Look around, and you will see many people spending their breaks staring at the smartphone, going through whatever is available on Amazon.in. After all, the Great Indian Festival is on and things are moving well for the e-commerce giant. In fact, Amazon.in has reported growth in double digits across Bengal and Calcutta, with the city becoming the top 10 high-performing regions in the consumer electronics and personal computing category.

We had an opportunity to sit down with Nishant Sardana, director, consumer electronics, personal computing and large appliances, Amazon India, for a quick chat. And here’s what he has to say.

Amazon Fresh is doing brisk business

What has been the response from Bengal.

Bengal has been slightly slow in the beginning but now it is in a good place. There are multiple industries, it could be FMCG, e-commerce and I think the learning for us has been that Bengal needs a bit of customised offer. For example, let’s talk about food… the kind of brands that still exist in Bengal don’t exist anywhere else in the country. The oil brands, detergent, biscuit brand and so what we have seen across categories is that customers in Bengal need some kind of localisation and customisation. And it’s not that Bengal has been late on to the e-commerce brandwagon, I think Amazon has taken time to customise offers, whether it is regional languages or setting up warehousing space. We have seen that customers here have started to adopt e-commerce and some of the growth rates are earth shattering.

Any trend that you have noticed this year?

Premiumisation is something which we have witnessed across categories. What we are seeing is that category penetration across many parts of India. The base of customers that we are getting now versus what we were getting a few years ago, a vast majority of it, almost around 85 per cent of the base is a second/third-time user. So they have entered that category but now are looking to upgrade. Naturally the categories, most of them, are gravitating towards more premium portfolios. So refrigerators are moving from single doors to double doors, washing machines are semi-automatic to fully automatic, from top load to front load, ACs are moving from window to split, TV sizes are becoming larger and larger. Each and every category, in its own way, is moving towards premiumisation and I think that’s the big trend. This has enabled brands and sellers to partner with bank partners to offer affordability on premium products. Whether it is offering you the ability to exchange products for a decent price or offering you good installment offers, cashbacks, I think the ecosystem has really come together to make it easier for customers to buy and purchase premium products.

Amazon has a range of devices to offer

Do you think the credit card economy is also helping in India at the moment?

I think credit cards at the intersection of no-cost EMIs, low-cost EMIs or low-cost installments are what really move the needle. The percentage of transactions that we are seeing, for example, in some of the large categories on credit is to the extent of about 30-50 per cent. Apart from that it’s not only credit cards, we have our own product which has about four million-odd users… which is Amazon Pay Later. Even if a lender does not offer you credit, just using your transaction data (historical transaction data), lenders on Amazon offer you credit, so there are around four million-odd customers to whom we have extended credits irrespective of your credit history as compared to the rest of the market. These are the small things that cumulatively are making a big difference.

What did you buy this time?

I have bought a lot of things. There is no longer an occasion or an effort to buy. iPad, cap, items for home use, shoes and bags for kids, Audible subscription, dates, landline phone, water bottles and so on.

Nishant Sardana, director, consumer electronics, personal computing and large appliances, Amazon India

You mentioned there is no longer an occasion to buy… we buy throughout the year.

I think e-commerce has made things convenient for you, it is no longer a planned shopping trip; you have the store in your hand. So, whenever the need arises people buy.

Trendspotting

Trends across consumer electronics and personal computing on Amazon.in for Calcutta:

High-growth categories: Tablets, laptops, soundbars, and speakers are the prominent categories exhibiting significant year-over-year growth with an increase of almost 50 per cent.

Shift towards premiumisation: The premium category, featuring products priced above 50,000, witnessed 2x growth compared to last year.

Better storage is preferred by customers: The gaming community in the region is opting for more storage capacity and high-performance computing devices.This trend has resulted in close to 70 per cent year-on-year growth for 16GB RAM and 1TB storage, and 90 per cent year-on-year growth for high-end processors (i5/7/9, Apple M1, AMD Ryzen 5).

Smartwatch purchase is on the rise: This product category has experienced positive year-on-year growth of almost 80 per cent, with customers preferring AMOLED displays.

Top 10 brands: Apple, boAt, HP, ASUS, Acer, Samsung, Lenovo, Fire-Boltt, Dell and Sony