Amazon is stepping up investments in India across e-commerce, logistics, quick commerce and artificial intelligence, with a portion of its $48 billion commitment going towards infrastructure for existing and new businesses, Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India, said.
Of the overall investment, $21 billion has been committed to cloud and AI data centres, while Amazon is also expanding its physical fulfilment network. The company is opening 20 fulfilment centres, six sort centres and 150 delivery stations across 118 cities for the festive season.
Amazon Now
The investment comes as Amazon’s quick-commerce business Amazon Now crosses a $1 billion annualised gross sales run rate in India over the past three months. Orders on the platform have doubled every quarter since its launch, making it the fastest-growing e-commerce business unit in Amazon India’s history, the company said.
Amazon Now has expanded to more than 60 cities, four times the number it covered less than 10 weeks ago, and is on track to reach 100 cities by Diwali. The network currently comprises more than 750 micro-fulfilment and urban fulfilment centres.
“In a short period of time, Amazon Now has crossed $1 billion in annualised gross sales in India, making it the fastest-growing e-commerce business unit in Amazon India’s history,” Kumar said in a company release.
Amazon is positioning Now as an extension of its broader e-commerce proposition rather than a standalone quick-commerce business. The company plans to offer tens of thousands of products within minutes or a few hours, more than one million products through same-day delivery and over four million products the next day.
Kumar said Amazon’s focus on selection would remain central as competition intensifies in quick commerce. “Our differentiation will come in terms of selection… we want to make sure that we offer the largest assortment of products for minutes delivery,” he said.
Value commerce
The company is also looking to deepen its presence in value commerce through Amazon Bazaar, particularly as smaller cities bring new consumers and sellers onto the platform. Kumar said value-conscious customers were not restricted to non-metro markets.
“Value commerce customers are not just limited to small cities or metro. They are all over India. Everybody wants to have good products at a great value,” he said.
Amazon has added 3,00,000 sellers to its marketplace this year, taking its seller base to two million.
At the same time, the company is integrating generative AI across its marketplace. More than 2,00,000 sellers in India have adopted Amazon’s AI tools, while the company expects shopping to become increasingly personalised through AI-powered assistants and agents.
“Shopping will get a whole lot more personalised. Shopping assistants, or agents on your behalf, they will be getting out there,” Kumar said.