In early 2012, the U.S.-based online retailing giant Amazon.com announced its entry into the Indian online retail market with a new website, Junglee.com. The prime benefit of Junglee.com will be to enable customers to browse for products from a wide variety of stores and then shop for them either online or in person.
Background
For quite some time now, Amazon was aiming to set up its operations in the online retail market in India, given the huge business and trading potential in the market, as cited by various research surveys in the region. However, it was unable to do so due to certain restrictions in the foreign investment rules and regulations governing in the country. Therefore, Amazon had to come up with a new business model to operate in the country, since the current Foreign Direct Investment rules don’t allow foreign retailers selling a wide variety of brands to operate in India.
According to the original Amazon USA business model, all users would purchase their items from the Amazon Store, regardless of the fact that he may or may not be buying from a third-party merchant who has listed its item inventory on Amazon. But unlike the model followed by Amazon in the U.S., users cannot buy directly from Junglee.com. Instead, Junglee will attempt to integrate online and offline retailers by listing the entire selection of their products available in India. Customers can shop online by following the link to the seller’s website or visit the shop in person to purchase the product.
Under this new model of Junglee.com, the actual financial transaction between buyer and seller happens on the seller’s website. In the Amazon model, this used to happen directly in the Amazon Store, as mentioned earlier.
As a result of this, Amazon will operate as an interface platform between customers and sellers via Junglee.com.
Item Inventory
According to Amazon, Junglee.com will potentially offer more than 10 million products from over 14,000 Indian and global brands. It has a vast range of product categories which include but are not limited to phones and cameras to toys and games, books, movies and music, baby products, clothing, jewellery and watches, electronics and kitchen and home appliances, in addition to many others.
Delivery Charges And Shipping Times
Unlike Amazon, delivery rates and shipment times for each item featured on Junglee.com will be different due to the fact that the item will be listed on the website by a third party seller. Therefore, once you view and explore an item, you should be able to see these details in its product Details section found on the right-side of the webpage. There will also be two separate links to both guide you to the seller’s website and also to provide you with the information of that seller.
Conclusion
Junglee.com is a nice initiative by Amazon for a region which has large potential for online business but is limited by the governing direct foreign investment rules. Junglee.com does very well to more than satisfy the average online shopper in the region, and should you be looking for a trust-worthy online retailer, it should be well worth your visit.
