Amazon is now letting Indians read magazine articles in its shopping app

Amazon, in its ever-growing desire to become a super app in India, is testing a new category to persuade users to spend more time on the shopping service: Feature articles.

The American e-commerce giant has quietly launched Featured Articles" on its shopping app and website in India that showcases feature articles, commentary and analysis on a wide-range of topics including politics, governance, entertainment, sports, business, finance, health, fitness, books, and food. The articles are sourced from several large local media houses and magazines.

Some of these articles are exclusively" available on Amazon, the company says on the website. To drive engagement, Amazon is also sending notifications to some Kindle users.

Image: Himanshu Gupta

The latest addition, which was spotted and shared with TechCrunch by Himanshu Gupta, comes days after Amazon launched a free video streaming service within the shopping app in the South Asian nation.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the new feature to TechCrunch, adding, we remain focused on creating new and engaging experiences for our customers and as part of this endeavour, we have been testing a new service that brings articles on different topics like current affairs, books, business, entertainment, sports and lifestyle amongst others for readers."

This isn't the first time Amazon has explored integrating some reading material to its shopping service in India. In 2018, Amazon India started to feature some gadget reviews and listicles, sourced from local media houses.