Indian marketplace of Amazon Business is the second largest after the US: Suchit Subhas

The prosperity of the Indian economy owes a great deal to the micro, small, and medium businesses (MSME). The industry contributes so much to the Indian economy that it not only accounts for 29 per cent of the GDP, but also employs over 11 crore people in its 6.3 million businesses. As a result, the development of this sector is crucial for inclusive prosperity and India’s future. Amazon Business assists MSMEs in running their businesses more efficiently by giving wholesale discounts on regularly purchased business supplies and items.

Amazon Business is aiding MSMEs in India in running their businesses more efficiently by assisting them in lowering total procurement costs and increasing profitability. Small and medium enterprises may get regularly purchased business supplies and items at wholesale costs from Amazon Business. IT, Services, Telecom, Manufacturing, Education, Hospitality, Healthcare, Real Estate, and many more industries are among its clientele.

Amazon India had launched Amazon Small Business Days (SBD) from July 2-4, 2021 to help vendors recover from the economic disruptions created by the second round of Covid-19. Over the course of the three-day event, 84,000 merchants received orders. Non-metro cities like Kodagu (Karnataka), Dholpur (Rajasthan), Eta (Uttar Pradesh), Giridh (Jharkhand), Una (Himachal Pradesh), and Tinsukia (Assam) received 68 per cent of the orders.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Suchit Subhas, Director, Amazon Business, speaks about the growth of MSMEs in India, contribution of Amazon Business in driving this growth, the rebound of MSMEs in the post-pandemic period, promotional campaigns for 2022, and more.

What is the growth rate of MSMEs in India?

In the past couple of years, micro, small and medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have grown to be a crucial part of India’s economy, producing various products and services for domestic and global markets. As per a report, the MSME sector currently employs about 110 million across rural and urban India.

More than half of the MSMEs in India operate in the rural parts of the country. To further boost the rapidly growing industry, the government and leading industries are introducing several initiatives and programmes. In the Union Budget for FY 2022-23, MSMEs received almost twice the allocation of Rs 15,700 crore as compared to Rs 7,572 crore in the last year, showcasing that MSME sector will continue to grow at an accelerated rate in India. We at Amazon Business, like other private companies, are humbled to get this opportunity to be a part of this growth story by launching innovative procurement solutions for MSMEs.

What is the contribution of Amazon Business in accelerating the growth of MSMEs?

Since its launch in 2017, Amazon Business has aimed to empower MSMEs as a one-stop destination with over 15 crore GST-enabled products across top categories to cater to their distinct business needs. It has become a one-stop shop for all business needs owing to the vast selection available to MSMEs, competitive pricing and vast delivery network. With presence in 99.5% pin codes pan-India, businesses from the remotest parts of the country can rely on Amazon Business for their purchase needs.

In 2021 alone, we saw an exponential growth of over 70% Y-o-Y in customer base, making the Indian marketplace of Amazon Business the second largest after the US.

Features such as Bill to Ship to, Multi-user accounts and approvals, spend analytics and safe and reliable delivery, etc., allow the customers to claim GST credit on their billing address, thus improving the ease of doing business. A monthly sales event, Business Value Days, held on the last week of the month allows customers to avail more than Rs 7.5 crore additional savings on business exclusive deals and promotions. We also launched Business PAN, a unique feature that allows non-profit organisations, educational institutes, NGOs, Trusts, Associations, and even MSMEs with a turnover of less than Rs 20 lakh to register on Amazon Business. As per regulations, these businesses could not register with Amazon Business without a GSTIN.

We will continue to focus on increasing our selection, bringing in top brand launches, exciting business deals for bulk purchases, and new innovations for customers.

How has Amazon Business’s journey been in the last four years in India and how has it helped MSMEs rebound from operational challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic?

In the past four years, we have focused on helping MSMEs in India run their businesses more efficiently by offering them frequently purchased business supplies and products at wholesale prices, thus reducing the overall cost of procurement and improving profitability. With presence in 99.5% pin codes pan-India, it has become a one-stop shop available to MSMEs across the remotest parts of the country for their purchase needs.

Currently, we are India’s largest GST store and we have added a host of features through which businesses can avail GST invoice with ease and sophisticated business analytics tools through which they can calculate extra savings with a GST invoice every time they make a business purchase.

Additionally, we have continued to add products to cater to changing needs of businesses. Our Commercial Store offers thousands of products across top categories such as business laptops, networking devices, industrial adhesives, tools and equipment and safety and security across top brands such as Lenovo, Cisco, Pidilite, Kimberly Clark, Stanley Black and Decker, Kirloskar. Similarly, we also have a dedicated COVID Supply Store through which businesses can buy a range of essential products like PPE kits, masks, face shields and sanitizers.

For our seller partners, Amazon Business provides an additional opportunity on Amazon.in to scale their B2B business by catering to requirements from lakhs of business customers and grow their revenues. Through features such as ‘Request for Quantity Discount’, our sellers have catered to lakhs of bulk orders from businesses across the country.

How is Amazon Business penetrating in the Tier 2 and 3 markets? What are the initiatives launched by Amazon Business?

Amazon Business currently houses India’s largest GST enabled selection. We serve 99.8% pincodes across the country and have businesses from some of the remotest parts of the country buying from us. More than 30% of our customers come from Tier 2 and 3 markets.

In terms of sellers, Amazon has digitised 2.5 million MSMEs across the country. 90% of the sellers on Amazon.in use Amazon’s logistics and warehousing services, out of which over 50% of our sellers are from Tier 2 and below cities.

We are delighted that Amazon Business is able to cover the length and breadth of the country and cater to the MSMEs belonging from the remotest parts of India.

What are your marketing and promotional campaigns for 2022?

As always, Amazon Business will continue to remain customer-obsessed to build the right customer experience. Our customers, no matter which segment they are from, will choose us as long as we are the best option to serve their needs. We will continue to provide convenient and innovative technology-led purchasing solutions to our business customers and strive to be a one-stop shop for businesses for their needs. Additionally, the aim is to serve the demands by connecting sellers in a seamless manner. Amazon Business will continue to build on our three strategic pillars of growth – Selection, Pricing, and Convenience.

Our focus will remain on increasing our selection bringing in top brand launches, exciting business deals for bulk purchases, and new innovations for customers.

What are the trends that you are foreseeing in the MSME sector in India?

With the increased penetration of the Internet, smartphones, and affinity for online experiences in India, the e-commerce sector has received a major boost in our country. Especially, in the past 24 months, customers have realised that e-commerce is the safest way to get everything at their doorsteps, further propelling the growth of the sector.

Embracing the digital solutions, MSMEs have also started shifting towards this to cater to the evolving needs of consumers. The rapid adoption of digital mode will be an ongoing trend this year as well. Be it selling the products or procuring the business supplies, digitization is the way forward for rapid growth.

On these lines, Amazon Business will continue to ease the procurement needs of MSMEs by providing direct access to the supplier, reduced paperwork, greater procurement laws’ compliance and less error.