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Leading technology and services provider Bosch on Wednesday said it has acquired a minority 26 per cent stake in B2B eCommerce auto spares, garage equipment and accessories Autozilla Solutions.
The Hyderabad-based firm specialises in the development of electronic parts catalogues for spare parts. Making procurement of spare parts simple, hassle-free and digitally enabled is a key area of focus for the company.
The acquisition of a minority stake, which allows Bosch to participate in a digital B2B-marketplace for the independent aftermarket (IAM) in the domestic market, will help it in easing auto spares procurement, the company said in a statement.
This transaction will strengthen the company's market pull through its car service outlets as well as independent garages that are enrolled under the "extra" loyalty programme, Bosch said, without disclosing the value of the transaction.
The collaboration will improve the platform's acceptability in the market, expand its product portfolio and scale up operations pan-India, it said.
At present, independent garages (IG) in India procure spare parts primarily offline either by placing order on the phone or visiting the sellers in-person to pick up the parts, Bosch said, adding the entire process of spares procurement is highly error-prone, non-transparent, iterative, and inefficient.
The Autozilla platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to enable efficient spares discovery, establish availability and pricing, and matching of IGs with sellers to ensure timely procurement of the right part at the right price.
The platform further enables digitization and quick e-commerce readiness of the auto components supply chain by connecting parts manufacturers, distributors, retailers thus becoming the common platform for procurement, supply, product tracking and promotion across the various participants.
Following the stake purchase, Bosch will integrate Autozilla's e-commerce platform with its digital platforms to improve the quality of catalogue search, streamline ordering of spare parts from workshops to distributors and address availability of spares with shorter lead times, the statement said.
Bosch is actively shaping the change of the online markets in India to meet the expectations of our customers in this region for more online services in the B2B sector.
"We assume that there will be stable growth especially in this area in future. To reach our goals, we are collaborating with the Indian B2B E-Marketplace Autozilla and intend to develop this market potential together," said Soumitra Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Bosch Limited and President, Bosch Group in India.
Majority of the USD 12 billion worth of spares procurement in India is B2B, driven by workshops and happens offline. By deploying standards based e-catalogs and intelligent technology, we are positioned to solve the key problems of discoverability, availability, easy payment options and cost-effective doorstep delivery, said Vijay Gummadi, Founder, Autozilla.
This enables workshops to focus on what they do best car repair, while driving increased business, better margins and cash flow to sellers, he said.
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