The Xbox One is out in India and Amazon is letting you buy it offline

It took a year, but the Xbox One has finally launched in India today. As reported earlier, Microsoft has partnered with Amazon exclusively to sell the console in the country. While Amazon has done a stellar job on delivery, what with Xbox One reaching customers at midnight, a unique tactic has emerged to get Indian customers interested in the latest black box from Redmond.

A day prior to the launch we noticed this tweet from Gamesngadgets, a Bangalore-based retailer and sub-distributor.

This seemed odd since Amazon has been positioned as the official source for all things Xbox-related. Nonetheless, we spoke to a few retailers who informed us that Amazon is partnering with brick and mortar stores.

(See: Microsoft tells Indian retailers not to take Xbox One pre-orders)

How this works is stores like Gamesngadgets would have Xbox One kiosks on the showfloor. If customers express interest in picking up the Xbox One, and proceeds to do so via Amazon, Gamesngadgets gets a cut of the sale. Simply put, it’s an offline equivalent of Amazon’s popular affiliate program.

From Amazon’s point of view, it’s a smart way to get an on-ground presence that it sorely lacks in order to sell a console that costs upwards of INR 40,000 (approx. $656). How many retailers would bother however, is another story altogether.

“Amazon approached us soon after details of them having Xbox One exclusivity were made public. We turned them down because there’s no point if we don’t have product for sale.”, said the buyer of a large electronics and video game chain.

Though the exact revenue percentage given to retailers in such a situation is unknown, it probably will not come close to the eight to ten percent margin that Sony gives retailers for selling the Playstation 4. This is because Amazon assumes the risk of stocking and delivering Xbox Ones rather than brick and mortar stores.

Nonetheless, it’s an interesting way forward in a country that’s fast adopting e-commerce but yet to see such adoption take place in a category that’s as expensive as console gaming. Though gaming in India lags behind more developed markets like China and Singapore, it’s an initiative that would help drive awareness and hopefully, have more people playing video games.

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(Image sources: 1, 2)