Amazon registered 30% of its sales coming from smart TVs that are greater than 55 inches. The QLED TVs are growing 100% y-o-y and OLEDs at more than 300% y-o-y, Ranjit Babu, Director, Wireless & TV, Amazon India told The Hindu in an exclusive conversation.
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Amazon sold over 1,000 OLED televisions for the first time this Prime Day (July 15-16).
He credits affordability, availability and information as the reasons for this growth. “We are seeing demand from tier 2 tier 3 that were otherwise earlier seen in metro and tier 1 only,” said Mr. Babu.
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The second largest e-commerce platform did not share the area-wise demand of smart TVs.
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“Amazon opens the whole world of televisions across brands to any customer anywhere in India. Their interest is largely stemming from the fact that they now have a choice and demand is as equally good for 4k as it is QLED and OLED.”
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Smart TV buyers on Amazon are looking for brands like VU, Sony, Samsung and LG along with OnePlus, he said. “Smart TV is a fragmented industry, we also have customers looking for brands like Acer, VU, TCL, Hisense and much more.”
The rollout and expansion of 5G is also linked to the growth of smart TV business in India. Mr. Babu said, “5G is helping content consumption and therefore encouraging customers to upgrade faster.”
Comparing a smart TV with a high-end smartphone where content is being largely consumed today, he said, “Television is more for families to view content together and people are opting for larger screen sizes and better resolution today, so they can improve their experience of watching at home.”
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On assisting smart TV buyers on Amazon, the e-commerce site attempting to educate customers on making an informed purchase decision. Mr. Babu said, “What kind of viewing distance that might work for them, or the screen size, resolution. We work with social media influencers to make informational videos. We also have this feature to use augmented reality to get a sense of what the television might look like before it comes home.”
Interestingly, there is no softness in demand due to macroeconomic challenges says Ranjit Babu. “We have actually been growing double digits this year on television. We are also seeing upgrades go up.”
“The replacement cycle for televisions is about 6 years. There are a whole bunch of customers still sitting with CRT televisions or LED TVs who are going to join the bandwagon. We are super bullish on television business, especially on people upgrading to smart and larger TVs,” he added. Amazon also accepts old television under its exchange programme throughout the country.
In terms of payment options, Amazon buyers are preferring No cost EMI option as primary (around 35%).
“This year we are seeing 43 inch becoming more affordable with 4k. It’s the new entry point now. We will see 55 inches becoming the entry screen segment a couple of years from now,” concluded Mr. Babu.