You’re saying that Amazon has the single-largest fashion business?
Yes. The IMRB data showed that on a standalone basis, we have the largest fashion business in terms of units sold, GMS (gross merchandise sales), customer share.
Some people say that Amazon got complacent in 2016 and let Flipkart off the hook…
We don’t think about competitors that way. I don’t plan my strategy on how it would influence somebody else. The general aggressiveness in the market is normal. India is a long-term market...e-commerce is so small currently; so, there will always be players who will bring in money and that’s good for e-commerce. I would rather have two or three well-funded players going after (expanding the market) than us doing it alone.
So, if Walmart were to get into Flipkart you would consider that to be a positive?
It’s good, it’s good. Given how early India is in the stage of e-commerce, wouldn’t you rather have a lot more investments? I don’t get too emotional about someone’s adversities or someone’s success because our time will also come in one of those two phases. For us to get close to any of the credible markets it’s a long journey. So as long as there are investments, it’s good for everyone.
If you’d rather have 2-3 players then why is Amazon interested in buying Flipkart?
That’s your rumours and speculation. Maybe we should ask Alexa about it! I don’t have any comment on that.
Could you speak about your approach towards investing in startups in India?
You have to trade off in your mind, if there is a missionary entrepreneur out there who’s working on an idea that can accelerate what you’re doing in a meaningful way and can fit into the culture that you have. Or you make an investment where you see that thing converge with what you’re doing and do something with what your core flywheel is all about...We have invested in startups—QwikCilver is a great example, it got our payments thing going. BankBazaar is the kind of investment that hopefully can converge in the future.
Do you consider the Bansals to be missionary entrepreneurs?
Absolutely. I have a great deal of respect for what they’ve built. Not just them, but all the startups that are running, people should be very proud of what they’ve achieved. I consider myself as a missionary entrepreneur as well, even though I’m stuck at one company (laughs).
Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy recently said that by dominating the category of smartphones, one can ensure sustained dominance of the e-commerce business in India. What are your thoughts?
My belief is that you have to serve customers and be relevant for all their needs to drive loyalty... Smartphones is one of them, but we don’t take a category approach, we take a customer-backwards approach. And from that perspective, we are happy with the spread of purchases that customers do on our website and the loyalty that they exhibit. I don’t think you’ll ever have a Prime programme for smartphones, which probably defines the futility of that thinking.