The festive season is that one time of the year when customers from every part of the country are looking for various products to buy and ecommerce marketplaces witness a surge in demand. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are business entities that not just drive the economy but also its backbone.
“Festive season for us becomes one of the most important times. With our several initiatives, we collaborate with local businesses and artisans to showcase and promote their products during the festive season,” said Karuna Shankar Pande, Director – Amazon Logistics, Amazon India.
The platform has programs like Amazon Karigar and Saheli which were introduced in 2017 with the aim of supporting small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs, such as weavers, artisans, craftsmen and women entrepreneurs to leverage ecommerce for their growth.
These programs are driven to encourage digital inclusion, empower the artisan and weaver community and offer them economic opportunities by enabling them to become sellers on Amazon marketplace, he said.
“Sellers joining these programs avail a host of benefits such as reduced referral fees, training support for shipping and delivery of products, imaging and marketing, technical know-how, and business and sales. Their association with Amazon Karigar/Saheli programs also enables a possible expansion of the customer base for these enrolled sellers bringing in greater recognition for their work and providing more employment opportunities. Millions of Amazon. in’s customers from across the country can access and shop from various varied products, manufactured by these artisans and weavers,” Pande highlighted.
According to him, Amazon has collaborated with 30 government emporiums and 5 government bodies to showcase authentic crafts to craft lovers and increase market connectivity and currently, Amazon Karigar showcases over 2 lakh products, including 470+ unique arts and crafts from over 27 states and union territories.
While talking about the trends in festive shopping that have been observed, Pande revealed that in the first 2 days of Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, it achieved remarkable milestones, where this year it promised 65 per cent higher same day delivery to its customers in the top 10 cities compared to 2022 and over 80 per cent of its customers came from non-metros.
“During the Great Indian Festival, gifting plays a significant role as people shop for their family and friends. This includes consumer electronics and large appliances as indicated by the recent survey. In fact, 51 per cent of the respondents expressed an interest in purchasing,” he said.
For large appliances, 44 per cent wanted to buy mobiles and smartphones. Additionally, 40 per cent of respondents intended to buy grocery items, home and kitchen products and apparel, Pande revealed.
To ensure exceptional customer support and assistance considering the increased demand and activity during the festive season rush.
Pande underlined, “Ensuring fast and reliable delivery speeds for our Prime customers during high-demand periods is also very crucial. To achieve this, we have introduced two dedicated aircraft. I also want to mention a partnership we are particularly proud of, which is our collaboration with the Indian Railways. Since 2019, we have been working with them, making us the first ecommerce company to establish such a relationship. we were operating on 2 lanes in 3 cities with 2 trains; today, we serve 1-day and 2-day deliveries in 116 cities and Amazon loads are moving in more than 100 trains.”
Amazon has strengthened its partnership with Indian Railways for dedicated freight corridors. This move aligns with the government’s vision for efficient logistics, offering faster and more sustainable freight transport. Additionally, Amazon has inked a deal with India Post for an integrated cross-border logistics solution.
The platform is able to deliver 100 per cent serviceable pin codes in the country, supporting the growth of small and medium businesses.
