Just within a year of its India launch, Amazon has found success amid fierce competition. The e-commerce giant?s CEO, Jeff Bezos, on Wednesday said at a Ficci event that the India venture has been highly successful and ?we are looking to make more out of it?.
?One of the things that is so unusual about India is the number of SMEs throughout the country,? he said. ?If you had asked me the same question a year ago, I would say I am optimistic but now I have data to show that the success has been startling. We have very high expectations,? Bezos said.
The e-tailer, which runs on the marketplace model, has helped several Indian SMEs do business during its one-year sojourn. Further explaining the success, Bezos said Amazon India has a vision to strengthen more Indian SMEs and create an enabling environment for them in the digital economy. ?We have a couple of programmes that look to help the SMEs in their ventures and make their work easy ? Amazon Fulfilment programme and the Easy Ship programme,? Bezos said.
The Amazon Fulfilment programme allows SME to store their inventory with us and, whenever there is a purchase, Amazon packs and then delivers it. This way the SME can cut costs of storage, he said. Explaining the Easy Ship programme Bezos said, ?The SME can choose not to store their inventory with us but at their own facility and whenever there is a purchase, Amazon picks up the package, packs and delivers it.?
But this isn’t where the e-tailer has stopped ? it also has a team of individuals who train SMEs on taking pictures of the inventory and categorising them, among other things. The team also teaches the SMEs to look at important metrics to increase their business.
When asked about the next big plan for India, Bezos said, ?We are looking to give Indian SMEs a global centre stage. We want Indian SMEs to be able to sell goods in the US, UK, France and other places where we operate.? Clearing the air on customs duty and obstacles that stand in Amazon’s path, Bezos said, ?With the use of right logistics and right systems we can curb the obstacles that stand in our way of the global fulfilment programme.? The CEO also factored in the mobile revolution while speaking about Amazon’s success in India. ?Almost all of our business is done through mobile apps? he said.
On competition, Bezos said Amazon has more experience than most e-tailers in India, and it also offers a software database that Amazon India can use to boost its business and also help SMEs at the same time. ?We don’t look at short-term profitability and are more consumer-oriented rather than being competition-oriented,? Bezos said.
?And the second thing that drives us is a passion for innovation. We infuse profits from successful ventures into the new ones,? he added. Clarifying his company policy of being supportive of new ideas, Bezos said executives who are working on new projects are not fired in case of a failure but moved to better or bigger projects. ?One needs a free mind to succeed in innovation,? he said.
Talking about the drone delivery project, Bezos said Amazon is working on delivering autonomous drones. ?If anyone has to control the drone then there is no point using it as it drives up cost. The drones need to land by themselves and take off. This all can be done easily but the problem is regulation which I think can also be tackled,” Bezos said.
