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They already do. I live(rather work from home) in a remote village in Southern India. Ordered a Nikon camera recently which the local stores said will take atle

They already do. I live(rather work from home) in a remote village in Southern India. Ordered a Nikon camera recently which the local stores said will take atleast 7 days to procure, and Amazon delivered in 3 days. The item was shipped all the way from Northern India(Nagpur) and guess what, it was 500INR cheaper on Amazon. While on one hand I was more than happy to get it in three days and a little cheaper, I also realized that this won't last forever. Amazon's capital has gotta run out at some point in time and the cheap/fast service will stop there.

devdas 11y ago
Nagpur is close to the center of India, not the north.
- pinkunicorn 11y ago
  You have my apologies. We often joke that anything northern than Bangalore is North India!
  - radmuzom 11y ago
    Well then Chennai is North India!! A lot of people don't realize that Bangalore is actually south of Chennai.
- lgessler 11y ago
  Perhaps the poster meant cultural North India, which (in my experience) is only contrasted with cultural South India, which is comprised of the states in which Dravidian languages are spoken by a majority, namely: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP, and Telangana.
- umanwizard 11y ago
  I think when people say "North India" what they typically mean is the areas that speak Indo-Aryan languages (as opposed to Dravidian ones).
adventured 11y ago
> Amazon's capital has gotta run out at some point in time They're famous for being willing to push competitors into the ground on margins, at whatever loss is necessary in the relative near-term. It's very likely they're going to seek to squeeze Flipkart on margins until they're struggling to operate due to a very high cash burn (with venture capitalists eventually unwilling to keep pouring red ink down the drain). I'd bet that Amazon views India as a truly massive future market. They really can't crack China properly, and likely never will. India however, they can crack. They'll pour vast resources into it to build out a dominant position. If you told Amazon they can own a dominant position in India for the next 30 years by spending $10 billion today, they'd write that check immediately. They're the world's largest retailer by market valuation, and carry $14.4 billion in cash (with the ability to raise whatever sum they need at any time they need it). Further, AWS has become a cash generating monster, that will fund any adventures Amazon wants to undertake over at least the next decade. No chance they run out of capital.
- jsudhams 11y ago
  Makes sense once they are able to setup kiosks in villages and have employees there to order on behalf of customer with COD, you have largest profit making reailer in the world. If they can work ith few FMCG like Godreg,Uniliver, P & G and Nestle etc.. along with Indian Postal and local couriers.. you have great monster. Indians does not care about anything other than price (durability/quality) so 1 rupee less than local guy on kiosk then people will buy from kiosk guy. I wish i had some capital to try this out.. EDIT: Also Indians still share in village so even if amazon says they will give only 10 Hamam soaps but at 10% less or 10 Horlicks with 15% less, people will pool and buy.
  - vram22 11y ago
    >Indians does not care about anything other than price (durability/quality) "do not care" That's a solid point :-) and largely true, though a generalization. Changing some at least among the younger generation in cities, though.
- Sven7 11y ago
  Amazon's threat is Jack Ma. And Jack Ma is bigger than Amazon.

devdas 11y ago

Nagpur is close to the center of India, not the north.

pinkunicorn 11y ago
You have my apologies. We often joke that anything northern than Bangalore is North India!
- radmuzom 11y ago
  Well then Chennai is North India!! A lot of people don't realize that Bangalore is actually south of Chennai.
lgessler 11y ago
Perhaps the poster meant cultural North India, which (in my experience) is only contrasted with cultural South India, which is comprised of the states in which Dravidian languages are spoken by a majority, namely: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP, and Telangana.
umanwizard 11y ago
I think when people say "North India" what they typically mean is the areas that speak Indo-Aryan languages (as opposed to Dravidian ones).

adventured 11y ago

> Amazon's capital has gotta run out at some point in time They're famous for being willing to push competitors into the ground on margins, at whatever loss is necessary in the relative near-term. It's very likely they're going to seek to squeeze Flipkart on margins until they're struggling to operate due to a very high cash burn (with venture capitalists eventually unwilling to keep pouring red ink down the drain). I'd bet that Amazon views India as a truly massive future market. They really can't crack China properly, and likely never will. India however, they can crack. They'll pour vast resources into it to build out a dominant position. If you told Amazon they can own a dominant position in India for the next 30 years by spending $10 billion today, they'd write that check immediately. They're the world's largest retailer by market valuation, and carry $14.4 billion in cash (with the ability to raise whatever sum they need at any time they need it). Further, AWS has become a cash generating monster, that will fund any adventures Amazon wants to undertake over at least the next decade. No chance they run out of capital.

jsudhams 11y ago
Makes sense once they are able to setup kiosks in villages and have employees there to order on behalf of customer with COD, you have largest profit making reailer in the world. If they can work ith few FMCG like Godreg,Uniliver, P & G and Nestle etc.. along with Indian Postal and local couriers.. you have great monster. Indians does not care about anything other than price (durability/quality) so 1 rupee less than local guy on kiosk then people will buy from kiosk guy. I wish i had some capital to try this out.. EDIT: Also Indians still share in village so even if amazon says they will give only 10 Hamam soaps but at 10% less or 10 Horlicks with 15% less, people will pool and buy.
- vram22 11y ago
  >Indians does not care about anything other than price (durability/quality) "do not care" That's a solid point :-) and largely true, though a generalization. Changing some at least among the younger generation in cities, though.
Sven7 11y ago
Amazon's threat is Jack Ma. And Jack Ma is bigger than Amazon.