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Amazon said Friday that the biggest impact it faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic was in India.
During the company’s earnings call on Friday, Brian T. Olsavsky, Amazon’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, said the e-commerce company was only delivering essential goods, such as groceries, cutting many of its offerings in the country. “We will expand when the Indian government announces that we can resume operations,” he said.
Just like in your local market in the USA. In the US, Amazon in India faces off against Walmart, which acquired Flipkart in 2018 in a $ 16 billion deal. You are also starting to see the heat of Mukesh Ambani’s e-commerce company Relio, JioMart. Last month, Facebook announced a $ 5.7 billion investment in Reliance Jio Platforms for a 9.99 percent stake.
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“The current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon’s business like never before, but it is also the most difficult time we have faced,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.
“The service we provide has never been so critical.”
According to industry experts and analysts, market opportunities for online commerce in the country are expected to reach $ 200 billion by 2028 from $ 30 billion in 2018. However, during the closing phase, companies eCommerce products can sell only essentials like groceries. , medical supplies and baby food.
As the government extended the blockade for an additional two weeks, according to a new survey by community platform LocalCircles, about 78 percent of consumers want the government to allow e-commerce platforms to deliver all products beyond the essential. Post closure relaxation, consumers say, they’d rather buy necessities through local stores (in-store or delivery) and e-commerce sites. Only 4 percent said they would go to shopping malls to buy them.
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The survey shows that people desperately need non-food items as they have started working from home and children in many families are learning online. According to the mid-April survey, 68% of parents said their children need textbooks in addition to online school classes to be more effective, while 24% said they did not have a screen (desktop computer). , laptop, tablet) for kids to access online classes. About 43 percent of households said they needed school and office supplies, while 33 percent said they urgently needed a device.
“None of these demands could be met, since e-commerce only delivered essential elements,” said LocalCircles.
Earlier this week, Amazon India chief Amit Agarwal urged the government to allow the company to deliver all the products – not just essentials – that citizens need for an extended period, so that they can stay safe. “Electronic commerce offers the surest way to guarantee social distancing, saving lives and livelihoods,” he tweeted.
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