Amazon Prime, Amazon’s on-demand video streaming service is operational in India and its expected to be a major player soon, giving the likes of Netflix a run for its money.
Amazon is pumping billions of dollars in India, and Jeff bezos wants to capture the Indian market at any cost.
Amazon Prime (premium service that promises quick deliveries and early access to deals) was offered in India (to attract more customers and take on local rivals), and now Indian users can also enjoy Amazon Prime (its video service).
Amazon Prime Video
As many would have probably expected, Amazon is offering its video service at a much more affordable rate.
For Rs.499 (single annual subscription plan), you get access to Amazon Prime as well as to Amazon Video. Amazon Video works on a wide range of gadgets – smartphone, tablets, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, TV and PC.
Amazon is charging less for its services (compared to competitors like Netflix), and its expected to put pressure on the other in-demand video providers (in terms ofcost).
“At Amazon Prime Video India, our goal is to partner with the top content creators in India and worldwide to build the largest selection of latest and exclusive movies and TV shows for our customers,” Country Head, Amazon Prime Video India.
Effective Use of Internet Bandwidth
Taking cognizance of the slower (and inconsistent) internet speeds in India, Amazon Prime offers various video quality settings to choose from. It also gives you the option of saving the video content for offline viewing later.
Amazon Ties up With Bollywood to Attract Prime customers
Amazon ties up with Bollywood to add Prime customers (in order to overtake rivals)…
Amazon has signed a long-term deal with Karan Johar’s production company, Dharma Productions, to bring the latest Bollywood movies to its Prime customers.
Amazon has cut a similar deal with Mahesh Bhatt- and Mukesh Bhatt-owned Vishesh Films, and are keen to have similar partnerships with film and television producers.
Apart from making available upcoming movies, Amazon Prime Video will also feature older films from the production house. Basically, Amazon will also be competing with companies like Netflix and Hotstar (streaming service of STAR India.)
With internet penetration on the rise and a large base of India’s population not having access to cable television yet, on-demand streaming services are expected to make a huge impact.
For film and television producers, services such as Netflix provide an opportunity to earn revenues which might have otherwise been lost to piracy.
Amazon Tastes Early Success in India: Opens Several Service Facilities in India
Amazon probably may not have expected this kind of early success in India, considering that its been among the later entrant in the Indian market. But now that it has tasted success, its making sure that they capitalize on it. The e-commerce giant has opened a third service facility in India in Pune with the aim of improving online customer experience.
Amazon has already set up 2 customer service facilities in Hyderabad. There is some good news in store for Amazon fans.
With the Pune facility, Amazon hopes to support both Amazon.com and Amazon.in pre and post order customers via email, chat, phone and social media. This will also boost employment opportunities in Pune with Amazon hosting teams in Pune to take care of training, work flow etc.
Pune is a vibrant youth-centric city that is fast growing and with the necessary infrastructure and talent pool making it one of the important markets. Amazon aims to increase its potential in serving more customers with better and faster service, thus enhancing the customer experience.
This move doesn’t come as a surprise considering Amazon is committed an investment of USD 2 billion (over 12,000 crore) for business expansion in the country. Giving stiff competition to the online giant are companies like Snapdeal, Flipkart and many other similar e-commerce companies.
