Samsung Discontinues India AI Shopping App

Samsung has shut down its India-specific, AI-powered app called Samsung Mall, according to a report.

India is a big market for Samsung, and its research and development team is based there. The Samsung Mall app was created to help shoppers find things they wanted to buy and then direct them to a site where they could do so.

The app’s shutdown comes about a year and a half after it was introduced. It was available for only a few devices, and debuted specifically with the Galaxy On7 Prime. When it launched, Samsung said it would work with Bixby, the company’s voice assistant.

Bixby already had a feature that would let it identify objects, but it didn’t go so far as to allow for purchasing.

“The first insight while developing Samsung Mall was that consumers may be looking to find the price, the color, delivery options and a lot of other things. Indian consumers want to find the best deals first. They aren’t tied up with one particular portal as well,” Sanjay Razdan, director of Samsung India, said when Samsung Mall was launched.

The app was made in partnership with Amazon, ShopClues and TataCLiQ to enable users to comparison shop to find the best price, while ensuring the right results were shown.

Since March of 2018, the app was downloaded around five million times, said Randy Nelson, head of mobile insights at analytics firm Sensor Tower. However, it recently lost popularity and was pulled.

“Downloads in May totaled 275,000, which was down 38 percent year over year from 476,000 in May 2018. It was ranked No. 1,055 by downloads in India’s Google Play store in May, down from 487 a year ago,” said Nelson.

Samsung used to be the most popular smartphone company in India, but was recently overtaken by Xiaomi, which has held that distinction for the last two years.