“We will continue to empower MSMEs in India through our comprehensive procurement solutions combining wide selection, discounts and convenience” – Suchit Subhas, Director, Amazon Business

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Mr. Suchit Subhas, Director, Amazon Business

Q1. Can you share some details on Amazon Business’ Journey in India and the way forward strategy?

Amazon Business is contributing to the Digital India mission by providing a reliable and efficient marketplace for businesses to purchase goods and services online. We are India’s largest GST store having over 16 Cr GST-enabled products. In 2017, we started with 14K sellers and now we have over 6.5L sellers onboarded with us. Our Marketplace offers easy online procurement, wide customer and seller base along with the tools to manage procurement efficiently. This helps MSMEs save time and money by streamlining their procurement processes and providing them with insights to make informed purchasing decisions. We are able to deliver to 99.5% pin codes across the country by utilizing our deeply penetrated network of fulfillment centers across India. Today, more than 30% of our customers and 25% of our orders come from Tier II and Tier III cities.

Today, Amazon Business India is the second largest Amazon Business market after the US and in the last 3 years, Amazon Business has grown its customer base by 5X and seen an increase in total sales by 4X.

More than the growth figures, what gives us even more satisfaction is the voice of our happy customers:

• Leading Financial Firm: “We are happy to partner with Amazon Business for our Procurement needs like IT and office supplies. We are now able to procure different products with GST invoices from one single marketplace across 429 remote areas of country (14 states & 4 Union Territories)”
• Leading Digital Firm: “Since the time Amazon Business was introduced to me, it saves 25-30% of our time to search for the best laptops, printers and accessories at a best price.”
• Leading Food based startup: “It’s three-four hours to the nearest city, whereas with Amazon, it’s a click away. They make sure we are on time, all the time.”
• Leading Sales and Distribution company: “My journey with amazon business from last 3 years is smooth and satisfying because the Amazon business team is very helpful and always ready to solve the issues of their sellers.

At Amazon Business, customers’ needs will continue to be our constant focus. There are multiple services which we have introduced and will further develop like credit extension, business analysis tools, along with proving wide selection and greater savings for the customer. That will remain our focus for 2023.

Q2. How can MSMEs benefit by opting for the e-procurement process through Amazon Business?

Since its launch, Amazon Business has aimed to empower MSMEs. It has worked as a one-stop destination offering wide selection of business supplies, competitive pricing, and vast delivery network.

In the current MSME space, small and medium businesses face many gaps such as the latest technology and skills gap, how to scale and expand, how to grow revenues and how to get new consumers. This is where Amazon Business has been able to play a pivotal role in providing an opportunity for sellers to scale their reach and access to customers. We are continuously adding a host of features catering to their requirements such as Multi Address delivery on a single order, Multi-user accounts and approvals, spend analytics. We Business PAN as a license type that enables non-profit organizations, educational institutes, NGOs, Trusts, Associations, and even MSMEs with a turnover of less than INR 20 lakhs to register on Amazon Business. To further enable convenient access to business features on the go, we launched the Android and iOS optimized mobile app last year.

Q3. How do you help MSMEs in deeper geographies, especially the media dark regions?

For MSMEs in deeper regions, we have several benefits.

1. 1. Language support: Amazon Business supports multiple languages which helps to bridge the language barrier and make it easier for MSMEs in deeper geographies to use the marketplace.
2. Reduced logistics costs: Amazon Business offers a wide range of delivery options, including doorstep delivery, which helps MSMEs in deeper geographies to reduce their logistics costs. This is especially beneficial for MSMEs that are located in areas with poor connectivity.
3. The wide selection that we offer also serves to increase MSME awareness aware of what products, varieties, prices and quality is available anywhere in India. This overcomes the issues faced by MSMEs in media dark regions to a great extent.

Q4. B2B e-commerce has boomed in the last few years, any thoughts on this growing industry space?

B2B e-commerce has seen immense growth in the last few years globally as well as in India. MSMEs contribute nearly 30% to the overall GDP and provides employment to millions. We see this space growing rapidly in future as well with support from government schemes as well as tailwinds from affordable internet and digital solution. For example, Government of India has introduced multiple MSMEs focused schemes and benefits to push the growth of this space. Government initiatives like Vivad se Vishwas, Vishwa Karma Kaushal Samman, Budget ‘23 ‘revamped credit guarantee scheme’ will support the growth of this sector.

Q5. What are the focus areas for 2023 and key trends to be seen in the MSME space?

We see three large trends emerging in this space:

• Digitization: MSMEs will leverage digital technologies to improve their competitiveness and reach new markets. This will involve the adoption of online marketplaces, digital payment systems, and cloud-based tools for managing business operations.
• Costs and efficiency: MSMEs will move to become more efficient, reduce costs and enhance their profitability via adoption of new technologies and the creation of new business models.
• Regional growth of MSMEs: Regional growth of MSMEs will accelerate with increase of skill levels in smaller towns and rural areas, accelerated by the tech adoption mentioned earlier.

In 2023, Amazon Business will support business customers in their digitization journey by focusing on:

1. Increasing the range of products available to enable faster growth
2. Improving speed and accuracy of deliveries to reduce the working capital requirements
3. Competitive pricing to improve their profitability
4. Convenience features especially in terms of mobile purchasing
5. Digital documentation which will help customers to reduce costs of running the business

With evolving trends, we are committed to evolve and expand with the ecosystem.