MOST EXCITING BRANDS 2015:AMAZON OUTRANKS ESTABLISHED PLAYERS FLIPKART AND VOTED AS BEST E-COMMERCE BRANDS

Most Exciting Brands 2015: Late entrant Amazon outranks established player Flipkart in the e-commerce mart

'Amazon of India' may have arrived six years too late, but Amazon India has managed to seize the 'Most Exciting E-comm brand' title from the leader, no kidding about that.

By the time Amazon properly entered India (in June'13), Flipkart had already established itself as the 'Amazon of India'. They may have arrived six years too late, but Amazon India has managed to seize the 'Most Exciting E-comm brand' title from the leader, no kidding about that. An ex Flipkart employee feels it's more a function of Flipkart taking a beating on excitement than Amazon climbing stratospheric heights on that front. "The Big Billion Day was no less than a fiasco. It's made their social media team fairly conservative. They've become so big that they are paranoid about how any move of theirs will be perceived," he says.

Amazon has also made more right noises about delivery, says Amaresh-Godbole, MD - India at DigitasLBi. "They were the first ones to introduce guaranteed delivery the next day or at least that's my perception of the brand," he adds, speaking strictly as a consumer. Well, he is right. Amazon was the first to introduce many premium delivery offers like delivery on the next day, the same day and now delivery on a Sunday (the lattermost in 100 cities so far). Currently, 30 per cent of its products are available for next day delivery, the e-commerce giant claims.

Using the catchphrase #AurDikhao in its most recent campaign has further helped them carve a distinct space in the consumer's mind. "It wouldn't have been appreciated to this extent if we didn't have the wide selection of 22 million items to back it up," says Amit Agarwal, country manager of Amazon India.

Amazon is largely witty on social media and doesn't mind being self-effacing at times, he adds.While all this is fine (and it's not like we get a diabolical pleasure out of being cynical) the fact is that Amazon hasn't really seen many misfires as yet. Wait till, if and when, the complaints of fake products and suchlike start piling on. To remain the most exciting brand after taking a few hits will be the true test of its mettle.