Amazon launches Smart Commerce initiative for local shops

E-commerce giant Amazon has launched a Smart Commerce initiative for local stores to help them transform into digital dukaans. Store owners of all sizes across India are fast adopting digitisation, whether through digital payments or by leveraging technology to manage their inventory. Experts believe that technology is key for the next phase of growth for Indian kirana stores.

Amazon said in April that stores will be able to create their own online storefronts to digitise their offline shops with Smart Commerce, as its Local Shops on Amazon initiative - which allows shop owners to sell to customers in their local area.

We are humbled that the programme has grown to more than 1.5 lakh stores across India in a short period. Amit Agarwal, SVP, India and Emerging Markets, Amazon at the annual virtual summit of Amazon Smbhav, inspired by this momentum, I am excited to announce the launch of Smart Commerce.

A recent NASSCOM report said that the retail market was expected to grow by $700 billion to $1.5 trillion by the year 2030. The future is online plus offline sales, according to experts.

Indian Kirana today is a hotly contested space because new age digital first companies believe that this large unorganised mass of over 10 million retailers is in dire need of efficiency-driven disruption, which may or may not be true because we always felt that unorganised is equal to inefficient, which is not true in India. Kedar Lele, executive director, customer development, said at the summit that they haven't been effective at all times in terms of anticipating consumer needs and orientation.

Revenue maximisation through assortment selling at the optimum price is something that has rattled them in the past. When consumers shift their shopping preferences from mom- and pop store to wanting it fulfilled at home, it is important to make their businesses relevant. If they can stock right and price right then their last mile strength and consumer centricity can keep them relevant. Demand capturing and demand fulfilment will happen, he said.

There are many challenges that are keeping them from doing so.

As the boundary between commerce and social media starts to blur, the first big challenge is the ability of people who work in an offline word to transition into an omni channel world. The second big friction point is adapting to technology and keeping pace with it, and learning about changing customer expectations, said Vinod Nambiar, MD, More Retail Limited.

The federation of Indian micro small and medium enterprises MSMEs commitment in e-commerce is much more than that of a typical retail business.

You have to fulfil customer needs in time. The ecosystem is improving day by day. There are issues on the regulatory part. If you are a rural based micro enterprise or woman or micro enterprise, the moment you want to sell on e-commerce, you have to get a mandatory GST registration and other compliances. Anil Bharadwaj, secretary general of Federation of MSMEs, said it was not compatible with the small scale of operations they have.