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Amazon Prime now available in India
MUMBAI: With an introductory price of Rs 499 for a year, Amazon Prime is now available in India to give users same day or next day delivery on orders and 30 minute early access to lightning deals. After the inaugural pricing period, a Prime subscription will cost Rs 999 a year.
Items eligible for Prime benefits are marked on the website with the Prime logo next to it. Alternatively, users can choose the Prime logo filter to view the items available on Prime.
The company has announced that Amazon Prime Video will be coming in later but it has not given a timeline. Prime Video will have access to Amazon Original Series, movies and TV shows from India and around the world.
In the U.S., Amazon Prime offers over 40,000 movies and TV shows, a million songs and 500,000 free ebooks for $99 per year. It has begun talks with Bollywood producers and independent production houses for building video content from India. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that $300 mn (approx Rs 2,000 cr) will be invested in its India unit.
Overall, it’s a great news for Indian entertainment industry, as such heavy funding will surely bring out the top talent and potential superstars.
With this, Amazon’s total investment commitment in India goes up to $5 bn; the $3 billion announced now, plus the $2 billion investment announced back in July 2014, which the company has already completed in phases over the past two years.
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Zepto sets up mini delivery hub at AI Summit
Quick commerce goes live at venue with 1,700 daily orders
NEW DELHI: At a summit devoted to the future of artificial intelligence, quick commerce quietly stole the show at ground level. Zepto set up a compact Delivery Hub at the India AI Impact Summit, turning the venue into a live demonstration of instant retail in action.
Built at roughly one third the size of a standard 4,000 sq ft dark store, the scaled down hub was engineered for speed. Despite its smaller footprint, it was stocked with more than 10,000 stock keeping units curated specifically for summit attendees. From mid morning cravings to late afternoon slumps, the shelves were primed for every possible need.
Till Wednesday, the hub was processing an average of 1,700 orders a day. Lunch hour emerged as the clear rush period, as delegates swapped panel discussions for paneer puffs and product demos for Diet Coke. Snacks topped the order charts, followed by tea and other beverages.
Among the fastest moving items were samosas, plain Maggi, chicken puffs, Bisleri packaged drinking water bottles, Coca-Cola Diet Coke cans and Lay’s India’s Magic Masala potato chips. In short, comfort food met cutting edge tech.
The on site hub gave attendees near instant access to essentials without stepping outside the venue. More than just a convenience counter, it served as a real time case study of how technology led operations can power seamless commerce even at large scale events.
While speakers debated how humans and intelligent systems will co create and co work, Zepto offered a practical reminder that sometimes the smartest innovation is simply getting a hot snack into hungry hands, fast.
