Amazon collaborates with FICCI-CMSME to facilitate Indian exporters

Amazon has entered into partnership with FICCI-CMSME (Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), the affiliated body under the umbrella of FICCI – country’s largest and oldest apex business organization to promote B2C exports in the country at the inaugural event held in Mumbai with potential exporters. As part of this partnership, Amazon will conduct various such training events and workshops across the country with FICCI-CMSME, focussed on its Global Selling Program that enables easy and convenient access for all Indian exporters – including entrepreneurs, SMEs and manufacturers – to sell their products to millions of consumers across the globe.

Through these events, FICCI-CMSME and Amazon aim to educate exporters and manufacturers on B2C exports via the e-commerce route and enable them to sell across 10 international marketplaces through Amazon Global Selling. These events will bring in experts from Amazon, FICCI-CMSME and various service providers to help the manufacturers and potential exporters in understanding the procedures and requirements related to areas such as logistics, taxation, cataloging and will guide them through the entire process of exporting through the e-commerce route. Furthermore, the exporters and manufacturers will be educated on the digital business opportunity, brand building, documentation, listing methodology and Amazon services such as Fulfilment by Amazon and Sponsored Ads.

Sanjay Bhatia, President, FICCI-CMSME, said, "The number of digital buyers worldwide is expected to grow to 2.07 billion in 2019 from 1.3 billion in 2014. E-commerce shopping is a thriving market, with people increasingly choosing this option to order products and services at their convenience. Global e-commerce transaction in the year 2016 was US$1.9 trillion, accounting for 8.7 per cent of the total retail spending worldwide. This is expected to grow to above US$4 trillion by the year 2020, making up to nearly 15 per cent of the total retail spending. Realizing the potential of the sector and the opportunities for the B2C product manufacturers especially MSMEs, FICCI-CMSME has partnered with Amazon to create the awareness about the potential and take the maximum benefit of this platform."

Talking about the partnership, Abhijit Kamra, Head – Global Selling, Amazon India, said, “As part of our efforts to support the growth of Indian exporters in the emerging digital economy, we are excited to partner with FICCI-CMSME. Our partnership will help Indian exporters take their ‘Made in India’ products directly to millions of active customers across the globe through 10 global Amazon marketplaces. Categories such as apparel & accessories, leather, beauty & health products, toys and household goods have a great demand internationally. Indian exporters have a comparative advantage and immense potential here. From few hundred sellers during our launch to over 32,000 sellers offering over 90 million products, Amazon Global Selling has grown and supported thousands of exporters till date and we look forward to enabling thousands more through the program.”

To smoothen the selling experience for SMBs, Amazon offers fulfilment services that allow exporters and manufacturers to focus on the product and pricing, offers imaging and cataloging support by getting their photo shoots done as per Amazon standards at nominal costs. Amazon also provides access to third parties that can provide tax guidance services and other export-related modalities by connecting them to concerned advisory agencies. Additionally, Amazon has supporting content on its website on different international tax and custom processes to help exporters understand the processes clearly.

To enable exporters and manufacturers familiarize themselves with the tastes and preferences of the local country and to launch relevant selection, Amazon’s global teams help them understand the demand patterns in various countries. The team also gives guidance on how to improve discoverability of products on each marketplace. The guidance includes the type of deals or advertisements they can run on these marketplaces and how they can use social media channels to drive awareness about their listings on the various marketplaces. Amazon’s aim is to encourage and empower more and more unique Indian exporters and manufacturers to come online, reach out to a global customer base and scale and grow their business.