strategic partnership through which goods available at Croma stores were made available for purchase through Snapdeal.com.

    Amazon chief Bezos, during his visit to India, spoke about the potential he saw for the fashion industry in the online space and the deal with Future Group could help boost its battle against Indian competitors like Flipkart that acquired online fashion retailer Myntra. Amazon is also reportedly in talks to acquire online fashion retailer Jabong.

     

  • Diwali Dhamaka Week flags off on Amazon.in

    Diwali Dhamaka Week flags off on Amazon.in

    MUMBAI: The Diwali Dhamaka Week flagged off today morning on Amazon.in. Every day of the week, there will be great deals across hundreds of products from all categories enabling  Amazon.in customers  to make great savings on their Diwali shopping every hour. Amazon.in will be introducing new Lighting Deals every hour starting 7am to 6pm.  In addition, the next seven days will also witness launch of new categories, access to exclusive selection and many new surprises each day.
     
    “Customers can look forward to Amazon.in as their one-stop Diwali shopping destination this week. Each of the seven days, we will offer our customers in India the great savings on thousands of products every hour,” says Amit Agarwal, Country Manager & VP, Amazon India. “We have been receiving an overwhelming response from customers since morning for the deals & offers that are being introduced every hour as part of the Diwali Dhamaka Week,” adds Amit.
     
    Some of the exciting offers that customers can look forward to in the Diwali Dhamaka Week include –
     
    •         Rs. 2000 off on Kindle Paperwhite
    •         Flat 20% off on laptops
    •         Flat 30% off on mobiles
    •         FLAT 40% off or more on luggage & bags from brands like  American Tourister, Wildcraft, Puma and more
    •         Flat 25% off or more on Home & Kitchen products
    •         Upto 70% off on Books
    •         Flat 55% off on Handbags
    •         Flat 50% off on Shoes
    •         Flat 60% , 50%, 40% off on Men, Women & Kids wear respectively
    •         Flat 50% off on Jewellery
    •         Flat 50% off or more on 1000+ watches from Timex , Giordano, Maxima Eg0 and more
    •         Upto 40% off on Video Games
    •         Flat 40% off on Sports, Fitness & Outdoor products
    And more
    Some important deals coming up tomorrow include –
    •         25% off on Philips HD4419 2300-Watt Smooth and Ribbed Plate Table Grill
    •         23% off on Samsung Multi Function Wireless Printer
    •         30% off on Easyfit Adult Diapers (Large)
    •         34% off on Canon Lide 110 Flatbed Scanner
    •         Philips HL 7720 750-Watt 3-Jar Mixer Grinder
    All deals are available for a limited time and till stocks last. Customers can join the waitlist on deals that are 100% claimed and Amazon.in will alert them when that deal becomes available again.
     
    Special festive packaging
     
    Amazon.in has introduced special festive design packaging for this Diwali season. The festive design packaging has been launched in select but most frequently used sizes. Customers can shop for Diwali gifts on Amazon.in and get them delivered in these special packages without requiring to gift wrap them.
     
    Exclusive Offers
     
    Customers continue to enjoy exclusive access to  some of the most sought-after products like the Micromax Canvas A1 with Android One™, the Canon Powershot SX520 camera, Blackberry Passport, Hidesign’s new ICONIC range for both men & women, Timex Weekender collection of watches, audio products from House of Marley, etc.  
    Customers should download the Amazon Shopping app and visit often to keep track of exciting offers every hour!
    Women customers have a lot going for them this Karwa Chauth as Amazon.in has curated  a special Ethnic Jewellery for Karwa Chauthand a Jewellery Gift Store for them this week to celebrate the festival

     

  • Celebrate ‘Mission to Mars’ with Amazon.in

    Celebrate ‘Mission to Mars’ with Amazon.in

    MUMBAI: In celebration of India’s successful Magalyaan mission, Amazon.in, has announced the launch of ‘Mission to Mars’ weekend for customers in India from 4th-6th October 2014. The Mission to Mars weekend will see out-of-the-world deals and great saving for customers in addition to the everyday great deals & savings that are ongoing as part of the Online Shopping Dhamaka on www.amazon.in this festive month.

     

    “We are very proud on the successful completion of India’s Mars mission. It is a great achievement for India and we are celebrating this success by hosting a ‘Mission to Mars’ weekend between October 4th -6th for our customers,” says Amit Agarwal, Country Manager & VP, Amazon India.

     

    The ‘Mission to Mars’ weekend will begin on 4 October offering customers a weekend full of out-of-the-world deals that will add immense excitement to their festive shopping.

     

    “We have witnessed a fabulous response in the first week of our Online Shopping Dhamaka. We wish to make Week 2 much more exciting by offering customers great deals and savings every day during the festival shopping peak. There has been a 250%  increase  in the number of customers who have taken advantage of the deals on the Amazon.in in the last one week.

     

    The Top 5 categories of last week were Customer Electronics (including PC), Books, Home & Kitchen, Health and Personal Care and Baby. The Micromax Canvas A1 was one of the top selling products last week. Amazon.in is on track to selling 100K units of the device in less than two weeks of its launch and is by far the best selling phone on Amazon.in. Amazon.in also sold more than 75 thousand cans of Coke Zero in less than a week of its launch; iPhone sales witnessed a 5x jump in sales while customers bought twice the number of books during the 1st week of the Online Shopping Dhamaka.

     

    As the Online Shopping Dhamaka enters its 2nd week, customers can save big everyday and get great deals on thousands of top-selling products. Customers can enjoy –

     

    •             Flat 40% off on branded watches

    •             Flat 50% off on movie titles

    •             Flat 50% or more off on Shoes

    •             Flat 30% off on Pet Supplies

    •             Flat 30% off on Diapers

     

    Customers will get to enjoy exclusive access to new brands and products that are set to launch on Amazon.in this week. In addition, customers can benefit from several cash back offers.

     

    Customers can find more deals on http://www.amazon.in/Gifts-Store which has huge savings across a variety of Amazon.in categories – i.e home décor, electronics, kitchen appliances, video games, apparels, jewellery and more.

     

    Customers on www.amazon.in and Amazon’s mobile shopping application can shop anywhere with ease and confidence from over 18 million products across a broad range of departments including Books; eBooks & Tablets; Movies & TV shows; Kindle Devices, Computers & Accessories; Mobiles & Accessories; Consumer Electronics; Toys & Games; Baby Products; Health and Personal Care products; Watches; Fashion Jewelry; Home & Kitchen products; Beauty Products; Video Games; Music; Luggage & Bags; Handbags & Clutches; Sports, Fitness & Outdoor equipment; Shoes; Men’s, Women’s & Kid’s wear; Pet Supplies; Gift Cards. Customers across several cities in India are increasingly enjoying Amazon’s guaranteed next-day delivery on more than 325,000 products fulfilled by Amazon.

     

    All customers on www.amazon.in benefit from a safe and secure ordering experience, convenient electronic payments, Cash on Delivery, no-risk hassle-free returns policy, Amazon’s 24×7 customer service support, and a globally recognized and comprehensive 100% purchase protection provided by Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee.

  • We obsess about customer, not competition, says Jeff Bezos

    We obsess about customer, not competition, says Jeff Bezos

    MUMBAI: With the battle brewing in the e-commerce segment, the sector is making headlines every day; the latest being of Amazom chairman Jeff Bezos’s four-day visit to India.

     

    To make his business intentions in India clear, Bezos, who is on his second visit to India, carried out a road show on a supply truck at the premises of a shopping mall in Bangalore on 28 August handing a $2 billion cheque to Amazon India VP and country manager Amit Agarwal. This is by far the biggest expansion money from overseas that has come from a multi-national.

     

    According to the media reports, while handing the cheque, he said, “Amazon has unveiled a $2 billion investment in the country … we’ll work to better what Indians love most in shopping — vast selection, competitive pricing and fast delivery.”

     

    Amazon had announced a $2billion investment in India barely a day after homegrown Flipkart raised $1 bn from private investors.

    As per the reports, Bezos added that the cash pile will be spent on building performance centers, upgrading logistics services, developing the mobile platform and new tools and techniques to help the small and medium businesses.

     

    Amazon’s interest in the small and medium enterprises has been echoed by several homegrown e-tailers. While Snapdeal recently announced that it was inching close to the 100,000-seller mark, Flipkart has been tying up with industry bodies like FISME and NCDPD to penetrate the SME clusters.

     

    In an initiative called Amazon OneonOne, Bezos also had luncheon with about 100 customers on 28 September in order to find their views and opinions about the site and if there were any recommendations.

     

    According to various media reports, Bezos also indicated that policy hurdles in India is not impacting the company’s investment plans for the country. India is yet to allow FDI in online retail. Another issue is lack of clarity in tax laws that are impacting the company’s functioning in various states.

     

    Amazon’s main rivals in India are Bangalore-based Flipkart and Snapdeal, the Delhi-based company that counts eBay, Azim Premji and Ratan Tata as investors. Together, they have sold goods worth more than $4 billion, with Flipkart alone estimated to have crossed $2 billion. Alibaba, too, is keen on India, and the Chinese company has the money, experience and ambition to succeed here.

     

    Talking about the competition, Bezos also reportedly said, “We have a long history of obsessing over customers rather than competition.”

     

    With revenue of nearly $75 billion in 2013 the giant online retail site has a market value of $150 billion. It also runs a fast growing cloud computing business called Amazon Web Services and makes Kindle tablets and Fire smartphones. Bezos, in his personal capacity, bought The Washington Post newspaper last year. In India, Amazon started its technology operation first and employs a total of about 12,000 staff at offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi.

     

  • Junglee.com 2.0: From a comparison site to a marketplace

    Junglee.com 2.0: From a comparison site to a marketplace

    MUMBAI: Growing at 30 per cent since FY09 and aiming at becoming an $18 billion industry by FY15, the e-commerce players have been making non-stop headlines for quite some time now.

     

    With the steep rise in online usage, Amazon is now focusing more on its first entry into India, Junglee.com. Launched in 2012 by the global e-commerce giant, Junglee.com provided price comparisons for consumers. However, things have changed now.

     

    The site has now turned into a marketplace offering services like ‘Buy on Junglee’ and ‘Sell on Junglee’. The site has also launched an app to provide easier access to customers.

     

    Explaining the origin of the site, Amazon India VP and country manager Amit Agarwal says, “In the fast growing online shopping market, the profusion of options led to a need for a shopping guide that can help online shoppers navigate through the maze of options. To bridge this gap, we launched Junglee.com in 2012.”

     

    “Junglee enables customers to find and discover products from online and offline retailers in India. Junglee organises massive selection and multiple buying options from hundreds of sellers, and leverages Amazon’s proven technologies and millions of customer reviews to help customers make smart purchase decisions,” he adds.

     

    The portal offers customers access to more than three crore products with over six crore customer reviews and thousands of seller reviews. It has more than 2,300 online shopping sites and 1 lakh offline stores listed.

     

    Talking about the new features, Junglee.com GM Mahendra Nerurkar says, “With ‘Buy on Junglee’, we are helping sellers and customers improve their engagement with each other further and help convert leads at the time of intent.”

     

    He also added that Junglee had rebranded its Product Ads service to ‘Sell on Junglee’, earlier this year. It was particularly targeted at smaller retailers, who would get a chance to list their products on the site.

     

    Agarwal reckons, “Statistics say that 25 per cent of all online shoppers first visit comparison sites. 45 per cent tend to buy from offline stores after comparing online. This is what has driven offline stores to aspire to be on Junglee.com.”

     

    Besides, the site also allows consumers to sell their old and used products through its tie-up with Quikr.com.

     

    “Through our tie-up with Quikr.com, we also introduced product listings from offline store as well as across pre-owned products,” Nerurkar reckoned.

     

    Currently even though listing products on Junglee is free, they charge a fee per transaction for products that are bought using ‘Buy on Junglee’ facility. It is estimated that Junglee will be charging a flat rate of 5 per cent as part of a promotional offer that lasts till 31 May 2015. Rates will vary from five to 15 per cent after that.

     

    These features make Junglee a marketplace, along with a comparison site, and it is this strategy that will help Amazon India have an edge over its rivals. However, players such as Flipkart and Snapdeal have not yet listed themselves on Junglee.

     

    In addition, they also recently announced the launch of Junglee mobile app for android smartphones. This launch makes it convenient for customers to check prices of over 3.1 crore products anywhere through the easy to use app. 

     

    “The app enables shoppers to search across online and local sellers together as well as compare prices across new and used products, all in one place. It also includes an auto-suggest feature, filters to help refine results by brand, price, item condition, discount, average customer review and more attributes,” says Agarwal.

     

    Adding to that Nerurkar reveals, “The app has started trending on Google Play among apps from all categories. Within a month of launch, the app has been downloaded by over two lakh customers. We will continue to add new features to the app and help more customers check prices from anywhere using the app.”

     

    On an average, the site witnesses about 15 million sessions per month.

     

    Talking about future plans,  Agarwal comments, “Our vision for Junglee is to enable customers to determine where to buy anything, anywhere (online or offline, within or outside India). It’s a neutral and unbiased platform. At one place, customers can find the best offers on leading online e-commerce web sites such as Amazon.in, Jabong, HomeShop18, Indiatimes Shopping, Infibeam and hundreds of others.”

     

    Junglee.com has emerged as the number one search and comparison shopping site in India as per comScore and has occupied the top position on comScore charts for eight quarters in a row starting September 2012.

  • Kolkata’s production house debuts in Bollywood with ‘Vartak Nagar’

    Kolkata’s production house debuts in Bollywood with ‘Vartak Nagar’

    MUMBAI: Kolkata’s homegrown production house Adarsh Telemedia with Dione Entertainment has teamed up with Bollywood director Kunal Kohli to produce their maiden Bollywood venture, Vartak Nagar- The Story Of Four Crows.

     

    Directed by debutant Atul Taishete, Vartak Nagar stars Jimmy Sheirgill as a powerful underworld don and the MTV Roadies famed Raghu Ram as a mill union leader in the central roles.

     

    Talking about the movie, producer Amit Agarwal said, “The film is a gritty hard hitting film and for Kunal too this has been a step away from the romantic films that he is usually associated with. We were hunting for a film that mixed content with entertainment and as a story had a unique universal appeal.”

     

    “We are currently locking down on more Bollywood films as well and what we can promise is that each one of our future projects will be as content driven, as exciting and will be as universally appealing as Vartak Nagar,” he added.

     

    Set against the Great Bombay Mill Strike and the gangster era of the 1980’s, the film deals with the lives of four lower middle class school going friends and their lives as impacted by the strike, their loss of innocence and their journey which takes them through the highs of friendship, the lows of betrayal and eventually redemption.

  • Amazon to start a wholesale portal in India?

    Amazon to start a wholesale portal in India?

    MUMBAI: After launching an e-retailer Amazon India and a product-comparison site Junglee.com, the US online retail giant is all set to launch a new portal in India.

     

    According to a report by economic times, the Seattle-based company is preparing to launch a portal for wholesale merchants in India, the first country outside the US where such an initiative is being planned.

     

    The report also said that the wholesale portal could be launched as early as next year and the team has been working on this secret project for the past few months. Talks with potential suppliers and the hiring process have also begun. The initiative could be led by Samir Kumar, who is currently director of category management and the team will report to Amazon India head Amit Agarwal.

     

    “It will be similar to what Walmart is doing online in India and what Alibaba does in China,” sources said to economic times.

     

    Amazon refused to comment to the report. An Amazon India spokeswoman said, “As a policy, we do not comment on anything that we may or may not do in the future.”

     

    Amazon’s online retail business has grown rapidly since its debut in India. It is already the biggest competition to the home-grown e-commerce site Flipkart. Just a day after Flipkart raised $1 billion, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon is going to invest $2 billion in its Indian arm.

     

    The India wholesale portal is said to be similar to AmazonSupply, its online site in the US focused on business consumers. The India platform will target small and medium enterprises. However, it is not clear what categories of products will the company sell under its wholesale platform. For instance, AmazonSupply does not sell apparel and other soft lines such as furnishings.

     

    Launched in 2012, AmazonSupply sells products ranging from office supplies to electrical equipment.

     

    Since June last year, Amazon in India has set up a network of seven warehouses across the country and has over 8,500 merchants selling products in over 28 categories on its platform.

     

    Recently, US retail giant Walmart also estimated that India’s wholesale market will grow to $700 billion by 2020 from the current $300 billion. Earlier this year, it launched a business-focused site bestpricewholesale.co.in for its wholesale club members in Lucknow and Hyderabad.

     

    It is estimated that the retail market in India currently at $525 billion will double in size by 2020.