This is my side of story: Only mine.
I got a ping from my right hand man, in the middle of the night, for an enterprenuer middle of the night may range any thing between 1:00 AM to 7:00 AM depending on which time zone you operate in (it is not necessarily the time zone you are physically present in.)
S.. > Call Now !
I strongly believe conversations need not be lengthy to be understood, as long as they are precise. This is one such and since I was on a call with my son, who rarely gives me an appointment to talk over phone because of his busy schedule with his cousin to run behind, I think I gave it less priority than I normally would. Then came a buzz on my cell phone. So I thought I better attend, and wanted to hear what that critical pressing need could be
"Amazon Launched" Again as Hanuman spoke to Rama while returning from Lanka, "Seen Sita" not giving a millionth of second for worry. Ok I told and instantly hitting my fingers like playing tabala,making huge noise, which was loud enough for my buddy to hear on the other side of the ear dispite hundreds of miles between us. www.amazon.in,<ctrl+t> www.amazon.co.in <ctrl+k> amazon India ... after couple of more I said no ... then he said "No " they launched just now and he started his rampage on the laptop sending @vineetdhanawat 's post "http://www.junglee.com/ is up! No More Redirections" By then I realised Amazon has come in disguise.
Next couple of hours gone by in discussing why and how a giant can enter a market silently, what are the features, opportunity and threat analysis. What should our next strategy be if its real risk, and possible action.
Then we started thinking, If we are thinking this much poor flipkart guys must be in a bad state, worrying about the biggest ever competion unnoticingly arriving in India to fight head on. We had our sympathies and wishes being customers, alumni ... so on and soforth. Loss to an yet to be launched ecommerce site, compared to the one with heavy operational burden worried us quite a bit.
It infact continued till late when we actually started looking at the platform from various angles, Flipkart is the startup revelutionising the mindset of Indian consumer by planting "Trust". While Amazon delayed their operations, purely because of logistical hurdles they are not accustomed to in their base. So Flipkart is brave, clear winner because have been there and done that, knows the risks and rewards. While Amazon might recruit Indian experts but starting something from scratch is different from running something. So they Amazon Don't seem to have competitive advantage. Amazon knows about it, hence launch of junglee.com in beta, as primarily as a product comparision search engine rather than electronic retailer.This could as well be a solution to solve regulatory hurdles. Flipkart has already taken care of this. So so far Flipkart is in good shape.
Biggest question was why Amazon, Did not acquire flipkart ? This would have been the best route, for that one reason is flipkart's high valuation despite its current financial situation (Nothing bad, but just being funded repeatedly, acquisitions and mergers etc.,) might have prevented Amazon from taking that route.
So Junglee.com is a price comparision search engine, directing kindle orders to USA, other ordes to different associates/vendors registered with amazon. Which means Flipkart can optionally use this additional medium if they want to to sell online. Its not just flipkart, but any small or medium company in retail with or without online presence can use amazon for their web expansion.
So what is going to happen with the bubbling startups in e-commerce retail ? Is it a threat to all those brothers dreaming of becoming next flipkart ? Unlike what pluggd.in claims being a pro entreprenuerial magazine (atleast as it claims) Is not going to kill startups.
Junglee is going to help startups by providing another marketplace to showcase distribute and expand their channels.
Why Junglee has Zero effect on entreprenurial ecosystem ? Any person making purchases online, has been moving vehemently across the the results thrown by google researching site to site if there is any place cheaper than the one offered. so IMHO, Junglee just reduced one step, making the user do that comparision (as long as the merchants are registered) at a single place and charging the vendor for selling that product. How can this create problem to an entreprenuer or flipkart ? It does not effect revenues significantly.
Flipkart by the way doesn't sell from local retailers, they often get their products from the publishers,manufacturers by becoming a virtual distributor. While Amazon model depends on distributors and vendors, who have to forgo part of their earlier revenue which may not be significant but is contributing towards amazon revenue.
As a seller I would be more interested in trasfering that additional burden to the end customer than bear it myself. So in effect your flipkart may have to reduce their margins little bit but not going to shake even a bit.
Coming to Flipkart vs Amazon experience : We are comparing a toddler with athlete in speed is it possible for a toddler to ever reach the speed of an athlete ? Its a process that takes time. Flipkart UI is improving and not that bad either.
While Flipkart / Other e-commerce companies learn great deal about the "Customer Focus" - This is all about Amazon. Amazon will learn the logistical overheads,bottlenecks and ways to improve the sytem here in India and in USA.
I think Flipkart did a tremendous job by turning the customer favourable to e-commerce in India,for which each and every indian e-commerce company born after flipkart (even the few older ones) should be thankful for showing the path.
As we know, There are tons of successful e-commerce startups in USA despite Amazon's presence. So I don't see a point why we should worry. Its only innovation that can sustain and I am sure Indians and Entreprenuers in India got enough to successfully launch,run and lead in e-commerce space by concentrating on value creation to the customer, Innovative logistics and targetting niche areas.
Please let me know your thoughts.
I got a ping from my right hand man, in the middle of the night, for an enterprenuer middle of the night may range any thing between 1:00 AM to 7:00 AM depending on which time zone you operate in (it is not necessarily the time zone you are physically present in.)
S.. > Call Now !
I strongly believe conversations need not be lengthy to be understood, as long as they are precise. This is one such and since I was on a call with my son, who rarely gives me an appointment to talk over phone because of his busy schedule with his cousin to run behind, I think I gave it less priority than I normally would. Then came a buzz on my cell phone. So I thought I better attend, and wanted to hear what that critical pressing need could be
"Amazon Launched" Again as Hanuman spoke to Rama while returning from Lanka, "Seen Sita" not giving a millionth of second for worry. Ok I told and instantly hitting my fingers like playing tabala,making huge noise, which was loud enough for my buddy to hear on the other side of the ear dispite hundreds of miles between us. www.amazon.in,<ctrl+t> www.amazon.co.in <ctrl+k> amazon India ... after couple of more I said no ... then he said "No " they launched just now and he started his rampage on the laptop sending @vineetdhanawat 's post "http://www.junglee.com/ is up! No More Redirections" By then I realised Amazon has come in disguise.
Next couple of hours gone by in discussing why and how a giant can enter a market silently, what are the features, opportunity and threat analysis. What should our next strategy be if its real risk, and possible action.
Then we started thinking, If we are thinking this much poor flipkart guys must be in a bad state, worrying about the biggest ever competion unnoticingly arriving in India to fight head on. We had our sympathies and wishes being customers, alumni ... so on and soforth. Loss to an yet to be launched ecommerce site, compared to the one with heavy operational burden worried us quite a bit.
It infact continued till late when we actually started looking at the platform from various angles, Flipkart is the startup revelutionising the mindset of Indian consumer by planting "Trust". While Amazon delayed their operations, purely because of logistical hurdles they are not accustomed to in their base. So Flipkart is brave, clear winner because have been there and done that, knows the risks and rewards. While Amazon might recruit Indian experts but starting something from scratch is different from running something. So they Amazon Don't seem to have competitive advantage. Amazon knows about it, hence launch of junglee.com in beta, as primarily as a product comparision search engine rather than electronic retailer.This could as well be a solution to solve regulatory hurdles. Flipkart has already taken care of this. So so far Flipkart is in good shape.
Biggest question was why Amazon, Did not acquire flipkart ? This would have been the best route, for that one reason is flipkart's high valuation despite its current financial situation (Nothing bad, but just being funded repeatedly, acquisitions and mergers etc.,) might have prevented Amazon from taking that route.
So Junglee.com is a price comparision search engine, directing kindle orders to USA, other ordes to different associates/vendors registered with amazon. Which means Flipkart can optionally use this additional medium if they want to to sell online. Its not just flipkart, but any small or medium company in retail with or without online presence can use amazon for their web expansion.
So what is going to happen with the bubbling startups in e-commerce retail ? Is it a threat to all those brothers dreaming of becoming next flipkart ? Unlike what pluggd.in claims being a pro entreprenuerial magazine (atleast as it claims) Is not going to kill startups.
Junglee is going to help startups by providing another marketplace to showcase distribute and expand their channels.
Why Junglee has Zero effect on entreprenurial ecosystem ? Any person making purchases online, has been moving vehemently across the the results thrown by google researching site to site if there is any place cheaper than the one offered. so IMHO, Junglee just reduced one step, making the user do that comparision (as long as the merchants are registered) at a single place and charging the vendor for selling that product. How can this create problem to an entreprenuer or flipkart ? It does not effect revenues significantly.
Flipkart by the way doesn't sell from local retailers, they often get their products from the publishers,manufacturers by becoming a virtual distributor. While Amazon model depends on distributors and vendors, who have to forgo part of their earlier revenue which may not be significant but is contributing towards amazon revenue.
As a seller I would be more interested in trasfering that additional burden to the end customer than bear it myself. So in effect your flipkart may have to reduce their margins little bit but not going to shake even a bit.
Coming to Flipkart vs Amazon experience : We are comparing a toddler with athlete in speed is it possible for a toddler to ever reach the speed of an athlete ? Its a process that takes time. Flipkart UI is improving and not that bad either.
While Flipkart / Other e-commerce companies learn great deal about the "Customer Focus" - This is all about Amazon. Amazon will learn the logistical overheads,bottlenecks and ways to improve the sytem here in India and in USA.
I think Flipkart did a tremendous job by turning the customer favourable to e-commerce in India,for which each and every indian e-commerce company born after flipkart (even the few older ones) should be thankful for showing the path.
As we know, There are tons of successful e-commerce startups in USA despite Amazon's presence. So I don't see a point why we should worry. Its only innovation that can sustain and I am sure Indians and Entreprenuers in India got enough to successfully launch,run and lead in e-commerce space by concentrating on value creation to the customer, Innovative logistics and targetting niche areas.
Please let me know your thoughts.
