Amazon launches Smart Commerce to change local stores into digital dukaans

Stores will now be able to digitise their operations, enhance in-store experience for walk-in customers, and create their own online storefront in minutes powered by Amazon

E-commerce firm Amazon India has launched Smart Commerce – a new initiative to transform local stores into Digital Dukaans, and accelerate its pledge to digitize 1 crore small businesses by 2025. Over 1.5 lakh neighbourhood stores are already selling online using Amazon.

With Smart Commerce, stores can digitise their offline operations, and provide an enhanced in-store shopping experience to their walk-in customers. They can create their own online storefronts to serve customers directly. Stores of any size can now take advantage of Amazon’s shopping innovations, logistics, and digital payments. This would help them provide a reliable experience to their customers.

“Smart Commerce that will enable any store to truly become a digital dukaan,” said Amit Agarwal, SVP, India and Emerging Markets, Amazon, at the company’s flagship annual summit Amazon Smbhav. “They will be able to serve customers with the best of Amazon no matter where they are – in their physical store, directly through their own online storefront, or on Amazon.in. We are just getting started and remain committed to our pledge to digitize one crore small businesses by 2025.”

In the coming weeks, Smart Commerce will release its first set of solutions. This would help local stores digitise billing and inventory management, and deliver an enhanced in-store experience to their customers. This will be followed by the launch of capabilities enabling them to create their own online storefront within minutes, and serve their customers through a simple voice and chat-based shopping experience.

“Over the last two years, we have invested significantly towards the pledges we announced at the inaugural Smbhav Summit in 2020,” said Manish Tiwary, country manager, India Consumer Business, Amazon India. “We have already digitized over 4 million small businesses and local stores, are on track to enable $5 billion in cumulative exports and have created over 1.16 million direct and indirect jobs in India including 135,000 new jobs added in the last one year.”

At the inaugural Smbhav Summit in January 2020, Amazon pledged to digitise 10 million MSMEs, generate $10 billion in cumulative exports from India and create 2 million jobs in India by 2025. The company said it is on track to fulfil these pledges and even go beyond in some areas. Amazon recently doubled its Exports pledge from $10 billion to $20 billion in the same time frame.