The surge of 4G in India.
Internet penetration in India had been very minimal in India up to 2016 with the advent of Reliance Jio. Reliance saw the problems in India, such as high mobile data pricing by current players, poor customer service, low-income levels as an opportunity to fill the gaps in the market. Reliance made a long-term bet and started offering 4G plans to customers at 1/5 the price of their competitors. They saw the increase in smartphones and the large young population in India as a massive opportunity for long term 4G propagation. They gained a massive market share of 40% in less than two years, they reached 200 million users in that time frame. They rightly understood the demographic trends in India and made an entry into the market.
Reliance used the 4G services which they provided, as a platform to offer more of their services to the customers. They offered free streaming services, music services amongst many such to entice customers. They observed that the youth in India were trending towards online streaming services but were unwilling to pay such high prices due to poor income levels in India. Reliance’s 4G offers along with these services for low prices fueled them for success.
Amazon’s advent in India.
Amazon has made great strides in India since it’s the entry in 2014. Jeff Bezos famously promised to invest $5 billion in India in 2016. This is mainly due to Amazon realizing the potential of Indian markets. India has a population of 1.4 billion, where more than 65% of the population is younger than 35. India has an internet penetration rate of about 50%, which is around 560 million users, and that’s 1.5 times the population of the US which is Amazon’s main market. Jeff Bezos famously said in 2016 that India would be one of Amazon’s biggest markets in the upcoming decade and India would get a big chunk of its global investments. I would say that Amazon has rightly targeted Indian markets at the perfect point when smartphone sales have skyrocketed in India, and more Indians are shopping online than ever before.
More and more Indians shifted from cable television to online streaming platforms, Amazon took advantage of this opportunity to introduce Prime Video in India, at a very low price. They instantly attracted 10 million users and are invested heavily to capture the market.
Netflix India
Netflix is another company which took India’s internet growth as an opportunity to make use of it as one of the biggest markets.
They faced initial hurdles in India where they struggled with India’s low internet speeds and lack of spending from the public due to Netflix’s high prices.
However, Netflix adopted its failings by quickly offering a cheaper plan for users and offering a Lite version of the data which consumes very little data.
Netflix was able to suitably adapt its strategy to survive in India and should further keep an eye and watch out for the change in trends.
References
1. https://www.androidauthority.com/4g-india-955665/
3. https://hbr.org/2016/07/how-amazon-adapted-its-business-model-to-india
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