When Klosia, a women's ethnic wear brand first launched, its founder faced a challenge shared by most small business owners in India: how do you get noticed when bigger brands have deeper pockets?
The answer came in an unexpected form. Using AI-powered tools from Amazon Ads, the brand turned a static product listing into a video advertisement—the kind of creative that would have previously required a production team and a budget to match. It was run as a streaming TV campaign. The results were surprising. "80% of the customers we reached were new to our brand," says Vishal Singh Sisodiya, Founder, Klosia. Combined with search ads, the campaign drove three times more purchases than before. A channel that once felt reserved for established brands had become accessible to a small business owner in India.
A new study of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in India conducted by Opinium, commissioned by Amazon Ads, suggests Sisodiya's experience reflects a broader shift. Nearly 87% SMBs say AI-powered advertising tools have enabled them to access channels, audiences, or formats that previously felt out of reach. Three quarters say AI-enabled advertising has directly supported business growth.
"We are seeing Indian SMBs approach advertising with a confidence we have not seen before," says Kapil Sharma, Director, Amazon Ads India. "AI-powered tools are opening up channels like streaming TV that once felt reserved for big brands with big budgets. It is exciting to see SMBs writing their own growth stories."
The numbers back this up: the share of Amazon advertisers using AI-powered tools in India has grown 77% year over year, with SMBs generating 62% more ad creatives using those tools in the first quarter of 2026 compared to a year earlier.
Here are key takeaways from the study:
- Streaming TV is no longer out of reach: Three years ago, 56% of the businesses surveyed considered streaming TV as a viable advertising option. Cost, high minimum spend requirements, and complexity in planning or buying kept it off the table for most. Today, that’s changing with 62% SMBs interested in advertising on Streaming TV say it can help them reach new audiences, and nearly 48% say it can improve brand’s credibility. What was once accessible to bigger brands is becoming accessible to businesses of all sizes.
- Small businesses are going global: Cross-border advertising has traditionally required resources many smaller businesses don't have, from adapting creatives for different languages and cultures to managing engagement and optimisation across countries, and navigating compliance. AI is reducing that friction. In India, 56% of respondents who said cross-border campaigns were inaccessible three years ago now say they are more accessible. 59% say AI-enabled advertising has supported expansion into new countries.
- Creative capabilities are expanding: This may be where AI's impact is felt most immediately. 88% of SMBs say they are likely to use AI to create advertising assets. 68% say AI has unlocked the ability to be more creative with their advertising—enabling them to produce video, experiment with formats, and iterate faster without needing a dedicated creative team. 55% say these tools help them compete with bigger brands that have bigger budgets.
- AI recommends, business owner decides: Only 2% of SMBs report fully automated advertising decisions with no human review. The most common decision-maker is still the business owner (40%), followed by AI tools with human review (32%). Indian SMBs are not handing over control—they're using AI to move faster while keeping strategic decisions in their own hands.
- AI's role is expanding from execution to strategy: 92% of SMBs surveyed say AI will be important to their future competitiveness. They're already using it for content generation (64%), strategic planning (58%), and competitor analysis (53%). AI started as a tool for producing creatives and optimising campaigns. Increasingly, it's shaping the decisions that come before, what to sell, where to expand, and who to reach.
For Klosia and thousands of small businesses like them, Amazon Ads is making sophisticated advertising accessible. AI is removing the barriers to growth while keeping human creativity and judgment at the heart of it.
The research was commissioned by Amazon Ads and conducted by Opinium, among a sample of 300 B2C marketing decision makers from SMEs in India as part of a wider survey that included 4,100 respondents across 14 countries. The research also includes a cross-section of industries, from goods & manufacturing, e-commerce & retail, to financial services and beauty. The data was collected between April 7, 2026 and April 23, 2026.
