Bosch acquires stake in Indian digital marketplace Autozilla

German technology major Bosch has acquired a minority stake of 26 percent in Autozilla Solutions to participate in a digital B2B-marketplace for the independent aftermarket (IAM) in India.

This transaction will strengthen Bosch’s market pull through its Bosch Car Service outlets and through the independent garages that are enrolled under the ‘Extra’ Loyalty Program. This in turn will improve the platform’s acceptability in the market, expand its product portfolio and scale up operations across India.

Bosch says it will integrate Autozilla’s eCommerce platform with its digital platforms to improve the quality of catalogue search, streamline ordering of spare parts from workshops to distributors and address availability of spares with shorter lead times.

Soumitra Bhattacharya, MD, Bosch and president, Bosch Group in India said, “Bosch is actively shaping the change of the online markets in India to meet the expectations of our customers in this region for more online services in the B2B sector. We assume that there will be stable growth especially in this area in future. To reach our goals, we are collaborating with the Indian B2B e-marketplace Autozilla and intend to develop this market potential together.”

At present, independent garages in India procure spare parts primarily offline – either they place order on the phone or visit the sellers in-person to pick up the parts. The entire process of spares procurement starting with identification of the right part, estimation, availability, and delivery is highly error prone, non-transparent, iterative, and inefficient.

The Autozilla platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to enable efficient spares discovery, establish availability and pricing, and matching of independent garages with sellers to ensure timely procurement of the right part at the right price. The platform further enables digitisation and quick e-commerce readiness of the auto components supply chain by connecting parts manufacturers, distributors, retailers thus becoming the common platform for procurement, supply, product tracking and promotion across the various participants.

Vijay Gummadi, founder, Autozilla said, “Majority of the $12 billion (Rs 88,812 crore) worth of spares procurement in India is B2B, driven by workshops and happens offline. By deploying standards-based e-catalogues and intelligent technology, we are positioned to solve the key problems of discoverability, availability, easy payment options and cost-effective doorstep delivery. This enables workshops to focus on what they do best – car repair, while driving increased business, better margins and cashflow to Sellers. We welcome suppliers, logistics and finance partners to come on-board our open platform. By leveraging our access to thousands of qualified garages across India, we are keen to collaborate with auto component manufacturers and distribution networks to drive higher sales and provide them valuable, data driven insights.”