Online retail giant Amazon is planning to roll out more than 100 kiosks in malls across the country by the end of the year. In its new push towards offline retail in India, the firm will sell its devices such as the Kindle ebook reader, the Echo speaker and the Fire TV dongle at its kiosks.
The kiosks will give customers a first-hand experience of the devices. It will help customers to understand the devices through an assisted live demo. The company is reportedly in talks with mall operators in Delhi.
According to a report, the US-based firm is looking for around 70-80 square feet of kiosk space to sell its devices and these will be run by third-party franchisees.
The company experimented with its first kiosk two years ago in Bengaluru and has been operating four of them in the country – two in Karnataka, one in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. It opened its fifth kiosk in Noida last week.
“We do not speculate on our future roadmap, but we’re always looking at ways to provide the best experience to our customers. The Amazon Devices Kiosk gives customers a first-hand experience of the devices. Customers can walk up to the kiosk and take an assisted live demo of Kindle, Fire TV and Echo family of devices with the help of the store staff before purchasing devices. The store staff is also available to solve customer queries, pre and post purchase.” – Amazon spokesperson.
However, the development is in complete contrast with its US operation, where the e-commerce firm has recently closed about 80 popup stores.
Search engine major Google had also opened over a dozen popup stores in Delhi and Mumbai to educate consumers about its products.
Amazon had received government approval to sell locally produced and packaged food items through both offline and online channels in India in July 2017.
