Amazon enables digitisation of over 1 million small businesses in India

This includes sellers, delivery and logistics partners, neighbourhood stores, enterprises, developers, content creators and authors working with Amazon in India

Technology (tech) giant Amazon said it has enabled digitisation of more than 1 million small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India. This year alone, more than 150,000 new sellers have joined its marketplace platform. This makes it one of the biggest examples of tech adoption of small businesses in the country. The Covid-19 pandemic has also accelerated the adoption of tech by SMBs.

The SMBs include sellers, delivery and logistics partners, neighbourhood stores, enterprises, developers, content creators and authors in India, according to the 2020 Amazon SMB Impact Report. These SMBs, in turn, provide livelihoods to millions of people.  “This is the first time we have measured the impact on SMBs across Amazon, in an organised manner. One of the reasons to do this was Covid-19,” said Manish Tiwary, vice-president, Amazon India. 

“After Covid, the seller registration went up 60 per cent. In the Local Shops on Amazon programme (launched in April), we now have more than 22,000 stores,” added Tiwary.

Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos-led Amazon had pledged to invest $1 billion to digitise 10-million SMBs, enable e-commerce exports worth $10 billion, and create 1 million incremental jobs by 2025.

“It’s humbling to see over 1 million small businesses associated with Amazon in India. We remain inspired by the undying entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, resolve, and trust in us of businesses and creators, to overcome challenges and grow,” said Amit Agarwal, senior vice-president and country head–Amazon India, adding, “Tech adoption and digitisation will continue to play a crucial role in offering expanded access and opportunities to SMBs, and we remain committed to invest and partner in their success.”

The 2020 Amazon SMB Impact Report offers insights into the success of over 1 million SMBs that work with Amazon in India. Amazon said it is offering them various opportunities to build and grow their business by selling their products online. It is also enabling them to export Made-In-India products globally, and run delivery and logistics companies. It is allo­wing them to use Cloud to launch and scale their businesses, create voice appli­cations, and publish their own books.

Amazon said over 4,152 Indian sellers surpassed Rs 1 crore in sales in 2020 and the number of crorepati sellers grew 29 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Emerging brands on Amazon Launchpad saw their business grow by 135 per cent YoY. Women entrepreneurs under the Saheli programme saw their business grow nearly 15x. Weavers and artisans — part of the Karigar programme — saw their business grow 2.8x. During the Amazon Great Indian festival, more than 1,24,000 sellers from 6,542 pincodes across India received orders. Over 66,000 sellers received the highest-ever single-day sale.

Amazon’s business-to-business (B2B) marketplace registered 85 per cent YoY growth in sales. There has been 64 per cent increase in monthly order volumes in 2020. Over 370,000 sellers on the B2B marketplace offer more than Rs 20-crore goods and services tax-enabled products.

The firm’s Global Selling programme is also helping take local products globally. There are now over 70,000 Indian exporters selling millions of Made-In-India products worldwide across 15 international Amazon websites. Indian SMBs and brands on the programme have crossed Rs 15,000 crore in cumulative exports.  

During the annual Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales globally, Indian exporters on Amazon Global Selling registered over 50 per cent YoY growth in sales.  Indian sellers witnessed nearly 3x surge in demand across North America, the European Union, West Asia, and North Africa.

Over 28,000 neighbourhood stores fulfil last-mile deliveries in over 350 cities through the I Have Space programme. They are on average earning Rs 12,000–15,000 per month as supplemental income. Amazon Easy is also enabling assisted shopping for new-to-e-commerce customers. Over 55,000 local stores across India are today associated with this programme. There was 565 per cent growth YoY in new stores associated with Amazon Easy in 2020. Over 45,500 Amazon Easy stores were launched in non-metro cities.