Amazon's Journey in India

Amazon's presence in India began in 2013 with a partnership with 100 booksellers. With just one category under its belt, it generated INR 112 crore in revenue. The company's founder, Jeff Bezos, recognized the potential of the Indian market and invested USD two million in 2014, stating that "This country has something special. This is going to be the Indian century." Amazon India has since expanded to offer products in over 30 categories to over 100 million customers.

• Amazon India launched its annual sale event, the Great Indian Festival (GIF), in 2015, contributing to revenue of INR 1,022 crore.
• The 2023 edition of GIF saw a record of 110 crore customer visits.

Amazon's AI-Powered Playground

In June 2024, Amazon reached a market valuation of USD two trillion for the first time, fueled by its AI strategies. The company is leveraging AI and machine learning in various ways to enhance the customer experience, including:

• Computer vision for product grading.
• AI-powered seller videos.
• AI-powered features like Amazon Live, Visual Search, and Regional Language Search.

Amazon Live, powered by over 300 influencers, reported over 1,000 hours of live streaming in 2023, helping customers make informed purchase decisions.

Rufus: Amazon's AI Shopping Assistant

A month before GIF 2024, Amazon launched Rufus, a Gen AI-powered conversational shopping assistant, in beta mode. Rufus is designed to make the shopping experience more intuitive by answering customer questions about products, making recommendations, and facilitating product discovery.

The company believes that providing customers with tools to research and prepare for the event is essential, especially for the largest sale event of the year.

Making Selling Efficient with AI

As of September 2024, Amazon India had over 16 lakh sellers. The company is using AI to streamline the selling process for its sellers, including:

• Managing advertising and listings.
• Predicting product demand and suggesting appropriate stock levels.
• Recommending optimal storage locations for faster delivery to customers.

AI has made it easier for sellers to manage their businesses on a daily basis and has been particularly helpful in areas where sellers initially struggled, like estimating product demand.

Amazon's Top-Selling Categories and AI-Powered Features

Amazon India's top-selling categories include electronics, home and kitchen, clothing and jewelry, beauty and personal care, and health and household.

The home, kitchen, and outdoors category is one of the fastest-growing categories on the platform, with a CAGR of 25-27 per cent over the past three years. Amazon expects the category to grow at a rate of 40-42 per cent year-on-year.

• Paints are a particularly fast-growing sub-segment, driven by the DIY painting trend.
• Amazon has developed an AI-powered tool that helps customers calculate paint requirements based on wall size, suggesting paint type, accessories, and brushes.

Other AI-powered features introduced by Amazon include:

• AI-generated review highlights called "Customer Say," which provide a concise summary of product features and customer reviews on product description pages.
• Immersive visualization features that help customers visualize furniture and home decor items.

Amazon India's Growth and Expectations

Market research firm Datum Intelligence predicts that e-commerce companies and online sellers in India will ship USD 12 billion worth of merchandise during the upcoming festive season. Last year, Amazon India saw 1.1 billion customer visits and almost four million new customers during the sale period. The company expects to break these records in the current year.

Conclusion

Amazon India is heavily invested in leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance its platform and provide a better experience for both customers and sellers. Its focus on AI-powered features and tools is likely to play a significant role in its growth and success in the Indian market, particularly during the upcoming Great Indian Festival.