“We have a model that is ‘made in India, for India and by India'”: Amazon India head Manish Tiwary – BusinessToday

For a company that entered the Indian consumer market in 2013, Amazon’s rise has not gone unnoticed. He faced the competition that had appeared earlier. However, Amazon has used its technology expertise to focus on areas such as supply chain and better understanding consumers to improve the overall experience. The key was to take an India-specific approach and be Indian along the way. With a growing base of both customers and sellers, the road ahead is full of opportunities, although this is just the beginning for India. In an interview with Business Today at Amazon’s national headquarters in Bengaluru, 54-year-old Manish Tiwary, country director, Amazon India, talks about India’s history, innovation and much more. Edited excerpts:

This is a big opportunity for Amazon in India…

We are sure that e-commerce in India is at a very early stage. You only have to look around to see the level of optimism and the potential ahead of us. For a company with our DNA, everything we do has digital at its core – whether it’s e-commerce, (Amazon) Kindle or Amazon Prime.

If you look at India’s fundamentals, such as its growth rate, population, demography, infrastructure and digital advancements, there is much to be excited about. This is a sentiment we all echo here and even in conversations with our leadership in Seattle (Amazon HQ).

What is Amazon’s India strategy?

When we started in 2013, our goal was to win here, so we needed a team that understood India. There was a clear global strategy and we were asked to create something that aligned with what was right for India. That’s why talent is so important to us. What’s better than a million (100,000) people sitting outside India! This simply makes India an innovation powerhouse.

In the beginning, the share of organized trade in India was not very large. There was nothing called a catalog and all we got were surprised looks when we asked for one. India is a different market for many reasons. The cost of working capital is very high and the basis is the small entrepreneur. (The) penetration of banking services was quite limited and most people did not understand English. Orders were taken by phone and if small machines had to be shipped to the warehouse, it was a challenge. That’s why we decided on a new implementation model in which it will now be received. Today we have ideas created in India and (are) being transferred to other parts of the world such as Latin America and Egypt.

A lot has changed, a small seller can now upload a photo of e.g. a collared shirt and create a catalog. If working capital is a challenge, AI Gen can be used. If someone had told me eight years ago that we would have 14 lakh (1.4 million) salespeople by 2023, I would have found it hard to believe. At that point we only had 100 sellers. We currently have 43 million cubic feet of storage space in addition to our own aircraft; we are one of the largest users of Indian Railways among e-commerce companies; are part of the waterways project. A long distance has been covered.

In the beginning, none of us knew anything about e-commerce. We wanted to change the way India buys and sells. You could say that this is a model made in India, made for India and made by India.

Of course we are talking about much more that can be done…

Oh yes! Penetration levels are 1% or a maximum of 2%. I was born in Jamshedpur long before digital technology was even a thing. You often pay for your purchases in advance. Today I see people there buying upholstery online from Skipper (a famous furniture store) in Kolkata. We are talking about a completely different scenario where books, upholstery and even an 800-liter refrigerator can be purchased via e-commerce. Digitalization has made us all equal, and it’s great to see an ecosystem where everything is based on an idea.

How critical is the customer in all of this?

For us, experience counts. Look at this office in Bengaluru. It looks exactly like any Amazon office in the world. We stand out due to our culture and leadership principles. For the first year after I joined, Amit Agarwal (then head of Amazon India) and I didn’t talk about numbers at all. It was just about customer ratings and delivery promises. It is very important that we focus our full attention on this. We will never allow ourselves any tricks or compromises when it comes to customer contact. It’s easy to say this, but most companies don’t do it because it increases costs. Now we have millions of customers on Amazon Prime and the brand is very strong. It’s about having a lasting experience. The word “customer” must appear all the time. If you succeed, the customer will come back to you.

Where will innovation come into play in all this?

We simply need to continue on the path of innovation. If our vision is to change the way India buys and sells, this becomes even more important as we add another 100 million customers or another 10 million sellers. One talks about a market with a huge population and surrounding businesses that are characterized by scale. Honestly, we have a long, long road ahead of us. It is very easy to quote numbers about India’s potential and capabilities, but to succeed, we need to innovate. It’s a very competitive market, as we all know. If one-day delivery was previously important, now you just need to get it done in a few minutes.

@krishnagopalan