Cutting Through the Noise: How Amazon India is Reinventing AI Discovery

With the launch of an all-new storefront, ‘AI Tech Lab’, Amazon is moving away from tech terms and making noises and trying to make use-case-based curation for smartphones, laptops or more. The Amazon India has seen so far had an extreme change in 2026 towards high-end electronics, ranging from dishwashers to QLED TVs. Speaking to Zeba Khan, Director, Consumer Electronics and Amazon India India spoke to Gadgets 360 about Amazon’s 2026 strategy (right from AI Store) premiumisation across categories as well as the new trend where smaller cities are relocating behind metro cities.

Not Just Metros: Amazon India Says Tier 2 City Shoppers are Spending 5% More on Premium Tech

Earlier Zeba said that Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are “outspending metro” as premiumisation is carried through all types of categories. In addition to Rufus, she added that the new AI tools are simplifying “cognitive load” for Indian gadget buyers.

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Zeba said on 2026 growth so far and categories ‘Quarter one has been very good for us, in terms of laptops, PCs or tablets we are seeing growth that is much ahead of the industry. In the same way we are seeing a lot of premium segments across categories growing very well for us, double digits and be it high quality smartphones, 55-inch and above televisions, or AI-powered large appliances. As we see our ASPs are growing, we’re seeing our s grow as well. He said ‘Although s are in the line, “

It is almost the whole sector that’s talking about premiumisation and we wanted to know how this has been in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Zeba said ‘There is much premiumisation in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. It is the trend that we are seeing with s, that’s what’s going on. So in fact, we are seeing that in Tier 2 cities the ASPs are actually five percent above average. But, again so that’s a great encouraging trend for us as we say it. That’s a trend that I think is the customer trend we are seeing, as well as those who have been using artificial device searches (excluding business trends), which means our search for AI devices is growing by 60% year-on-year. Two-thirds of those searches are from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. ‘A ,’ said.

In particular category surges, Zeba remarked on the recent trend of QLED and mini LED categories to be upticks in their respective categories. Their 77% year on year growth is clearly much higher than the overall category growth, and they are growing “QLED, mini LED that too 55 inch and above,” which means those premium televisions. Two-ton, five star ACs are growing much faster than the rest of this category is seeing a two-tone, four-star AC. I’m seeing two-door refrigerators that are much faster than single- door ones and will provide you with a few data points like washer-dryers, which is clearly based on an extremely advanced appliance (washing and drying) together. she said ‘We are seeing 3x year on year as the kind of growth we see.

Zeba on Why Curation is the New Search

In addressing the tech category, Zeba said “It’s one of the most technical terms in the world,” and sometimes it is tough to understand for someone who doesn’t know about the technology domain. Similarly to consumer electronics, she added “There is a lot of tech jargon and in if the customer has cognitive pressure. The range of options is a reason for even greater adoption in our categories, where we have so many different types of s. In addition to that, we have also rolled out many new AI tools so the shopping journey is easier for customers. Similarly we have pricing history for all products, such as . This will make you history with . Does this product and its lowest price tag mean it is still in this range? Has it been lower than before? What will be the future of that product so we are being very transparent with customers. Paraphrasing ‘It is an important part of my life to be paraphrased.

“This AI Store is built for Bharat. It’s not just a metro phenomenon.”

asked how Amazon India is dealing with rising prices and affordability. But Zeba has suggested that Amazon is relying on affordability levers and AI-driven curation to keep the momentum going as memory prices rise. But it’s a controllable thing for us to control,’ she said. We do not manufacture . What is the price of the products that we are not defending, but what we put our efforts into and where we see the traction with our customers is helping us to promote the best affordability levers for them (No cost EMI, cashbacks or be it exchange like I was talking to you about value-added services). I think these are the things that customers actually buy what they want to buy. buy a Rs. Rs. 60,000 device with a Rs It’s the reason we have democratised and that is what’s going on with 3300 EMI, which means it can be done. Paraphrasing ‘It is an important part of my life to be paraphrased.

When discussing the all-new storefront, she added ‘We don’t have technical terms about chipsets. In fact we talk about the use cases, presenting the top three AI features and the four or five best devices for them. What we learned from search data and customer anecdotes is that people want AI devices but don’t really know what each feature would do. And so, we built a shop where people can easily and educate themselves to bring the most of their selection in one place. ‘A ,’ said.

The new store was a student in Dibrugarh (Assam) looking for ‘the laptop, the professional at Nagercoil (Tamil Nadu) upgrading to – smartphone or if we are all customers searching TVs that adapt according to how they watch.’ We want every customer to find an AI-powered device that really makes life easier? This AI Store built for Bharat is designed by this . But that’s not just a metro phenomenon. The , “It’s a great deal of fun.”

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