After smartphones, Indians now purchasing large home appliances online: Amazon's Zeba Khan calls it shift in consumer behaviour
A decade ago, shopping for a large home appliance like a refrigerator or air conditioner meant setting aside time on the weekend and hopping from one showroom to another—often spending days shortlisting options before finally making a purchase. It was a time when e-commerce didn't exist, and the only options for consumers were visiting a nearby local dealer of a renowned appliance brand or a large electronics chain in the city.
Today, however, purchasing a home appliance is just a click away. Amazon wants India to shop online for large home appliances. The prize is billions of potential customers and a category that remains heavily offline—but one where the world's biggest e-commerce player believes there is scope to shift online, as options of home appliances become widely available.
'Customers are becoming more comfortable with purchasing these [home appliances] products online because they now have access to reliable delivery, affordability options like EMIs, and instant cashbacks,' Zeba Khan, Director, Consumer Electronics, Amazon India told indianexpress.com in an interview last week in Delhi.
Zeba said the Covid-19 pandemic played an important role in bringing Indians online for large home appliance purchases, at a time when people were stuck at home and couldn't step out to shop—especially for products that had traditionally been part of an offline-heavy market in India.
'You have to recognise that Covid did accelerate the process. At that point, many people bought dishwashers, which gave an impetus to the idea that large appliances can be bought online—and that it can be a good experience,' she said.
For Amazon, Zeba said large home appliances are one category in which the company has heavily invested, making necessary changes to improve not only the product selection but also installation services—bringing them in line with industry standards.
Amazon, she said, identified a gap in the market and focused on installation services as a key factor in winning consumers through its Unified Delivery Service (UDS). 'Even in offline retail, it's challenging to get both the product and the technician to arrive at the same time.' Amazon's UDS is now available in over 65 cities, while its installation services are offered in more than 300 cities.
In recent months, she added, Amazon has been expanding its service portfolio. Last year, the company launched seasonal AC servicing and also introduced phone setup services. 'Services play a huge role in building consumer confidence in home appliance shopping,' Zeba explained.
Because of this, and how Amazon has added value-added services and simplified home appliance shopping, consumers' perception has changed towards purchasing refrigerators and air conditioners online. 'In large appliances, we now offer the widest selection. In fact, every year we are adding even more offline models to our portfolio. Brands are becoming increasingly aware of the potential. Smartphone brands had already embraced e-commerce, but now even large appliance brands are more particular, saying, 'This is what I want to sell online.'
A trend, Zeba said, has become more visible is how many large home appliance brands are bringing their offline models online, especially premium products priced at Rs 1,00,000 and above. This shift has been driven by the increased uptake of premium products not only among urban households but also in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Cashing in on this trend affordability solutions are clearly encouraging more consumers to opt for premium products. 'That's the hook for brands,' she added.
'Just last month, for instance, a TV brand launched exclusively on Amazon; their go-to-market strategy was entirely online-first,' she said, without naming the brand. 'We are increasingly seeing consumer electronics brands opting to launch online-first.'
India is becoming a key market for Amazon and other major players in the battle for the country's online shoppers. Competition is getting stiffer as quick commerce brands—mostly domestic—also enter the appliance market, putting additional pressure on large e-commerce players.
Zeba admits that while smartphones continue to be a 'highly penetrated category' online and remain the top-performing category in terms of online penetration, the share of other categories—especially large home appliances—continues to increase. Televisions and large appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners are also seeing robust double-digit growth, indicating that consumers are increasingly shopping for appliances online as well. However, one common factor across purchases, whether for a smartphone or a large appliance, is the high number of first-time buyers.
'These categories naturally have a lot of synergy among them, so yes, we do observe cross-purchasing. That said, whether it's laptops, large appliances, or smartphones, we continue to see a steady influx of new customers in each category,' she said.
Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at indianexpress.com who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin.
Email: anuj.bhatia@indianexpress.com ... Read More
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