If you buy books regularly from web, you would have noticed that 66% off on popular books (Independence Day offer) on Amazon got over last weekend. During the offer period, the books available on discount were also changing on almost daily basis. And I think Amazon was quite successful in attracting traffic and acquiring the new customers.
Flipkart responded to this offer by giving
similar discounts on same titles but I could see that it was limited to very
few titles. As Amazon ended the offer, Flipkart too was very quick to roll
back. I suppose they use a software engine to match the prices. Amazing thing
these algorithms do.
My order on Amazon got delivered in a card
board box, books were safely arranged, some of the books were shrink wrapped and some were
not. Delivery guy sported a Samsung smartphone for taking digital signature
which helps in closing the transaction when customer signs on it. The only
drawback was, delivery guy could accept only cash as he did not have the device
to use my debit card. I just had to tender exact change.
While it is anybody’s guess that Amazon’s offer
was a promotional effort, it showed that price wars can go any extent
benefiting the customer at the expense of these portals. Now Indian consumers
have a choice with Amazon whose breadth of inventory and service levels match with
Flipkart. My friends & colleagues confirmed that they too are checking the
prices on both sites before placing an order.
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