In India’s large and small villages, there are thousands of traditional small shops, commonly known as “Girana”, they are “small but complete.” However, after the famous online retail store Amazon entered the Indian market, in addition to occupying the Indian middle class market, it recently launched an olive branch to these stores, attracting many shop owners to join the Amazon online store.
The 27-year-old Ganga is one of them. Last year, he joined the thousands of Girana store owners as a member of the Amazon India Company. Every day, Ganga will use the smart phone to show the villagers various goods sold by Amazon.com and teach the villagers how to buy online at preferential prices. Gangada believes that he is an online shopping bridge between Amazon and Indian villagers.
The special envoy to get local merchants to become online stores is part of Amazon’s further expansion into the rural Indian market, and India is considered by Amazon to be the last E-Commerce in the world.
With a population of 1.3 billion, India has a large number of smartphone owners. But its infrastructure is in a mess, and the traffic order is even more chaotic. In the express delivery industry, it is necessary to have the ability to charge the flying team. In addition, most people are still used to cash consumption, and even credit cards are not common, let alone online transactions. At the same time, a quarter of India’s population lives below the poverty line, and illiteracy accounts for a quarter. However, in recent years, with the growing middle class in India, the home appliance giant can’t help but try.
The goal of Amazon’s initial entry into the Indian market was to “change the way India buys and retails”. Despite the plain wording, the task is very difficult. In 2017, Amazon lost about $3 billion in exploring the international market. Analysts believe that most of the losses are due to India. Still, Amazon still has to rush to the top. Because whether it is Wal-Mart or Alibaba, these competitors have already opened up the territory in the Indian market, and the opponent’s move is enough to stimulate Bezos to do a big job in India. Although Ganga did not know the famous E-Commerce tycoon, he said that if Bezos can make the villagers’ shopping more convenient, they will definitely earn a lot of money in India.
At the beginning of each month, Ganga will distribute Amazon promotional merchandise to the villagers, with the words “Don’t be afraid of online shopping, let it be your friend”. If the villagers place an order before noon, Amazon will deliver the goods to the unified receiving point in the village the next afternoon. Ganga will then distribute packages to the villagers on foot. When Ganga Da distributes parcels, he often attracts countless villagers to help him run his legs. The scene is as spectacular as the parade.
The Amazon India website was officially launched in 2013. It has a team of all Indian engineers who have worked at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, USA. Bezos warned these Indian engineers, “Don’t think of yourself as a computer scientist, learn to think like a cowboy, wild, fast, and even rude.”
Today, Amazon has more than 50 operations centers in India, and its membership has also been introduced to India in 2016. In order to improve the timeliness of express delivery, Amazon built its own express network from the beginning, collecting various transportation vehicles including vans, motorcycles, bicycles and even ships. It also does as the Romans do, accepting customers to pay in cash. Soon, Amazon’s online shopping attracted many Indian middle-class customers. Today, expanding the broad rural market is becoming a new point of profit growth and will help Amazon win the Indian market.