HYDERABAD: Amazon India opened the Metaworld experience for its customers in Hyderabad, as part of the Amazon Great Indian Festival. Over 5000 students and faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) campus at Kandi, Sangareddy district, made the most of the experience.
CE caught up with Kishore Thota, director of Amazon India, to learn more about the 9 exciting zones including local stores, smartphones, gadgets and electronics, fashion and make-up, groceries, etc.
If you’re not tech savvy, Kishore’s got your back. He attempts to simplify the Amazon Metaworld universe to explain, “It’s like you put on a device that takes you to a virtual world, where you get to experience and interact with Amazon - you can browse through the products that Amazon offers and grab something you like. All this, while earning points to do the same and have fun engaging and competing too.”
Kishore, a Telugu himself, says that in Telangana alone, Amazon saw a 25 per cent increase in sellers as compared to last year who are catering to our consumers. “Since work and schooling from home have become a way of life for many, customers in the two states have also been shopping for mobile phones laptops, tablets and Wearables, Truly Wireless earphones, wired and wireless speakers, BlueTooth speakers and soundbars on Amazon.in. Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Nalgonda are the top cities observed in terms of most purchases made in Telangana,” he tells CE. Hyderabad, in specific, he says, has seen great e-commerce adoption, thanks to the young energy of the urbane crowd and the company’s huge physical presence here.
Technology plays an important role in the customer shopping experience. Asked how the company is working towards ensuring authenticity for something as personal as lipstick or moisturiser, Kishore says, “Amazon Fashion offers technologies like virtual try-ons, brand-specific size charts, and ‘Style snap’, an image-based search tool that allows customers to upload an image and get a recommendation of products similar to the ones found in the image.
Additionally, there is another feature known as ‘outfit builder’, a machine learning mechanism, to generate complementary products and show customers how to wear items together as a complete look. As for beauty, we have the ‘Virtual Try On’, with which the customers can virtually try-on colour cosmetics like lipsticks and eye makeup products. We understand that a customer cares more about what they put on their face rather than something like a book, and we’re working towards ensuring feedback, transparency, and investigation of any claim of counterfeit thoroughly, including removing the item, and pursuing legal action as appropriate.”