Comparison analysis of information and immersive experiences offered by Amazon and Flipkart in leading personal electronics categories
The significance of online marketplaces in elating the consumer shopping experience cannot be ignored in India despite rich legacy of deep offline channel presence. In the past decade the online buying has become an integral part of the consumer buying behaviour in India.
Electronics, especially personal electronics led by smartphones has been a key offering of marketplaces. The category has been historically contributing more than 50% of the GMV of marketplaces in India. Factors including non-perishability of electronics products, portability, innovations in supply chain, availability of information ecosystem in the form of bloggers, reviewers, etc., and consumer acceptance of buying them in a virtual mode led to the successful establishment of electronics as an anchor category for ecommerce in India.
Until the regulatory framework allowed brand exclusivity for marketplaces, there would exist strong defensible and distinct propositions with marketplaces making their offerings unique and non-competing. But after it was disallowed, marketplaces had to work on securing trust of customers by adopting fair business practices and bringing transparency in their operations.
Availability of information is a key enabler to infuse trust among potential buyers. It not only gives consumers confidence by providing all the knowledge they want to acquire before making a purchase decision, but also reinforces the reputation of the marketplaces as they are not seen just doing transactions. They are perceived as product experts having in-depth understanding of the category.
In our survey we asked consumers about the factors that are important for them in building their trust and confidence about a marketplace. The factors enumerated by consumers included availability of comprehensive information about the product, pricing details including any charges, etc., delivery as per the promised time, delivery of product as per the order and after sale support (if offered). In this first analysis, we compare the information availability of same products across key personal electronics categories available on Amazon and Flipkart, the two key marketplaces.
Smartphones
Smartphone is a very critical category in personal electronics and approximately contributes more than 60% of the electronics GMV of marketplaces. Recognising this sensitivity of the product category, both Amazon and Flipkart do not compromise on the depth of information made available to potential buyers who can scan all the details about the specifications, features and other details about them. The information provided is also accurate.
However, Amazon has an edge in terms of offering information in a clean interface and leverages several product images adding to the engagement and immersive experience for buyers. Through pictures, buyers are able to easily comprehend and connect with the very complex technologies explained helping in quicker decision making.
In the below exhibit, Amazon showcases through pictures the camera setup of a smartphone and also explains the fast-charging mechanism in it. These pictures help buyers comprehend these technologies and innovations with ease.
Amazon Listing – OnePlus 12 (Flowy Emerald, 12GB RAM, 256GB Storage): Amazon.in: Electronics
Flipkart Listing – OnePlus 12 (256 GB Storage, 12 GB RAM) Online at Best Price On Flipkart.com
Smart TV
Smart TV is another important electronics gadget for individuals and homes which is a cusp category between personal and consumer electronics. In India, Smart TV is still seen as a family device, though the trend of multiple TV screens in homes is on the rise. Content consumption over Smart TV is still a family viewing experience where families sit together to watch their favourite daily soap, live sports event or any other content of interest. With OTT catching up, individual or personal content viewing has also seen an increase.
Irrespective of the TV content consuming behaviour, it is another important category of electronics being purchased online. Comparing listings on Amazon and Flipkart, we can see that the information available on Amazon is much more comprehensive than on Flipkart giving consumers a detailed description of the features and specifications of a Smart TV they are considering. The detailed information available on Amazon increases the level of confidence of consumers in buying decision and also does not hinder their flow of purchase.
In the exhibit below one can notice the level of information available on Amazon is very exhaustive for a smart TV model randomly selected in our comparison. The smart TV model compared here is LG 80 cm (32 inches) HD Ready Smart LED TV M563BPTC (Dark Iron Gray).
Amazon Listing – https://www.amazon.in/LG-inches-Ready-Smart-32LM563BPTC/dp/B08DPLCM6T/
Flipkart Listing – https://www.flipkart.com/lg-80-cm-32-inch-hd-ready-led-smart-webos-tv/p/itmb2ff267644902?
TWS Earbud
TWS Earbud is a highly cluttered category of smart devices where we have several domestic and global players. The smart device is a small form factor but has several technologies that make the best of experience. A consumer considering buying a TWS for the first time or looking for an upgrade seeks detailed information in terms of features, specifications and other enhancements like ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), audio enhancement technology like Dolby support, besides others. Like other smart devices it is very important for a buyer to get all the information for making a confident decision to maximise the value out of the money being spent on buying the device, TWS.
TWS is also a very fast moving and hot selling category of personal electronics devices being sold online. Currently over 90% of TWS are sold through online mediums that includes primarily marketplaces. For consumers its very critical to have descriptive information available about the products for making informed purchase. Our comparison shows that Amazon here again takes a lead over Flipkart in making the detailed information available to buyers. In our comparison we randomly selected OnePlus Nord Buds 2 to compare information depth.
Amazon Listing – https://www.amazon.in/OnePlus-Wireless-Earbuds-Titanium-Playback/dp/B0BYJ6ZMTS/
Flipkart Listing – https://www.flipkart.com/oneplus-nord-buds-2-earbuds-25db-active-noise-cancellation-bluetooth-headset/p/itm1564d0b502ff6?
Soundbars
Another promising category in personal electronics – soundbars is gaining traction and generating a lot of consumer interest. Aligning with this, we are witnessing a lot of OEMs foraying in this space. Soundbars play pivotal role in elating the audio/video content consumption experience and make it immersive. Be it homes, mini home theatres, public places or party clubs, soundbars are making integral inroads in the list of must have electronics. Online channel is contributing significantly not just in sales, but awareness and discovery of soundbar brands, models and variants. Consumers are beginning to learn about these products and can take an informed and satiating decision only when they find answers to so many queries they have about this product category. Again, in our analysis, we found, Amazon having detailed and descriptive information available about the soundbar models in comparison to Flipkart. In our random analysis, we selected boAt Aavante Bar Tune for information comparison and found Amazon giving much more information about the product for consumers to find answers to their queries.
Amazon Listing – https://www.amazon.in/boAt-Soundbar-Signature-Multi-Connectivity-Controls/dp/B0BTDRVFW1/
Flipkart Listing – https://www.flipkart.com/boat-aavante-bar-tune-60w-rms-sleek-design-remote-control-60-w-bluetooth-soundbar/p/itm24798b6841d32?
Conclusion
The first step towards infusing trust and confidence is information. The present-day consumer is well informed and will go only with the experts, who are adjudged again by the level of granular and deep information they can provide about a product or service.
In case of personal electronics, there are several use cases and applications these smart gadgets offer. For a consumer it may be a single use case or application that can become the trigger of purchase. In this scenario no channel – online or offline can afford to have half of the information or knowledge as they can lose a potential customer and create bad experiences.
In our comparative analysis of marketplaces – Amazon and Flipkart we found that Amazon offers much more detailed and deeper information about products (personal electronics) that were studied for this purpose. This not only aligns with the present-day information and knowledge driven buyers, but also eliminates any possible roadblock that can hinder the buying flow and abort a transaction that could result in buyers going astray. They may not necessarily return and resume the process after getting the desired information. By proactively giving exhaustive information, Amazon not only ensures that the buying process is seamless but also fastens up the entire buying process helping consumers to make quicker but informed purchases. It could though further strengthen the immersive experience by incorporating more of videos and interactivity leveraging AI paving way to conversational commerce.
NOTE – Amazon and Flipkart referred in this InsightsPro mean Amazon India (www.amazon.in) and Flipkart (www.flipkart.com). These are the primary and default marketplaces of respective companies operating in India.
One response
Incredible