Amazon India Says 50% of Customers Outside Metros

Half of Amazon India's customers are outside the major metro cities, its vice president and country head Amit Agarwal told NDTV. "At Amazon half of our units come from the non-metro cities and if I just look back at the peak holiday season during Diwali, we shipped shipments on behalf of our sellers to more than 900 cities out there. 14,000 pin codes. And we ship across all 19,000 pin codes in India," he said.

Amazon in India is a marketplace, which offers a platform connecting buyers and sellers. The world's largest e-commerce player started its India operations in June 2013, and is the second largest e-tailor in the country after Flipkart. Amazon India also provides warehousing and delivery services to the seller.

The company's recent addition of a musical instruments category has received a positive response from customers, Mr Agarwal said. "In just a little over two weeks, we are seeing products such as iktara and bamboo flutes sold by our sellers get on bestseller lists and customers in areas like Rajahmundry rural, Andhra Pradesh and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand buying products," he said. (Watch Video)

Amazon India's categories include larger segments like books, electronics, fashion and lifestyle. It also has niche categories like pet supplies.

The company has over 1 lakh sellers across its two sites - amazon.in and junglee.com - Mr Agarwal said. Junglee is a price-comparison website, where customers can compare prices of products across online and offline stores.

The seller-base is seeing rapid growth and Amazon India has launched something called self-service registration for sellers that allows them to come to the platform and sign up without having to speak to them, Mr Agarwal said.

"Whenever you make something simpler and more convenient they (buyers and sellers) use more of it and we are almost seeing 30 per cent of our seller base coming through that channel," he said.