Amazon launches Made in India toy store to support local sellers

The dedicated store on Amazon.in will feature thousands of products from sellers across 15 states.

Amazon.in launches made in India toy store to support local talent (REUTERS)

Amazon on Wednesday announced the launch of the ‘Made in India' toy store. As the name implies, customers can purchase all the locally manufactured toys from the e-commerce platform. Indian sellers will also be able to sell locally produced toys. Amazon says the new initiative is in line with the government's calls for a self-reliant India.

According to Amazon, sellers from 15 Indian states will showcase thousands of toys across categories. The products will include traditional toys, handmade toys, and educational toys.

The traditional Indian toys section showcases toys like Chowka Bara, Pitthu/Lagori, Lattu(Wooden spinning tops) and more. The handmade toys section will showcase handmade toys & dolls from karigars of various states like Channapatna, Thanjavur, Varanasi to name a few.

The third category will feature toys like a DIY Microscope, 4D Educational AR Game, Science Experiment Kits and more. These products are conceptualised and manufactured by homegrown Indian brands like Smartivity, Shumee, Skillmatics, Shifu, Einstein box, etc. Some of them like Skillmatics and Shifu are also exporting made in India toys through Amazon's Global Selling programme.

Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Amazon India said “This store reinforces Amazon.in's commitment to nurture and support local talent. India is home to traditional arts, crafts and toys made by SMBs, artisans and craftsmen. These cohort of sellers will benefit with accelerated growth due to spike in demand for their products with the launch of this new store."

Amazon's new initiative is part of the company's ongoing efforts to encourage local businesses. The e-commerce platform is also focusing on products that are Made in India. In September this year, Amazon hosted Handicrafts Mela that featured over 55,000 products across 270 art and craft forms.

The company said its initiative for Handmade products helped more than 10 lakh artisans, weavers and women entrepreneurs, enabled sellers from Amazon Karigar (for weavers and artisans) to register 3.2x growth and Amazon Saheli (for women entrepreneurs) to register 2.1x growth.