Amazon
India is expanding its offline presence in the country as it looks to further
localise its offering and bring on board customers who are still reluctant to
shop online.
The
e-tailer has tied up with Vodafone India, the country's second largest telecom
operator by customers, to provide touch and feel experience of smartphones like
OnePlus 3, which sell exclusively on the platform.
Amazon
India and Vodafone have started pilots of this service in Bengaluru, across 40
stores owned by the telco. The tie up with Vodafone follows expansion of
Amazon's assisted shopping programme, called Udaan, to over 1,000 outlets in
tier II & III cities across the country.
While
Vodafone declined to comment to an emailed query, an Amazon India spokesperson
confirmed the development. As part of the tie up, each Vodafone store now
has a display case with mobile phones listed on Amazon and a product specialist
trained by the e-tailer. Customers can try out phones, especially as several
smartphones are now exclusively launched and sold on Amazon India without any
offline presence. Customers can order the product online from the store, and
also come back to it for any post-purchase help.
While still in a pilot stage, the project is likely to be rolled out across the country. There are about 10,000 Vodafone Stores of different sizes across India, giving Amazon access to a wide network.
Besides expanding its offline presence, the move will also strengthen Amazon's presence in the key smartphone space where it has been catching up on rival Flipkart, snagging exclusive tie ups with Lenovo K4 Note, Redmi Note 3, OnePlus, Coolpad range and Moto G4 Plus. Smartphones, which are part of the consumer electronics category, form the largest share of gross merchandise value for online retailers in India.
While still in a pilot stage, the project is likely to be rolled out across the country. There are about 10,000 Vodafone Stores of different sizes across India, giving Amazon access to a wide network.
Besides expanding its offline presence, the move will also strengthen Amazon's presence in the key smartphone space where it has been catching up on rival Flipkart, snagging exclusive tie ups with Lenovo K4 Note, Redmi Note 3, OnePlus, Coolpad range and Moto G4 Plus. Smartphones, which are part of the consumer electronics category, form the largest share of gross merchandise value for online retailers in India.
According
to Amazon, the idea behind this pilot is to acquire customers who are still “hesitant
to shop online”. “With an aim to acquire incremental set of customers who
are not yet shopping online, we are focusing on providing them with
opportunities to experience the benefits of shopping on Amazon.in and build
trust in the brand,” Arun Srinivasan, category leader of consumer electronics
at Amazon India, said in an emailed statement.
