Amazon grocery reaps big returns with 150% growth
Online marketplace major Amazon India has seen 150 per cent growth in the last one year in the grocery segment, on the back of repeat customers and Prime membership. Groceries and entertainment are the two key segments for Amazon India, which it believes are helping it to make e-commerce a habit among its customers and score over Flipkart.
The company has been working hard on making its FMCG and groceries category strong in the last one year. “We have added 1.9 million products in to the category and have the largest selection in India,” said Saurabh Srivastava, director, Category Management, Amazon India.
Last year Amit Agarwal, senior vice-president and country head, Amazon India, had said people were buying everything from appliances to even daily household items on its portal, indicating this had helped in increasing the number of repeat customers.
“Appliances are bought once in a couple of years, mobile phones maybe once a year, but groceries and daily need items are things that bring repeat customers. Also it has an incremental effect as customers end up spending on other items as well,” Srivastava added.
To bolster its grocery segment, the company has already started selling it in four different formats — Amazon Pantry, which is its grocery vertical, Amazon Now, the company’s two-hour delivery service, Subscribe and Save, where customers can get items delivered periodically, and Super Value Day.
Flipkart, which earlier tried to sell groceries but failed to make much headway is again refocusing on the segment after its last funding round. Sources said the renewed push was being made at the behest of investors who have seen Amazon make major headway in this category in the last 12 months.
Expanding its Prime benefits further to customers, Amazon on Friday announced the launch of two of its global programmes — Amazon Family and Baby Wish List in India. The Baby Wish List programme, which is open to all Amazon customers, helps expecting and new parents create a list of items they’ll need for their baby as the baby grows.
“With Amazon Family benefits, Prime members can save even more on their monthly spends and get the convenience of free fast delivery at their door-step, leaving them free to enjoy their time with their new baby,” Akshay Sahi, Director and Head of Amazon Prime India said.