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Amazon India is significantly expanding its quick-commerce footprint, with plans to take its Amazon Now service to 100 cities and set up 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres in the coming months, as the company looks to strengthen its position in one of the country's fastest-growing online retail segments.
The expansion comes amid intensifying competition in quick commerce, where players such as Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart have been rapidly scaling their networks and investing heavily to capture market share.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Amazon India Country Manager Samir Kumar said the company is seeing strong traction for Amazon Now and believes the category remains in its early stages of growth.
Amazon entered the quick-commerce segment in 2025, later than several of its rivals. However, the company is betting on its existing customer base, logistics network and Prime ecosystem to drive adoption.
According to Kumar, Prime customers in cities where Amazon Now has been launched are shopping three times more on the platform, while the service has been recording monthly growth of around 25% over the past few months.
The company has recently expanded Amazon Now to cities including Amritsar, Kochi, Visakhapatnam and Mangaluru. Kumar said customer response in new markets has been encouraging, reinforcing Amazon's plans for a wider rollout.
The push into quick commerce is being supported by strong growth in Amazon's Prime membership programme. Kumar said Prime membership has doubled since 2023, though he did not disclose subscriber numbers.
The growth is increasingly being driven by smaller cities, highlighting the next phase of India's e-commerce expansion. According to Kumar, 70% of Prime customers now come from Tier II and Tier III markets.
"That gives us a lot of hope that we are going beyond India into Bharat," he said.
Beyond quick commerce, Amazon is also looking to deepen its seller ecosystem. The company recently removed selling fees for sellers selling products upto ₹1,000 and is using artificial intelligence tools to simplify listing creation and cross-border commerce.
Kumar said Amazon has already enabled $20 billion in exports through its platform and is targeting an additional $60 billion over the next five years, taking cumulative exports enabled by the company to $80 billion.
Artificial intelligence is expected to play a central role in that effort. Kumar said AI-powered tools are helping sellers create listings, localise products for overseas markets and manage global sales more efficiently.
"As I've said before, AI for India will make things better. AI for Bharat will make things possible," he said.
Also Read | Amazon unveils next-gen Proteus robot, commits €10 billion Europe investment; 25,000 jobs planned
While Amazon continues to invest aggressively in growth initiatives, Kumar said profitability and sustainability remain important objectives. However, he declined to provide a timeline for when the India business could become self-sustaining.
"I cannot give you a timeline," Kumar said when asked about profitability. "As we do that and scale the business, sustainability will come to the business as well."
The expansion comes amid intensifying competition in quick commerce, where players such as Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart have been rapidly scaling their networks and investing heavily to capture market share.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Amazon India Country Manager Samir Kumar said the company is seeing strong traction for Amazon Now and believes the category remains in its early stages of growth.
Amazon entered the quick-commerce segment in 2025, later than several of its rivals. However, the company is betting on its existing customer base, logistics network and Prime ecosystem to drive adoption.
According to Kumar, Prime customers in cities where Amazon Now has been launched are shopping three times more on the platform, while the service has been recording monthly growth of around 25% over the past few months.
The company has recently expanded Amazon Now to cities including Amritsar, Kochi, Visakhapatnam and Mangaluru. Kumar said customer response in new markets has been encouraging, reinforcing Amazon's plans for a wider rollout.
The push into quick commerce is being supported by strong growth in Amazon's Prime membership programme. Kumar said Prime membership has doubled since 2023, though he did not disclose subscriber numbers.
The growth is increasingly being driven by smaller cities, highlighting the next phase of India's e-commerce expansion. According to Kumar, 70% of Prime customers now come from Tier II and Tier III markets.
"That gives us a lot of hope that we are going beyond India into Bharat," he said.
Beyond quick commerce, Amazon is also looking to deepen its seller ecosystem. The company recently removed selling fees for sellers selling products upto ₹1,000 and is using artificial intelligence tools to simplify listing creation and cross-border commerce.
Kumar said Amazon has already enabled $20 billion in exports through its platform and is targeting an additional $60 billion over the next five years, taking cumulative exports enabled by the company to $80 billion.
Artificial intelligence is expected to play a central role in that effort. Kumar said AI-powered tools are helping sellers create listings, localise products for overseas markets and manage global sales more efficiently.
"As I've said before, AI for India will make things better. AI for Bharat will make things possible," he said.
Also Read | Amazon unveils next-gen Proteus robot, commits €10 billion Europe investment; 25,000 jobs planned
While Amazon continues to invest aggressively in growth initiatives, Kumar said profitability and sustainability remain important objectives. However, he declined to provide a timeline for when the India business could become self-sustaining.
"I cannot give you a timeline," Kumar said when asked about profitability. "As we do that and scale the business, sustainability will come to the business as well."
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