By Prarthana Mitra
Soon you will be able to order all you need from Amazon and have it delivered to your doorstep within two hours.
The company’s big plans for India this year include delivering packages in two hours in four cities as an attempt to expand and broaden its offerings in fresh produce and household products, an official said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.
The Indian wing of the Jeff-Bezos led firm revealed prospective tie-ups with local vendors to facilitate super fast delivery in sectors other than groceries which is already being undertaken by their flagship fresh grocery delivery service called ‘Amazon Pantry’.
Here’s what happened
Amidst fierce competition from rival e-commerce chain Flipkart, which is rumoured to be joining hands with Walmart next month, Amazon India has set an ambitious target to deliver products within two hours of placing the order.
Country Head of Amazon India Amit Agarwal said in an interview the plan would require logistical expansion, large investment and agile operations to.
“I would not speculate on when we would launch Amazon Fresh but, absolutely, if you ask me the next five years of vision – from your avocados to your potatoes, and your meat to your ice cream – we’ll deliver everything to you in two hours,” Agarwal added, regarding the prospect of launching Amazon US’ decade old grocery service in India.
Why you should care
After the success of the Amazon Prime Now programme in California last month, which enabled Whole Foods customers to get free two-hour delivery, the US retail giant aims to up its game in their largest marketplace in Asia.
The company expects groceries and household commodities to account for more than half of their business in the next five years, especially in rapidly developing economies like India. In the interview on Friday, Agarwal said goods such as creams, soaps and cleaning products were already the largest product category on Amazon in terms of the number of units sold in India.
With 100 million users in India who have access to high-speed internet and are thus equipped to shop for everyday products online, Amazon stands to win over a lot more customers with this latest promise of fast delivery. Customers who don’t like their time and energy spent shopping in malls and stores and prefer to have things delivered to their doorstep, stand to benefit from this ambitious project.