For most of its existence, Netflix[1] was focused on the United States. It slowly expanded into Canada and then a few other markets, before the big expansion of January 2016. The company launched in India[2] - and 129 other countries - two years ago, a process that Michael Spiegelman, Vice President Global Product Innovation at Netflix describes as a great learning experience.
"When I joined [in 2010], we were credit cards only, and then with Latin America we had to learn about direct debit and debit cards, and people there were used to one time payments, so getting people to use recurring debits was something we had to work out," says Spiegelman.
For Netflix, Payments has been one of the most important aspects of innovation in the global roll-out. Spiegelman says, "If someone wants to pay you, get out of the way and let them!" This means identifying the local payment systems in each market, and then figuring out which might be good fit for the company. For example, there have been rumours that Netflix will add UPI support[3] in India.
"We're looking for a lot of things, though I don't know what's going to see light of day," says Spiegelman. "We are constantly evaluating a lot of payment methods that are natural here, like paying through your phone, wallets, things like that."
"We have to evaluate each to see if it will be optimised, for things like recurring payments, so the customer doesn't have any problems," he adds.
As Netflix India Completes Two Years in India, a Look at the Challenges It Faces in the Growing Video Streaming Space[4]
"And then, coming to India has been an inspiration for us to...