Amazon reaches over 35,000 SMBs, sellers from towns in UP and Karnataka during festive season

Some 35,000 sellers from Karnataka are said to be participating in the upcoming Great Indian Festival. Also, over 70,200 sellers from Uttar Pradesh will be participating in the sale.

Amazon Great India Sale (Amazon)

There's no doubt that the increasing level of digitisation in India, specially in the year of pandemic, has acted as a catalyst in bringing more industries online. While majority of the sellers already joined the ‘online' bandwagon, many more are still coming onboard, which in turn is boosting the e-commerce industry. What however, is more important, is that the sellers from small towns in UP and Karnataka are joining this trend and are trying to get the most out of it before the festive season begins.

Some 35,000 sellers from Karnataka are said to be participating in the upcoming Great Indian Festival. Also mentioned is that over 70,200 sellers from Uttar Pradesh will be participating in the sale, as per a recent survey by Nielsen.

One such seller is Shiva Rastogi from Shastri Nagar, Meerut, UP, as reported by OneIndia. "We have been in this business for 5 years and have had a loyal customer base. A few months ago, we decided to bring our store online and joined 'Local Shops on Amazon' program that is helping us address customers from other parts of the city who aren't regular walk-ins. Our online presence has brought in a new revenue stream which is complementing our offline sales - last month we did over 14 lakhs in sales on Amazon. With the festive season coming up, we are expecting much higher traction online and we are preparing for it by stocking up our inventories and even looking to expand to more areas within Uttar Pradesh and even to Punjab, Delhi and Haryana," said Rastogi.

Another seller from Bengaluru, Karnataka, Raju Lakshmana, who runs a furniture shop and is a part of Amazon's Local Shops program. As per OneIndia report, he says "It felt like the right time, earlier this year, to do something of my own and start a shop. Our products like wooden cots, leather sofas, fabric sofa and wooden sofas, Dr. Back and PEPS Mattresses are all known for their high quality in our locality, but I wanted to sell beyond Nagarbhavi, to all of Bengaluru, and that's where Local Shops program gave me a leg up. In the last three to four months, we have received over 500 orders and registered 50-60% higher growth through online selling vis-à-vis offline.

This year, lakhs of Small & Medium Businesses (SMBs) are set to offer new offerings to customers, which in turn will help them rebuild and boost businesses in tough times. Customers in India can shop for products from several thousand Amazon sellers under various programs such as Local Shops, Amazon Launchpad, Amazon Saheli, and Amazon Karigar. They also get deals/offers extended by lakhs of small businesses.