Amazon has set high standards in e-commerce as well as in many other fields. But the Agritech sector is a new sector on which Amazon is focussing right now due to many different reasons. And also, when it comes to agriculture, you cannot ignore India. Amazon also has big plans for the Indian Agri sector. The Indian agriculture sector is currently experiencing a lot of influence from private players. Amazon is trying to Invest in the Agritech space in India to make some modern changes. This may secure the farm produce in the Indian agricultural sector. Let’s jump into the topic to know more about it.
Amazon retail is trying to help farmers in India by launching its agronomy services which will notify the farmers about important crop-related data. These early notifications and information will help the farmers to make the necessary decisions for their crops. Now, this whole process takes place through an application through which necessary information is conveyed to the farmers related to crops, and it’s production. Amazon has entered the Agritech sector to secure farm produce. This farm produce yields two-thirds of the country’s $1 trillion retail spendings. Also, in India, many crops are not grown throughout the year. The government aims to bring in the private players to improve the farm work by yielding good results from suitable technology available. Amazon is a private giant which can invest a nice amount of money in reforming the agricultural sector.
Reactive and proactive plant programs supported by Amazon will provide cutting-edge technology to farmers and other crop growers. The dedicated mobile application will provide farmers with real-time advice and information on crop data and insights. As a Private company, Amazon tends to stretch its boundaries in different sectors, and the Agritech sector is perhaps one of the most developing sectors in the current time. Also, crop data needs critical analysis to be processed, and farmers will proceed accordingly, which will improve the crop produce. Private players could fulfill these factors in a better way if they cooperate with the government.
How is Amazon Entering Agritech?
Agronomy services launched by Amazon retail is a new footprint by a private company in the Agritech field of Indian agriculture. This system will provide early guidance and advice to farmers on crop production and other insights. Also, Amazon focuses on machine learning to improve productivity and build a more convenient supply infrastructure. According to Amazon’s Indian senior officials, this technology will improve the quality of crop production and will yield good results.
Also, with this launch, the Amazon Agritech solutions have created an ecosystem through agronomist-powered field interventions. Also, tools were added to track down these field interventions. But every step requires huge support from the farmers on the field. Amazon needs to deliver good quality services with an agreement to supply vegetables and fruits of desired quality. Supply chain is a big challenge for Amazon. Old supply chains may damage the product, which will result in loss of trust and money. As a private giant, it’s not that difficult for the company to invest a big amount in the modernization of the supply chain.
Benefits of Amazon Agritech
Amazon Agritech
This system makes sure that farmers make accurate decisions about their crops on time. The instructions and timely advice help the farmers to get early data on how to manage crop production and increase farm produce. Also, the supply chains can be processed properly now with the interface as well as farmers will get informed about rotten or damaged fruits and vegetables. This will improve the quality of fruits and vegetables, which will reach millions of customers. The government is also aiming to harness profit through suitable technology available. India is a developing nation, so the agricultural sector must get proper reforms.
Also, farmers are showing interest in tech-led innovation in the field of farming. Smart farming methods will make it more profitable for the farmers to grow proper quality crops without much wastage. This technology will improve the results of the farming process and will deliver better. Amazon retail has also planned a proper temperature-controlled supply chain. This will ensure proper and safe transportation of the produce from the farm to the processing centers. After this, the packing process will take place with proper monitoring and will be dispatched to Amazon stores near customers. The Advancement in technology will help in upgrading the older ways of supplies and gathering farming data.
Government Plans For The Agritech Sector
The government of India is seeking a partnership of private giants to revolutionize the Indian agricultural sector. The technology provided by Companies such as Amazon will help to increase the farm yields. As a developing nation, India may see huge reforms in the agricultural sector in the next decade from a more modern perspective. The introduction to machine learning and artificial intelligence with modern supply chains and better advice on crop production are some of the examples. Some of these have already arrived in India, as the Amazon Agritech.
The aim is to increase profit revenue by increasing the farm produce. Also, time delays in supply chains can now be corrected, saving valuable time and capital. Farmers will get early warnings and important updates about the crops, which will help them to work more efficiently in the fields.
The government and private entities will work together to bring suitable reforms to the sector that employs half of India’s population. Also, the agricultural sector contributes highly to India’s GDP, which is why it needs a good amount of investment too. Private companies have huge capital reserves to invest in technologies which can be helpful for the government to bring reforms. But the end decision must stay with the farmers who will work day and night in the crop fields to feed the entire nation.
FAQs
What is Amazon Kisan store?
Amazon India’s Kisan Store help farmers with agriculture inputs like seeds, farm tools & accessories, plant protection, and many other agricultural products at competitive prices.
What is amazon agronomy service?
Amazon’s agronomy services empower farmers. It helps in following ways:
It gives them timely advice on farming.
It enables them to make proper decisions on actions needed for their crops.
It introduces machine learning technology for better production.
It helps in building a robust supply chain infrastructure.
Amazon is now the world’s largest e-commerce company in the world. Many small and medium-scale businesses benefit a lot from Amazon. If you are a curious person and are entrepreneurial in nature, you might wonder very often how Amazon supply chain works. The logistics of Amazon are fairly complex and quite vast. Over the years Amazon has improved its supply chain operations and many other things. Today Amazon’s supply chain is one of the most sophisticated ones.
So, Lets look at the Complete process of Supply chain management of Amazon
The supply chain of Amazon is one of the most sophisticated complex supply chains in the world. It is because of its supply chain, it has achieved such great heights. So, let’s look at the basics of how Amazon manages its logistics? and some of the advanced optimization Amazon does in order to work more efficiently.
Warehousing Strategy
Amazon Warehouse
Amazon is one of the influential e-commerce companies because of its advanced warehousing strategy. It has a strategy by which it can locate the desired product properly. All the products are placed strategically so that they can be found easily. The products are segregated infrequently demanded and rarely demanded. Warehouses are optimized really well so that goods can be procured faster.
They do demand forecasting and keep the products of high demand ready to be deployed. Apart from that they also follow certain quality control rules depending on the product so that the customer gets the best quality product.
Sohpisticated Delivery Network
Amazon Drone Delivery
The delivery system of Amazon is very sophisticated in nature. The supply chain is very well planned which will help the company to deliver the product properly. For members who have a Prime subscription, their products need to be delivered to them within 2 hours or next day depending on the location. Amazon has put in place a number of techniques that can arrange and pack your product and send it to your home.
Amazon has deployed a number of drones, robots, and other logistics technologies to help the goods reach your house faster. There are also many other delivery robots through which they are delivering the goods to their customer.
Use of Robots
Amazon Kiva Robots
Amazon employs technology in its Warehousing to improve its efficiency. It uses a number of robots in its warehouse which helps in arranging the goods, moving them from one place to another.
Amazon had acquired an automation company called Kiva Systems. It was renamed Amazon robotics after acquisition. These robots decreased human intervention and improved the delivery speed.
Amazon also implemented drones so that they can deliver their goods where logistics companies could not reach. Amazon has also deployed many small delivery robots which deliver goods to other people. These technologies enhance the delivery speed and make the whole process very easy.
Amazon is not just a retail e-commerce website now where it sells products from 3rd party. It is a company that ultimately focuses on customer satisfaction. In due course of time, Amazon has looked into possible ways of decreasing the cost of products.
With time, Amazon started manufacturing its own products like Earphones, iPhone chargers and many other things. These goods were much cheaper than the 3rd party manufacturers.
The product quality is also much better as the quality control is done by Amazon themselves. This leads to a lot of simplifications and decreases a lot of complications on the part of Amazon.
Cost-Effective Supply chain
Amazon has kept the cost of its supply chain very low. Due to its huge economies of scale, it was able to keep its cost very low. The per-unit supply is very cost effective. Amazon has several warehouses of its own and it has automated to a great extent. This is why they have a lot less operation cost than other companies.
High-level Automation
Amazon Delivery Robot
From its warehouses to delivery, Amazon has deployed a lot of robots to automate it. There are robots that would move and arrange the goods in the warehouse and also packaging the goods. For the delivery, Amazon has deployed drones, delivery robots, to deliver the product to the customer’s house. This decreases human involvement and thus decreases the cost of operation.
Outsourcing Inventory Management and Insourcing Logistics
Amazon outsources its inventory management to third parties wherever they see it’s feasible. Outsourcing helps them reduce costs and reduce the unnecessary expansion of the supply chain.
The third party stores the goods in their local storage and it is not stored in an Amazon warehouse. These third-party warehouses are generally located at special places and are supplied with those goods which are in high demand in that area.
Push-Pull Strategy for Supply Chain Success
Amazon implements a push-pull strategy in its warehouse management. The warehouses owned by Amazon are located in more strategic locations. While the Warehouses belonging to the third party are located at other places. So in the case of Amazon’s warehouse, it implements a push strategy and in the case of a third-party warehouse, it implements a pull strategy.
Amazon has designed a supply chain in which it can optimize any part of it. It has introduced high-level automation using robots to decrease human employment. This helps them decrease the cost. From warehouse to delivery it has deployed several robots to arrange pack and deliver the product to the customer’s house. The supply chain and logistics of Amazon is one unique entity in the whole world.
FAQ
Does Amazon have the best supply chain?
Yes, Amazons supply chain is counted as one of the most efficient supply chains in the world.
What is the revenue of Amazon?
The revenue of Amazon of 2020 was 21.33 billion U.S. dollars.
What are the tasks that Amazon Outsources?
Product Listing and Optimization., Product Photography Services, Managing Sponsored Ads/ PPC, and Customer Support Services are some of the tasks that are outsourced by Amazon.
Mukund Mohan is a 48 year old Indian American Tech Executive and Investor that has been sentenced for perpetuating a scheme to fraudulently obtaining more than $1.8 million worth of Covid 19 disaster relief loans. Mukund Mohan was sentenced to a two-year prison on 25th August by the Western District of Washington. Mukund Mohan is a former Amazon, Microsoft Ventures executive and well-known curator at Vangal.
Before getting caught, Mukund Mohan was a well-known angel investor who was based in Clyde Hill of Washington state. Mukund Mohan completed his education in Computer Science at Mysore University, India and then rose to become the Director of Engineering at Microsoft in America. After that Mohan became an entrepreneur in Bengaluru and also claimed to be the founder of over five companies.
How Mukund Mohan claimed the Covid 19 Relief Funds
To cover up the fraud, the infamous investor was known to have submitted fake and altered documents, which also included fake federal tax filing and incorporation documents with altered information. Mohan initially wanted over $5.5 million through eight fraudulent disaster loan applications and in order to claim these benefits, the fake documents included tax filling of six companies are Zuput, GitGrow, Vangal, Expect Success, Mahenjo Inc and Zigantic LLC.
Only five out of the eight fraudulent loan applications were approved, bringing the total up to $1.8 million. According to sources, the funds were taken in order to help small startups retain their workers during the difficult time of the Covid 19 Pandemic where small startups would not have a steady capital flow. Mohan was arrested in the month of July 2020, for forging fake and altered documents in order to acquire over $5.5 million from Covid relief funds.
Mukund Mohan giving a speech
Based on the complaints, one particular company he applied loans for with misleading statements and false documents was Mohenjo. This company was purchased by Mohan in May 2020, which at the time did not have any employees or business activities. But according to Mohan’s fake documents the company was said to be in operation from the year 2019 and had employees for whom the company paid millions of dollars for employers salaries and payroll taxes.
Mukund Mohan went on to plead on his blog on 14th August 2020 saying that,
“I hurt people who trusted me, believed in me, and now are beside themselves. Unfortunately, I cannot talk about the details given the legal circumstances, but I truly apologise… I own my mistake, and now I have to course correct. Seeking help is what I am doing. I think the road ahead, though, will be very long,” Mukund Mohan.
Mukund Mohan is now accused of perpetuating a scheme to obtain Covid-19 disaster relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program which are under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to the press release of the United States Department of Justice, the techie has now been ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and $1,786,357 in restitution. Mohan is now pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering with regard to his scheme of obtaining over $5.5 million under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Mukund Mohan’s past claims for fame
This was not the first time Mukund Mohan has been involved with fraud cases, malpractices and fraudulent claims. From 2008 to 2012, Mohan had also made false claims of being a co-founder of over five startups, investing in 11 companies personally and three other companies through Napkin Stage (an investment firm).
Out of the five startups that were said to be found by him, four startups excluding BuzzGain failed as they didn’t raise any funds. Whereas out of the three other companies said to be funded via Napkin Stage, ChargeBee and SignEasy clarified by saying that Napkin Stage was only an advisor and did not fund them.
The pandemic has transformed the world into a digital one. There has been observed drastic change with the people in the field of shopping. And with such an advancement, people are entirely relying on the internet for any purchasing.
From household products to festive clothing, everything is available on the Internet and people are purchasing these as well. A wide fraction of people prefer online shopping apps for any purchase.
Among these, Amazon is one of the most established shopping applications across the world. In fact, Amazon is counted among the triumphant companies that hold the position to beat the consumer and retail industry!
With the popularity of Amazon, many small businesses consider it quite dominant in the retail industry. People are acknowledging how Amazon’s immense success is causing great loss to small businesses. Whether these are accurate and true, can’t be asserted right away! But a question arises, Is Amazon killing small retail businesses?
Well, looking back at some previous analytics, this accusation on Amazon isn’t something new. As of 2019, Steven Mnuchin, the United States Treasury Secretary also mentioned that Amazon, being a harm to the retail industry. To discuss this matter briefly, we have presented this case study- Is Amazon killing small businesses? Let’s begin!
Amazon, being the world’s one of the biggest online shopping companies, managed its way to success even in the dreadful pandemic of 2020. It made a huge profit towards the sales. At the beginning of 2020, Amazon made a profit of $5.2 billion beating its previous record of $2.6 billion in 2019.
The most significant thing about Amazon’s success is that the company modifies its policies and practices based on the resources and customers’ requirements. The company adjusted its services during the pandemic, that’s why it made such a remarkable profit.
With the immense success and fame of the company, the accusations on Amazon for killing the small businesses increased more vibrantly. The small businesses entirely blame Amazon for destroying the consumer and retail industry. Many examples and proves came out claiming Amazon for killing the small businesses but, many of these couldn’t be proven accurate.
Amazon Annual Net Revenue (in billion U.S. Dollars)
Consumers’ perspective during the Stay at Home orders
With the dreadful condition of Covid-19, people have become more cautious with their lifestyle, especially in the shopping part. People across the globe changed their offline shopping techniques into digital ones. And on that note, Amazon experienced massive progress and development. Because of this, Amazon made such a great profit even during the global crisis.
Amazon spent over $4 billion on further Covid-19 costs. And with this, the company took over various services adaptation. Amazon functions with great strategies and process improvements.
But even after this, Amazon is considered the destroyer of small businesses. It is highly criticized by the critics in a bewildering manner. But the company believes in helping and driving more audience to the small businesses but not in being a destroyer for them. However, the company remains on the top, regardless of its various accusations.
No matter how many proofs come out, any company itself cannot be blamed responsible for the downfall of small businesses.
Amazon’s perspective on being responsible for the downfall of Small businesses
On asking about the accusations made on Amazon, Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon mentioned in an interview that the company itself holds a very strong and beneficial relationship with its sellers, who are small and medium-sized businesses. Amazon believes in helping the sellers to gain profit and success as it would bring more choices that could actually lower the prices of their products.
In fact, Amazon works with around 1.5 million small to medium sellers, just in the United States. As the more such sellers would join Amazon, the more benefits the customers will get such as free delivery, shipping, and low prices.
Although Amazon is affecting the small businesses, it means no harm or demise for them and brought a performance standpoint in the marketing field. Amazon has brought a great advantage in the retail industry as reaching customers has become very easy and profitable.
With the digitization in every sector, people are becoming more connected with E-commerce platforms. That’s why small and medium-sized businesses are also enrolling in the digital platform as an advanced marketing tool.
There’s huge competition in the market among established brands and small businesses. And those who would adapt to the changes that come to them will be known as being the biggest.
Modifications by Amazon for Success of Businesses
Amazon has taken the retail industry to an advanced level. And with its popularity and services, it has brought absolute convenience for the sellers to reach out to more customers and suppliers. Many concluded this as contraction to the claim made on Amazon.
As the consumers on the global level are increasing rapidly and so as the digital marketing platforms. People are preferring online shopping more promptly. On that note, small and medium-sized businesses must acknowledge this advancement and work accordingly. This would help them to embrace the changes that come on the way, instead of complaining.
Amazon has worked tremendously to gain the customer’s support and its success. In order to do so, it has widely increased the competition in the retail industry which has not been well received by the small and medium-sized businesses.
Various claims have been made on Amazon, accusing it of killing the small business. But as it has raised the competition, it has also brought several opportunities for sellers (including small and medium-sized businesses) to reach the customers more frequently and with good services in hand.
The whole world is digitizing and as people are becoming more reliant on digital sources for any purchase, it’s a great opportunity for small businesses to modify their services and take up the stand with the E-commerce platforms. This would bring immense advantage for the small businesses. Just that, Amazon has accepted the changes that came for it and adapted it as well. That’s why it has grown to be the biggest online shopping company.
FAQ
Is Amazon killing small business?
Amazon is helping small business and retailers. As because of Amazon independent brands and small businesses can compete with large corporations and established brands.
What impact does Amazon have on small businesses?
The more sales businesses do the more money Amazon generates. Amazon has also invested more than $30 billion in logistics, tools, services, and employees to help small businesses.
Do small businesses sell on Amazon?
Yes, many small businesses are selling their products on Amazon.
Amazon moved to the Supreme Court of India with a plea to enforce an emergency award challenging the decree of Delhi High Court allowing statutory authorities such as the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to seek approval of application filed by the Future Group to complete its Rs 24,731 crore asset deal with Reliance Retail.
Amazon wins as SC rules against the Reliance-Future Group deal on August 6, 2021. This proves to be a big boost for Amazon and an equally significant setback for Reliance. Read through the article to learn all the facts about the case, and check how its result affects both the parties dearly!
The Conflict – How it became Amazon vs Reliance!
The Indian E-commerce sector had become witness to a tug of war between Amazon and Reliance industries since Future group made an asset sale deal with Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary owned by the owner of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani. According to the same, the Future group will be giving up their entire retail, wholesale, logistics, and wholesaling businesses to RRVL.
Amazon had already acquired 49% stakes in Future Coupons making it a 10% stakeholder in the Future Group. The latter signed a “Right of First Refusal” deal with Amazon stating that Future Coupons will not sell its assets to a list of companies without Amazon’s consent so as to block competitors. Reliance Industries was one of the companies on the list.
Amazon and Reliance have locked horns over the rights of Future Group assets
Parties to the Conflict- Reliance, Amazon & Future group
Future Retail signed an asset sale deal with RRVL for 24,731 crore, which resulted in a breach of contract between Amazon and Future Retail. This is why Amazon had taken the matter to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and pleaded to order stay on carrying out this deal. SIAC issued an emergency award ordering a stay on the fulfillment of the deal between Future Retail and Reliance Industries.
Amazon, with 7 lac sellers in its kitty, is desperate to enter the Indian retail market. On the other hand, Reliance has already established itself with 11,784 stores all over the country. And now, after buying Future Retail, it will become the third largest retail conglomerate in the world with Future’s 1800 stores and brands including Big Bazar, FBB, Easyday, Nilgiris, Central and Brand Factory.
Future Group has announced to sell its retail business to Reliance Industries for Rs 24,731 crore
Reliance is already known as a telecom giant after launching JIO and has already entered the retail market with JioMart. It had an advantage over Amazon since a large Indian population still prefers shopping at grocery stores and kiranas. JioMart is planning to collaborate with these small vendors as it has upheld the motto “Local for Vocal”. The consumers may lean towards this motto since Reliance represents the home ground. Reliance may be an old player in telecom and oil but the retail market is completely based on consumer satisfaction. When you face issues with your network, you’d switch to another one but that involves a whole new process. But when the services from an e-commerce platform disappoint you, chances are you’d never go back. Amazon has been performing aces on the customer satisfaction and delivery front. Reliance still has a lot of catching up to do.
The SIAC, to Amazon’s relief, ruled out an emergency award to stop the deal being carried out between Future Group and Reliance Industries Limited. This relief was short lived as Future Group challenged this decree in the Delhi High Court, stating in a plea that this decree is invalid in India under Sec 17 (1) of Arbitration & Conciliation Act and hence, is not enforceable. The Delhi High Court asked Reliance and Future Group to maintain their status quo and encouraged the NCLT and SEBI to acknowledge the deal between Reliance and Future Group.
Amazon then moved the Supreme Court of India challenging the order issued by the Delhi High Court on February 2nd. “The order of the high court is illegal, and arbitrary apart from being without jurisdiction, therefore the same is liable to be set aside on this ground alone” stated Amazon’s appeal in the high court proceedings.
If this deal goes through, Kishore Biyani, the retail king who’s been ruling the market for over three decades, gets rid of debt on promoter level and listed entities level. The identified assets will be transferred to Reliance Retail & Fashion Lifestyle Limited as a going concern on a slump sale basis for Rs 5628 crore. Future Group will be saving its 25000 employees with their jobs kept intact. Reliance Industries will be taking over the liabilities too. If the status quo on the deal is vacated, Future Group will have no option other than liquidating itself.
As in the case of Reliance, this deal will make it a monolayer in the retail market. It will acquire already set up stores across the country and will be spreading its business faster. Since the announcement, Reliance’s shares have shot up from Rs 500 to Rs 1250 in a matter of months.
The Big Judgement from Supreme Court goes in favour of Amazon
The much-awaited decision from Supreme Court ultimately stands in favor of the earlier ruling of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and thereby, halting the Reliance-Future Group deal.
This is bound to be a huge win for Amazon, blocking its competitor and a considerable setback for Reliance. The deal amounted to a total of Rs 24,713 crores, which comprised of a takeover of 1,800 stores of Big Bazaar, EasyDay, FBB, and Food Hall, in an attempt to further expand its business across the country. Furthermore, Reliance was also on the verge of taking over the debt and liabilities of the Future Group amounting to Rs 19,000 crores as part of the deal.
As soon as the judgement was passed by SC, Reliance shares were noted to be falling by 2% on the stock markets. Future Group’s retail shares also tanked by 10% as a result of the long drawn battle between Amazon and Reliance, which it was a part of!
Who else is trying this gimmick?
The TATA’s are trying to take over Big Basket by buying a majority stake of 500 to 700 million dollars, as well as a substantial stake in 1mg, an online drug retailer. Flipkart bought 8% stakes in Aditya Birla Fashions by paying a sum of Rs 1500 crore and signed a “right of first refusal” clause as well.
The retail market is on the edge as big players move their money around. There already is a shift in consumer patterns since everything from smartphones, appliances, policies to medicines and groceries are becoming a part of the online retail market. And now we wait and watch, as Amazon and Reliance play their hacks.
The Competition and Market Authority is a regulator for competition related to the business in the United Kingdom. The Authority was founded in the year 2013 and has its headquarters in London. The organization is responsible for preventing and reducing the anti competitive activities and for strengthening the business competition. The CMA has accused Google and Amazon of fake reviews and in this article let’s look at further information regarding it.
The United Kingdom Watch Dog has accused the biggest tech companies Amazon and Google in relation to fake reviews on their platform for the goods and services. The UK regulators had stated on 2 July 2021 that they are looking into Amazon and Google in relation to it.
The regulatory has said that online giants are not taking enough steps or putting the required efforts in order to stop the fake reviewing of products and services on their platform.
The CMA has also conveyed that they had conducted an initial inquiry last year and had raised a lot of concerns in relation to whether the companies had been doing the required amount of work in order to detect the fake reviews for their products and services on their platforms and removing them quickly from their websites.
UK Regulators Investigation against Amazon Google Fake Reviews
The UK Regulators have conveyed to have started an investigation into Google and Amazon in relation to the fake review on the products and services. The Competition and Markets Authority has said that they have started a formal investigation in order to analyze whether the major tech giants have broken the consumer law of the UK by failing to protect their customers or shoppers.
It is reported that in the previous year amidst the boom in the e-commerce industry due to the pandemic the UK regulators had looked into some top e-commerce platforms in relation to fake reviews without identifying any specific ones.
Andrea Coscelli who is the Chief Executive of the Regulatory Authority of UK said in a press statement that the only worry of the regulator is about the consumer who would mislead by looking at the fake review and would purchase the product by spending their hard-earned money and later realize that it was not worth it.
The Chief Executive also added that it is equally not fair that certain businesses can go against the laws and provide 5 star reviews on their products and services making them stand out and in the meanwhile, the businesses that follow the laws and regulations would lose out.
Response from Amazon and Google on its Fake Reviews
Both the companies Google and Amazon have said that they would work together and provide the support to the UK Regulators with their investigation.
Google has conveyed that the strict policies of the company have a clear statement that the reviews provided on the services and products should be based on real experiences and genuine ones and added that the company would soon take action and remove the abusive contents to even disabling the user accounts if they find any policy violators.
Amazon also stated that even the company focuses on removing the fake reviews from their e-commerce websites and also avoid fake and incentivized reviews from appearing on their store as it would help in earning the trust of their customers.
Conclusion
Amazon has already been accused in the past of fake reviews on their products. The company has also taken specific measures in relation to it with certain Chinese products and companies. However, we will have to wait for the investigation in order to get much more clarity into it.
FAQ
Does Google take down fake reviews?
Google only remove reviews that it sees to be in direct violation of their policies. It may be that there is insufficient evidence to determine whether the review is legitimate or not.
What percent of Amazon reviews are fake?
According to the December 2018 findings, the supplements category had the highest share of fake product reviews on Amazon, with a reported 64 percent of reviews being considered fake.
Are fake Amazon reviews illegal?
In several countries, paying people to conduct fake reviews is an illegal practice that damages the rights of consumers.
Ever since the collaboration between Walmart and Flipkart, many debates and queries have been woken. Walmart has spent around $16 billion in order to acquire an Indian E-commerce company- Flipkart. However, many Indians have been saying Flipkart shouldn’t have sold to an American company.
Flipkart holds the position of a very strong E-commerce company that has grown massively in the past 12 years. It acquires almost 31% of market shares being the most preferred E-commerce company in India.
The co-founder of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal is off to a subtle exit with 5.5% shares worth $1 billion. On the other hand, Google has been planning to sway its 7% stake in the advanced commodity.
With these vast hearings about the most preferred e-commerce platform- Flipkart, we have brought some very rare facts about the company as well as its founders that are quite interesting. Let’s get started!
When people say that Flipkart came out as a surprise, this is absolutely untrue. The beginning of an online bookstore later known as Flipkart was well-planned with all the business strategies in mind.
The two alumni of IIT Delhi, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal planned this company thoroughly. The co-founder of Flipkart has also worked together at Amazon which turned out to be the biggest competitor of Flipkart in the market. They then left Amazon and fabricated their own E-commerce bookstore company– Flipkart.
Flipkart’s Logo logic
Flipkart Logo
The name Flipkart was chosen very strategically as it means, ‘Flipping items into cart’. Flipkart brandishes a distant ‘f’ letter in blue shading drawn on a yellow-hued shopping bag. Behind the letter ‘f’, speed lines are drawn. The logo resembles a positive as well as speedy assistance. While the yellow hues resemble vitality, creativeness and inclusivity.
The un-familiar bond of Bansals
Most people get tricked by the surnames of the co-founders of Flipkart; both being Bansal. They often connect the co-founders as blood relatives. But, to the best of my knowledge, this is entirely untrue! Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal do belong to the same city- Chandigarh but, Bansals are not related anyhow.
They went to the same schools but were not very good friends. Later they went together to IIT-Delhi and worked at Amazon together. Well, they were pretty amazing at IIT and Amazon both and counted among the best performers.
They both left Amazon and started their own India’ online bookstore website and founded Flipkart.
The First Order on Flipkart
Leaving Microsoft to change the world Book
When Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal successfully launched their online bookstore website- Flipkart.com. The first-ever order was of a book ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World‘ by John Wood.
Very few know that the packaging of that very first order was done by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal acted out as the delivery boy. In fact, in an interview they told, they used to write fake reviews of the books on their website to gather the interest of new eyes. Interestingly, this worked for them pretty well!
Denial didn’t break the founders of Flipkart
When Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal worked over the idea of Flipkart, many investors rejected their business model. Many resources said Binny Bansal, went with the idea of Flipkart twice to Google but unfortunately, he was rejected both times.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal completed their education together, but the idea of Flipkart never crossed their minds. It was when they joined Amazon with a year of difference that Sachin joined in 2006 while Binny in 2007. They worked on their business model and faced many rejections. But they stood by their idea and made Flipkart one of the biggest E-Commerce platforms in India.
One in a Million
Flipkart encountered enormous success. It became the first-ever Indian digital app to reach more than 50 million users in 2016. It is one of the most preferred and visited websites in India. It is quite remarkable that Flipkart receives over 13 million visitors per day.
Regularly, Flipkart sells over 80 million products. Flipkart is termed as India’s Alibaba with an annual turnover of $1.5 billion.
Distinctive Views of Co-founder
As Sachin and Binny Bansal developed this massive company all by themselves, many consider them as one mind. But to great knowledge, the co-founders of Flipkart are everything but alike.
Sachin Bansal is known to be a brilliant as well as a very passionate game player. If one can ever beat Sachin in his game, he/she is treated to a lavish dinner. However, it’s nearly impossible to beat Sachin, especially the one he is best at.
However, Binny Bansal carries an entirely different personality. He is fond of nature and loves to travel. Most of all, his adventurous ride in the water-rafting is quite fascinating.
Divastri
Divastri
Flipkart has grown enormously and with this development, it has launched its brands. Well, this is true! The co-founder of Flipkart has recently made its decision and launched its first-ever private label fashion brand called- Divastri, which is a women’s fashion brand.
Conclusion
Since the cooperation with Walmart, the online shoppers are receiving really some pretty fascinating offerings and deals from Walmart. This is known as its ‘Everyday Sale Business Model’.
Indian commerce has been depicted pretty amazingly in the eyes of foreign markets. Flipkart’s strong upholding in the Indian market is known and captivated by everyone. And this boldness of Flipkart is what attracted a foreign company, Walmart who spent around $16 billion to gain this prominent E-commerce website.
And with the lots of news here, in this article, we had discussed some very interesting and lesser-known facts about Flipkart. Stay tuned for more updates.
FAQ
When was Flipkart founded?
Flipkart was founded by Binny bansal and Sachin bansal on October 2007.
Who is the Flipkart CEO?
Kalyan Krishnamurthy is the current CEO of Flipkart.
What is the revenue of Flipkart?
the revenue of Flipkart is approximately 346 billion Indian rupees.
Amazon has faced a lot of controversies against its working policy in the past. The company has been criticized for following a hire to fire policy and a lot of employees conveying about it on the social media platforms. Recently the company has been criticized for destroying around 1.3 lakh items and in this article let’s look into more information about it.
A new report has stated that Amazon is estimated to destroy around millions of unsold items on a yearly basis. The items include books, electronics and now even the face masks due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic. It was found as per the new investigation conducted on the company.
Footage was collected from one of the fulfillment centers of Amazon among the 24 centers. The footage shows certain boxes which have unsold items and a label that is marked on them destroy. This has created a lot of attention on why these destroyed items are not used for charitable purposes rather than destroying them.
Reason Why Amazon destroys over 100,000 items every week
One of the major reasons for destroying the items is due to the lack of space in the fulfillment centers. Many vendors use the warehouses of Amazon in order to store their products and after a certain period of time when the products are unused and unsold, destroying or disposing of them is considered to be cheaper than paying for their storage cost.
An ex-employee from the Amazon center had conveyed that they had a target to destroy around 1.3 lakh items on a weekly basis that is from Friday to Friday.
The former employee had conveyed that there are no specific items that get destroyed. He had shared that from MacBook, iPad, Dyson fans every item gets destroyed. He even shared an experience where he conveyed that he saw them destroying around 20,000 Covid face masks that were still in their wrappers.
While looking at the number of items that get destroyed, the number of items that are provided for charitable purposes is very less. The items that were going to be destroyed had ‘to destroy’ written on their boxes and the items that are given as charity has ‘to donate’ written on them. The difference between the two boxes is very large.
The number of items that are destroyed was somewhere around 1.3 lakhs, at the same time the number of items that were given as charity was somewhere around 28,000 comparing to the same period of time.
However, half of the items that were marked destroy are brand new ones which haven’t even been removed from the cover and the others are the ones that are returned by the customers.
Amazon’s response on Why it destroys items every week
It is estimated that the company destroys more than 3 million products in a particular year. The Amazon spokesperson said that, the goal of the company is to ensure zero product disposal and added that they are working towards it.
He added that the priority of the company is to donate to charitable organizations or to recycle any unsold items. He said that, no items are sent to destroy in the UK and said that as a last resort the company would send items for energy recovery and also said that the company is working hard in order to reduce this number to zero.
However, it was found that certain products were sent for destroying and had tracked that the products were packed and loaded to the truck from Amazon’s warehouses. The Amazon spokesperson had provided the information regarding these in the year 2019 and later on hasn’t provided any updates about it or any information regarding the change of infrastructure.
Even certain employees have been complaining that the daily wages provided by Amazon are not helping them reach their basic requirements and such other laborers have also said that Jeff Bezos donates money for charity in order to gain tax benefits.
FAQ
What happens to unsold inventory in Amazon?
The unsold inventory in Amazon is either destroyed or is given to charity purposes.
Does Amazon destroys unsold products?
Yes, in a recent report it was found that Amazon warehouse destroys around 1.3 lakh unsold items every week.
How many fulfillment centers does Amazon have in the world?
There are currently 185 active fulfillment centers in the world.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Juicy Chemistry.
When it comes to the cosmetic industry, consumers are always concerned as to what goes behind the scenes while making these products and mainly the concern is about the ingredients. For the same reasons, nowadays we see a huge buzz about organic products or natural hair care and skin care products. To capitalize this buzz and to level up this segment in the beauty care industry, Megha Ahser and Pritesh Asher are the Owners of Juicy Chemistry.
Juicy Chemistry was started with the aim of providing simplified skincare. The vision is to dig deep into the nature and it’s method of renewal and rejuvenation and use all organic materials and essential oils to form skincare products. Their products are cruelty free, synthetic products free and are also vegan, free of artificial fragrance, have no preservatives or synthetic additives.
Let’s go through the Journey of Juicy Chemistry from 0 to 100+ product ranges in just 5 years. Also know about Juicy Chemistry Owner, Revenue, Funding, Net Worth, Business Model, How Juicy Chemistry Started & more..
June 2021 – Juicy Chemistry has raised funds from Spring Marketing Capital, as part of investment firm’s ‘Skin in the Game’ fund, that counts Verlinvest as an anchor investor.
March 2021 – Juicy Chemistry raised $6.3 million in Series-A funding round led by Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest. According to Fintrackr’s estimates, Juicy Chemistry’s valuation stands at Rs 190 crore or $26 million.
Juicy Chemistry – About and How it Works
Juicy Chemistry started with a mission to spread awareness about certified organic skin, hair and personal care products and making people understand that every thing that we need for a healthy and beautiful skin is available from nature’s lap and to believe that labs can produce better ingredients then nature is just a fad!
To get more people to use cruelty free organic products, to make them realize that chemical free does not mean it won’t be effective. Instead organic products are the future and should be used on a large scale as they promote sustainable development and organic well-being.
Juicy Chemistry has come pretty far since it started five years ago. They have grown to have a 100+ product range.
Juicy Chemistry – Target Market Size
The company’s main target audience is people who are concerned about harsh chemicals and toxins in their current skin & hair care products and also customers who want to elevate their current choice of product from the “natural’ category to certified organic products.
After suffering for over a decade with hyper-sensitive and acne-prone skin, and consulting with numerous dermatologists, Megha found that the products simply lacked efficacy. Disappointed, she wanted to try the organic route. But, a chance encounter with a sales person, trying to sell natural products, made Pritesh realize that some of the ingredients listed were used by them at their petroleum products manufacturing unit as raw material!
A deeper study shockingly revealed that most personal care products, including baby care contained these harmful ingredients! As they shared their thoughts with family and friends it increasingly became clear that there was either very little awareness about such chemicals present in products and their adverse effects, or there was no alternative available for consumers to switch to a skin care brand that was truly natural. Either way there was an obvious gap in the market.
Coming from a manufacturing background, Pritesh who is one of the founders, had learnt and specialized in complex formulations and manufacturing techniques amongst other business intricacies. They decided to put this knowledge in use to formulate a unique skincare line to provide simplified solutions. To study it in detail, they also compiled data of their current customers, did some social media advertisements and then analyzed social sites and website reach.
By digging deep into Nature and its methods of renewal and rejuvenation, Juicy Chemistry’s products were formulated. The intensive research into essential oils and traditional skincare ingredients forms the foundation of the products. They are all formulated with absolutely no chemicals or preservatives.
Juicy Chemistry started with Rs 5000/- and a make shift 10*10 kitchen in early 2015 with 2 employees. They added additional manufacturing facility in 2018 to make their current facility at 10,000 sq ft.
Juicy Chemistry – Products/Services
Juicy Chemistry believe that shopping for personal care products for you and your family should be both delightful & holistic. Personal care should not just be a sweet smelling experience, but should create the perfect harmony between the body, mind and spirit.
In line with their brand ethos, Juicy Chemistry is India’s first and only skin care brand to offer a complete range of skin care, hair care, personal care and aromatherapy products which are certified organic by Ecocert (France) in accordance with COSMOS V3 standards.
By drawing inspiration from nature, and understanding the power of its rich flora, the company help in creating the perfect chemistry between you & nature. Their unique formulations are designed in house and every ingredient earns its place to achieve a specific result. The team carefully mix ingredients in precise quantities and make their products in small-batches to ensure maximum effective shelf-life.
Each product is handcrafted with the finest local produce and organic essential oils, to make your Juicy Chemistry experience a sheer indulgence! In addition to their commitment to provide pure & green products, Pritesh and Megha also believe that consumers have the right to know the ingredients in their product. Their products are cruelty free, synthetic products free and are also vegan.
The company proudly list out every ingredient used in their product so that customers can make informed choices. Start looking at the labels in your skin care products for ingredients. The more you read about cosmetic ingredients, the more you will be able to make informed choices. Juicy chemistry provide you with the starting base for a sound understanding of the beauty industry and the importance of using natural and organic products. It’s all about creating your “Juicy Chemistry” with nature!
Juicy Chemistry was founded by Megha and Pritesh Asher in 2015.
Juicy Chemistry Owner – Megha and Pritesh Asher
Both Pritesh and Megha studied at Chinmaya International Residential school and went on to pursue their Bachelor’s degree at Griffith University, Australia. Megha was doing her degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice system while Pritesh was doing his bachelors in Business management. Megha went on to complete her masters in Journalism and mass communication, Pritesh came back to join his family business. Post marriage in 2009 with Pritesh, Megha moved to Coimbatore and started a clothing line as she was passionate about designing and couture.
“At the ideation stage of Juicy Chemistry, we honestly did not have any experience of starting a skin care brand and a bootstrapped brand. With a seed money of Rs. 5,000, we started from scratch right from researching, trials and testing, sales, exhibitions, accounts etc. As we learnt, we brought in more staff and passed on the skill and continued to empower the team to make errors but learn quickly from the mistakes we made and now we are 35 member team and all of members including the few members are now the part of our core mid-level team. Apart from them we also now have a Consultant CFO, and financial advisors on board. We are actively looking to fill our CXO level teams in the near future.”, said Pritesh and Megha Asher.
They strongly adhere by the saying, “Team work makes the dream work.” And it quite does. The founders have got an amazing set of key workers who put their best foot forward to bear exceptionally tangible results.
Juicy Chemistry – Name, Tagline and Logo
During the initial product development days, the team was trying to formulate a soap using fresh beetroot juice and expected a completely different outcome to what they were expecting and Pritesh claimed that some Juicy Chemistry of ingredients and that pretty much stuck! This is how the company got it’s name.
Juicy Chemistry logo
Juicy Chemistry – Business Model and Revenue Model
Juicy Chemistry is predominantly a B2C business model with 90% of its revenue coming from online channels. Along with Juicy chemistry’s website, the brand also retail on Nykaa, Amazon, Myntraand other online channels. Juicy Chemistry also has a flagship store in Coimbatore and plans to expand its online presence aggressively in the coming days.
Starting from a small 10*10 kitchen, juicy chemistry’s initial marketing efforts were more about educating the customers on the harmful ingredients that were hidden in everyday use cosmetics and even baby care products.
They participated in small trade shows that gave them the opportunity to get new customers and also to get feedback on their product. The company kept running out of products and customer always came back for more. A lot of their marketing was through word of mouth and fortunately continues to be so even today
Juicy Chemistry – User Acquisition and Growth
“To be very honest, we believe that no amount of marketing dollars spent is going to win you a customer the second time if the product and service offered in not worth customer’s money. For us, at juicy chemistry, customer satisfaction remains the top priority and word of mouth marketing has worked exceptionally in our favor. We also work closely with social media influencers to spread the message of simplified skin care and that has helped us grow exponentially.”, said Megha Asher, co-founder of Juicy Chemistry.
The company also have recently started cross promotions with brands with similar synergies. For example, they did a cross promotion activity with a healthy snack bar company and created trial experiences by sending their customer the fast moving health bars with online orders and the same was done by them and it was a very successful campaign as the customers got to try the product first hand and that gave them the confidence to come back and try more of their products.
The company has grown by 60% in the last 12 months and is on track to cross revenues of 15 Crores in the next fiscal year. They started with 5 SKUs and 17 lakh revenue in the first year and currently doing over 7.5 Crore in revenue in the FY 19-20.
Juicy Chemistry – Revenue
Juicy Chemistry clocked revenue of Rs 6.25 crore in FY20. It is eyeing 4x growth and hopes to achieve sales of Rs 25 crore by the end of FY21.
Juicy Chemistry – Startup Challenges
One major challenge faced was customer’s questions about how their product is any different from other skincare products. The team understood this question from a customer’s point of view as they are constantly bombarded with products claiming to be natural/pure/organic or even Ayurvedic.
“We knew it was not enough to just claim that our product was organic and natural, it had to be proved to our biggest and most important stake holders, our customers.” – Pritesh Asher.
Today, Juicy Chemistry is India’s first & only skin care brand to have certified its entire range of skin care products under the ECOCERT Certification (France) according to COSMOS Standards under the Organic category.
Juicy Chemistry has raised a total funding of more than $6.95 million.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investor
May 2020
Angel round
$650K
Akya Ventures , Mr. Amit Nanavati
March 2021
Series A
$6.3 Million
Verlinvest
June 2021
–
Undisclosed
Spring Marketing Capital
Juicy Chemistry – Advisors and Mentors
Veda corp has come on board as their financial advisors and will continue to guide them through the journey. They are also on their advisory team and helps them with strategies that can assist them right from products, marketing, team, networking, technology and all other value additions.
Juicy Chemistry – Recognition/Achievements
Juicy Chemistry is the first ever Indian brand with a complete certified organic products range by Ecocert (France) in accordance with COSMOS V3 Standard. COSMOS ORGANIC requires that at least 95% of the Ingredients should be from certified organic sources and the balance 5% should be natural.
The company see themselves doing a lot more products in the next 5 years, more organic, more rejuvenating products and also support sustainable development in the process. They are as excited and as driven about creating products as they were and they’ll be after five years too. Juicy Chemistry target to reach 30 Cr Revenue in the next 2 years and 65 Cr Revenue in the next 4 years of operations. And they’re very positive, dedicated about creating more organic products and delivering it to customers. They want to strive to be transparent, authentic and real with our consumers.
Juicy Chemistry – FAQs
Who is Juicy Chemistry Owner?
Megha Asher and Pritesh Asher founded Juicy Chemistry in 2015.
Is Juicy Chemistry Indian Brand?
Yes. Juicy Chemistry is Indian brand. It is headquartered at Coimbatore, Tamilnadu.
What is Juicy Chemistry?
Juicy Chemistry started with a mission to spread awareness about certified organic skin, hair and personal care products and making people understand that every thing that we need for a healthy and beautiful skin is available from nature’s lap and to believe that labs can produce better ingredients then nature is just a fad!
How much is the revenue of Juicy Chemistry?
Juicy Chemistry clocked revenue of Rs 6.25 crore in FY20. It is eyeing 4x growth and hopes to achieve sales of Rs 25 crore by the end of FY21.
Machine Learning and Deep Learning concepts have become one of the sought-after skills required by a student in the industry. The role has seen an increased demand and recently even ISRO had introduced a free programme for students and professionals to enroll in the programme. In this article let’s look at the machine learning programme introduced by Amazon India.
Amazon India has announced that it would launch a Machine Learning programme which will be a summer school. The programme aims to focus on making students ready according to the industry requirements. The company has conveyed that the programme will be conducted free of cost and the applications for the summer school programme were announced to begin on 14 June 2021.
About the Machine Learning Summer School programme
The free Machine Learning programme conducted by Amazon India will be a virtual programme and the virtual programme will be conducted from 9 July 2021 to 11 July 2021. The course would begin at 9.00 am and would end by 6.00 pm.
The programme will also have an interactive Question and answer session where the doubts of the candidates will be answered and clarified. Amazon India has conveyed that their Machine Learning Summer School is designed in order to impact the core machine learning skills which help the students by making them ready according to the industry requirements.
The participants of the programme will also have the opportunity in being able to explore the machine learning skills with the expert scientists of Amazon.
Rajeev Rastogi who is the VP of India Machine Learning at Amazon conveyed that the aim of the course is to prepare the students for science course which will help them in reducing the gap between the growing demand for the machine learning roles across the companies and the talent pool with the required amount of machine learning skills.
The company also conveyed that the Machine Learning Summer School which was launched on 13 June 2021 will be launched every year.
Who can Apply for Machine Learning Summer School programme?
The Virtual Summer School for Machine Learning is mainly meant for Engineering students who have enrolled for Bachelor’s, Master’s or for PhD programmes and are expected to graduate by 2022 or 2023. The programme will concentrate on students from these Universities in India:
IIT Roorkee.
IIT Guwahati.
National Institute of Technology (NIT) Tiruchirappalli.
NIT Surathkal.
NIT Warangal.
Anna University.
Delhi Technological University (DTU).
IIT Kanpur.
Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
IIT Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad.
IIT Bangalore.
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi.
Selection Process for Machine Learning Summer School programme
The interested students will have to check the eligibility criteria and those who are eligible will have to apply through the official website before 25 June 2021. There will be a selection test for the duration of 45 minutes and based on the performance of the test the eligible students will be admitted into the Virtual Machine Learning Summer School.
You can register for Virtual Machine Learning Summer School course on Amazon summer school India website
The part A will consist of 25 multiple choice questions which will cover the basic machine learning concepts and fundamentals on math topics such as statistics, probability and linear algebra. Part B will cover two programming-based questions.
Curriculum of the Machine Learning Summer School programme
The curriculum of machine learning summer school will cover the fundamentals of machine learning which will link them to the practical applications in the industry through a course duration of three days. The students will also get to learn about Deep learning and the course will also cover concepts about Probabilistic Graphical models which will help in solving e-commerce industry specific business problems.
Conclusion
The problems include demand forecasting, catalogue quality, product recommendations, search ranking and online advertising. Amazon India will shortlist the students from their partnered universities with the results based on online assessments. The candidates will be able to get access to virtual tutorials and Amazon research conferences.
FAQ
What is the curriculum of amazon machine learning summer school programme?
The curriculum of Amazon machine learning summer school will cover the fundamentals of machine learning which will link them to the practical applications in the industry through a course duration of three days.
What is the last date of Amazon machine learning summer school?
The interested students will have to apply through the official website before 25 June 2021.
Is the Amazon machine learning summer school free?
Yes the machine learning summer school is free for students and this programme is mainly meant for Engineering students who have enrolled for Bachelor’s, Master’s or for PhD programme and are expected to graduate by 2022 or 2023.
Michelle D’souza
