Amazon India bets on editorial content to draw buyers

Company believes content would not only help increase the time customers spend on its site but attract new users as well

From articles on lifestyle, fashion, fitness and gadget reviews to product videos, online marketplace major Amazon India is investing heavily on content to further draw buyers.

The company believes editorial content would not only help in increasing the time customers spend on its site but gain new users. The company has already posted a lot of textual content on its site. According to senior executives, they are spending a lot of time and resources in churning out relevant content for the e-commerce portal.

"Many times, people are so consumed with just selling that they heavily optimise on that particular front. We are giving content the first slot on the mobile app and it is not an easy decision, as we can put an advertisement there and make a lot of money. We are using that space for articles and content, as this something which people would like to read and know. It creates that level of information as well," said Kishore Thota, director, customer experience & marketing at Amazon.

Adding: "It helps people make decisions about various products, find new ways of using a product. We will extend this programme." The company plans to have professionally made product reviews, fitness videos using the equipment available on the site for sale and expert advice videos on fashion and lifestyle. The company has allocated a large sum in its marketing budget to expand in this area. "Today, it is content in text. We will extend it to video and so on," said Thota.

The company says it is starting to see a jump in the engagement time of such users. "We have seen that the people who engage with content come back to us more, as well as end up being on the platform a lot more than those who do not," said Thota. "So, even if people are coming only to read content multiple times a day, eventually, they would buy from us. So, we are not restricting this programme to what sells but is valuable to the user."

The company also plans to bundle its exclusive product launches with content. A lot of brands have already reached out to the company to make this part of the marketing campaign.

The company also hopes that content could be a contributor to overall revenue at a later stage. "Brands are interested in publishing content here, as well as launches. We will have to ensure that we maintain the integrity of the editorial content," said Thota.

Sources said with passage of time, content in other Indian languages might also be available on the platform. The company is working on ways to increase its engagement with customers. It is, for instance, developing 'chatbots', which would act as personalised salespeople to make an online shopping experience as interactive and engaging as those offline. Being developed under its 'Guided Shopping' programme, on similar lines to Amazon's voice-based intelligent personnel assistant, Alexa, these chatbots would soon help Indian shoppers in navigating and buying on the portal.