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-   -   Are we past peak Amazon in India? | Are you shopping lesser on Amazon than before? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/290573-we-past-peak-amazon-india-you-shopping-lesser-amazon-than-before.html)

I would say around 5 years back, around the time of the Pandemic, Amazon was the place for online shopping. The sheer variety of products that could be shopped in one place was simply mind-boggling. With the deliveries being seamless, fair authenticity of the product, a premium subscription, and an assured program with relatively quick delivery, it was the go-to place for online purchases.



At the time, other players like Flipkart and Meesho were in strong contention, fighting for market share, however, Amazon’s data-centric approach was way better overall. And hyperlocal businesses like Swiggy, Blinkit, Big Basket etc. dealt only with food or groceries.

Fast forward to the current times and hyperlocal business getting a new name — quick commerce, I personally have not looked to the Amazon app for ordering in the past 1 year. It has become more of a “Video” than to look for household stuff or electronics that I need. I mean we even get HotWheels now on Blinkit on MRP as opposed to exorbitant Amazon reselling prices — this is one of many examples of how quick commerce is winning the game.

Last year, according to a media report, Amazon walked away from the decision to get on the high-rising business of quick commerce with instant deliveries.





Apart from Flipkart, Meesho, Jio, etc., some customers still choose to buy electronics from offline outlets, such as Vijay Sales, Croma & Girias, among others, for assured product authenticity and informed purchase decisions.

Does this mean that Amazon is no longer the destination for online shopping in India? Have people moved away from it? How and where do you shop regularly?


Source 1, Source 2

I'm shopping a whole lot less on Amazon than before. Main reasons:

- Fake goods by 3rd-party sellers. I have zero trust in product authenticity on Amazon.

- Fake reviews.

- Paralysis Analysis. Search for anything and the initial 3 pages are full of ads & products by unknown Chinese brands. Sometimes, I drown in the endless options. Would prefer 1-2 page of results, 50% of which are from known, reputable brands.

- Their deliveries are getting messed up now.

- Customer service has greatly declined (as per my family & BHPian posts).

- For big ticket purchases (TVs, electronics, smartphones), I prefer (in order of priority) Vijay Sales, Reliance Retail (aggressive pricing) & Croma. Vijay Sales gives me a no-questions-asked 5 year extended warranty on all appliances that has proven its worth over time. I don't have the bandwidth for back & forth, arguments, quotations with repair technicians. 5-year warranty on stuff like ACs makes ownership a breeze.

- For perfumes & the like, I prefer stores that stock their own original stuff (e.g. Shoppers Stop or reputable offline perfume outlets).

If I look at the last year's ordering history on Amazon India, I have mostly purchased 100 - 999 rupee items (lots of Kindle books, lots of movie rentals, cables & wires). The only purchases over 5k were a mouse, printer and gym stuff (dumbbells, folding table). If Amazon cannot make a spendthrift like me shop big ticket items on their platform, it's their loss, not mine. I have many other outlets - online & offline - that value my business more with original goods, great after-sales support & price-matching.

I am an Amazon Prime subscriber, but that's purely because of Prime Video...not the online store. Currently enjoying Paatal Lok Season 2. Watched Hurtlocker just prior to that.

Amazon was my goto place for office needs, but with Blinkit and Zepto offering similar products and faster delivery I have stopped going on Amazon. I am still the old school guy who prefers trying shoes or trying clothes before buying.

For all electronic items - Vijay Sales and Croma or company retail shops. Like mentioned above, a prime subscriber only for Prime Video.

Amazon still offers a fantastic capability - cataloging and pricing. It's always been my go-to search option for any product pricing (or for getting an idea of indicative pricing of options for that product/service). Google search (shopping) is a good alternative but there's too much junk/noise in that. Amazon still owns this capability. For products that are from global manufacturers, Amazon US is also a site I go to get a reference price. Even when I do go buy something from an offline / local shop (e.g. mobile), I still end up checking on Amazon for a reference price.


+100 to this.

- Also a lot of the inhouse products (any product that has a five/six character brand name that makes no sense is also an inhouse product - e.g. STRIFF, POPIO ) are of very poor quality and the search results spam with such offerings on the first few pages.

- Product returns and warranties used to be seamless; now it's a hit or miss; especially with large ticket items. Also global brands are a bit cautious in warranty claims of purchases made via Amazon/e-sellers.


I end up buying small ticket items (accessories, etc.) mostly from Amazon. Big ticket items (e.g. white goods) - I used to depend on Amazon but am moving away; after a few negative experiences.


Care to share this report here?

I had 250 orders in amazon 2023. But had half of that in 2024 and plan to reduce to bare minimum in 2025. Did not even renew the prime this year.
As many pointed out, the main reason for my cut back is poor customer service and lack of value in their products. Customer service executives had the guts to cut me off on a call and this was the last straw. There is no escalation matrix, no proper redressal mechanisms. This when issues with delivery, fake items and damaged goods are at all time high. I now use a mix of instant apps, direct shopping and occasionally amazon, flipkart and similar retail sites.

Another issue is the increase in prices on amazon and lack of discounts. You can get the items much cheaper on direct websites, offline or elsewhere.

+1000

Hey, you can the find the report from the sources mentioned at the end of my post.

More than specific players, it's more a case of the 'capture the market and we can do whatever we want' business model has been proven to be a myth.

It might work for high-level stuff, where only selected players exist to begin with, but with stuff as commonplace as day-to-day consumer goods, people won't hesitate to move away if their expectations aren't being met anymore, and once that point is reached, even 'deals' can't really do much.

Amazon has drifted from high convenience + great prices + excellent customer service to the exact opposite, and other (often smaller and specific) players stepped in and stole their cheese.

Amazon remains my default shopping site. I have also started using Amazon's generative AI tool called RUFUS. So instead of searching Amazon.in, open app and ask RUFUS and it will list out all the relevant products. Example:



RUFUS is accessible by clicking on the icon on bottom right corner. It is equivalent to talking to a shopping assistant when you walk into a large store. So to get the best out of Rufus, you have to chat like you are talking to a real person (and not use it as a search engine).

More about Rufus:
https://www.aboutamazon.in/news/reta...aunch-in-india

I have reduced my purchases from Amazon for a couple of major reasons.

1. For white goods, most of the listings are for older models. Walk into a store and I could get latest models with additional features and with comparable or better prices.

2. Delivery experience is a hit or a miss. As I type this, the delivery agent for the latest order is incommunicado for the last 2 days.

3. In case of delays or product damage, getting support is also iffy.


Now I use Amazon for certain products which are only or conveniently listed on their platform. Experience with Swiggy Instamart, the other ecomm platform I use, is also a mixed bag. Again there are brands, variants or sizes that they don't stock. Driving to the neighborhood store is the best experience in my opinion.


Flipkart is a strict NO after a couple of bad experiences and reviews of others. The quality of their listings have also gone down drastically in the past couple of years (a trend which I had noticed with Snapdeal and ShopClues during their decline).

I use Amazon regularly and quite often. In fact I've had around 20 orders in Jan 2025 itself. But all of them are small value items. The most expensive one was Honeywell dock for Mac priced at 2200.

Don't use Flipkart AT ALL. Nope. Terrible experience. Don't even have the app.

Zepto/ Blinkit is used only if the cook want's something urgent else not.

All white goods TV, Mac, AirPods, iPhone, etc. are bought from Reliance Digital who seem to give the best deals (even better than Croma) and have pretty good service.

Amazon simply does not sell what I want anymore. As I buy more specialised things, I find that the special part about them is getting it to exactly match your needs. And this is possible only when you check out the product in real life. I want to feel the weight balance of my mouse and whether it suits my grip, not just reading the weight off a spec sheet. The shape and size of a shoe's toebox, not just that the shoe is 28cm long. The perfect amount of opposite curvature on the back of my chair so that I don't feel like I am on a full tuck at the track. Still, out of all the sites, amazon is my first go to for when I want to buy something purely off its spec sheet or buying the same thing a second time.

There is a dark pattern or whatever is called in almost all the products on Amazon. For example, if I am looking for a screen protector for OnePlus 13, there are many brands that do so. Popio is a fairly decent brand that sells for multiple models.
When I select Popio for OnePlus 13, I would be shown a star rating and certain number of reviews. The number of reviews would be unbelievably high for a recently launched product.
The reality is Amazon combines various Popio products and aggregates to show you a star rating. In this scenario all products will have an average rating between 3 and 4 stars.
We have to dig deep into the review filters to check the review for the actual product.
Amazon and iQOO did this a couple of years back when iQOO launched a device with an inferior chipset. Its former version had a much more capable chipset and was reasonably successful. Amazon combines reviews of both versions and the better performing one was discontinued. However the reviews were still present under the newer version which had inferior performance.
People who bought these looking at reviews were upset and slowly the shady practice came to light. After calling out on tech twitter they finally deleted the old reviews.
The review aggregation still exists though.

Quick commerce has taken over and ordering from Amazon has reduced considerably.
But sometimes we don't have a choice as certain products are Amazon exclusive.
Offline retailers do their own set of nuisances by pushing consumers to buy models that give them higher margins and also mandating add-ons like protection plans and extended warranty.
There was a story by a reliance digital employee where he had to quit because he was forced so much to sell the ResQ plan for every product.
There was one instance where a Xiaomi store refused to sell me a mobile phone unless I purchase atleast one add-on.
We do not have very strong consumer laws and that is one reason all these companies are taking advantage.
Amazon buying has reduced because we have alternatives.
But all these alternatives have their own set of dark patterns and some shady practices.
It's we as consumers who have to do thorough research before buying a product or service.

Using Amazon only for small ticket items ie less than 5000 INR. I found many duplicate product sellers. Even if you type a very specific product with brand and specification mentioned, the ads will put you off. There is a sea of products thrown at you and you get overhwhelmed with the options.

I have found flipkart to be less generic. Their search results are better. Even dealers on flipkart seem to be genuine (for my products atleast). The recent high ticket purchase online for me was my Pixel 8 phone (from Flipkart ofcourse, since they are authorized). But, even on Amazon I found some unauthorized dealers selling the same new phone. For some reason, it gives a general sense of distrust.

For white goods, I always rely on the brick and mortar store. It helps if you see a face when you buy costly products. Call me old school for this. But when things go wrong, these brick and mortar stores help you find Service centres and coordinate the same. It's still better than writing emails, as per me.

I have not, but I never shopped merchandise / perfumes or vanity items from them, the things which are not easily available off-line is usually purchased from them.

At my place, we don't have blinkit / zepto or other online platforms, it's mostly either Flipkart or Amazon. Made 2 big ticket purchases on Flipkart for Pixel phones as they were not available anywhere (had a waiting for a week, Flipkart was delivering quicker, in 3 days).

I always prefer to buy merchandise (preferably) from an outlet or at their exclusive App / website (if I need something quickly and that particular thing is NA nearby). OT, but Myntra nowadays is selling fake merchandise.

Amazon India has been growing at an avg of 20% YoY and the middle class population has been growing at 7% YoY, the peak is 2-3 decades away. Amazon is yet to peak in it's HQ market itself, and India is a growth market.

I go to Amazon for the shopping experience, refund policy and after sales support. They are a marketplace with little control over the sellers, so the experience can be different at times.

Yes, a decent chunk of my spends have moved from online to offline, because we miss the experience of shopping/meeting people etc.