US-based online retailer Amazon said it would take a long-term view on investing in India and not get distracted by developments in the short term, amid signs the country may be heading into a slowdown.Amazon India manager Amit Agarwal said the online retailer was upbeat not only about domestic sales, but also exports. He was responding to media queries during the opening of Amazon’s largest campus building globally, in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Amazon currently exports Indian products of over 50,000 registered sellers through its global selling platform, and hopes to surpass $5 billion in exports in the next three years from over $1 billion so far, he said.
“As far as our service goes, we haven’t seen any slowdown yet,” Agarwal said, attributing it to multiple factors.
“One thing to keep in mind is that e-commerce is a very, very small portion of total retail consumption in India, probably less than 3%. So, when you are that small, there is so much room to grow that I think it would be many years before macro conditions like that seriously impact ecommerce growth.”
Further, Agarwal said in all kinds of economies, the customers love to select for great value and convenience.
“And, I think given that Amazon’s focus has been on that, maybe we haven’t really seen the slowdown,” he said.
Amazon will continue to invest, add more selection and make things more affordable and faster to ensure customers respond positively and the retailer grows at a very health rate.
“It is hard for me to predict what will happen in future, but as a business we are very committed to long term thinking so we don’t really get distracted by what is happening in short cycles.”
On Wednesday, Amazon opened its first owned office building outside the US. The campus building of 3 million square feet is spread over 9.5 acres in Hyderabad, a city that now accommodates a third of its around 62,000 India workforce. Of the nearly 20,000 plus employees in Hyderabad, the new building can accommodate around 15,000.
The retailer plans to shift many employees now working in eight buildings spread over 4 million sft space in Hyderabad to the new campus, said John Schoettler, Amazon’s vice president of global real estate and facilities.
Amazon has so far committed $5 billion on its India operations in addition to $500 million on food retail and will continue to invest across businesses spread over various development centres that serve customers globally, Agarwal said.
Amazon started its India operations in 2004 from Hyderabad.
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