Inside Samir Kumar’s plan to bring order to Amazon India’s chaos

It's been a tough couple years for E-commerce in India. And no one has quite borne the brunt of it like Amazon. 

Between tough competition from the likes of Meesho and Flipkart, not to mention the legion of quick commerce platforms that have completely changed the way we shop, and profitability pressures – Amazon is stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

But now it is trying to turn back the clock. 

Leading that endeavour is Samir Kumar, who took over and the new country manager in October 2024. Since then he’s been exploring new ways of working. 

Kumar has picked Prime as the chosen path to profitability. After all, Prime users spend nearly twice as much as their non Prime peers and contribute more than half of Amazon’ India’s business. 

The second emphasis is on speed: something the previous leadership thought wasn’t worth their time, per at least three managers. A couple of months ago, the company finally launched its quick-commerce service, Amazon Now, in select cities. 

But the timing could've been better. 

Tune in.