Giza Cotton is said to be Egypt’s gift to the world. Grown along the sunny banks of the Nile River in Egypt, Giza cotton is the creme de la creme of cottons—longer, stronger, and softer than any other. These very features make it the preferred material for premium clothing and home linen across the globe. This fibre caught the eye of Indore-based entrepreneur Krishna Murari who went on to build an entire export business—Cottington Lane—around Giza cotton-based products.
“We procure fully-certified Giza cotton from Egypt and use German machinery in the heart of India to offer a range of luxury home linen products to the world,” Krishna Murari tells About Amazon India. The born-on-Amazon brand—Cottington Lane does not even have its own website— supplies 'Made in India' bedding and home textiles to global markets via Amazon Global Selling (AGS).
Cottington Lane prides itself in garnering rave reviews and skyrocketing sales—over $733,000 in just two days during this year’s Prime Day event in the U.S. Cottington Lane is one of four businesses featured in Amazon Global Selling's '#IndiaSeDuniyaTak' campaign, spotlighting desi entrepreneurs reaching worldwide audiences. We caught up with Krishna Murari over a fun chat, in chaste Hindi, to trace his journey over the years. Edited excerpts.
The journey of building Cottington Lane
Hailing from an agricultural family, I’m a quintessential first-generation trader at heart. My first tryst with online selling was during college days in the late 2007s as a way to earn some side income. I began my professional journey with L&T, but soon decided to re-explore online selling but with Amazon.in, which had started in 2013. My first brand Linen Affairs was focused on cotton bedding for the Indian market. Along the way, I discovered the demand for Giza cotton. In 2018 I decided to launch Cottington Lane a brand that blends the magic of fine Giza cotton with Indian craftsmanship to offer premium bedding and home textiles to customers worldwide via AGS.
We procure fully-certified Giza Cotton from Egypt and use German machinery in the heart of India to offer a range of luxury ‘Made in India’ home linen products to the world. While we were initially selling only bed sheets, our range has since expanded to over 20 products since. These include bed skirts, comforters, mattress pads, mattress protectors, and swaddle blankets. Some of our top selling products on Amazon’s global sites include bedsheets, bedskirts, swaddle blankets, and weighted blankets. Weighted blankets are recommended by several health professionals in the U.S. They are made up of three layers that include a hollow conjugate fibre and glass beads.
The benefits of Global Selling on Amazon
We sell exclusively on Amazon in India and globally and have not even launched our own website. Amazon is the name that people search for. Amazon markets on our behalf and we get all the technical support we need from them.
We have earned a ‘Climate Pledge Friendly’ certificate from Amazon based on manufacturing practices, worker wellbeing, and the use of safer chemicals. We have earned a Made in Green by Oeko-Tex certificate that verifies that the article has been manufactured using processes that reduce environmental impact and under socially responsible working conditions. This certificate is especially crucial to get orders from large institutional buyers.
When we first began exporting, the team from Amazon guided us through each and every step; right from product description to packaging, photographs, and any issues related to listings.
Currently, we get about 40,000-45,000 orders per month from the U.S. and about 10,000 from India.
For export orders, we rely on Amazon SEND, which makes it easy to process orders. Amazon takes care of the shipping and delivery once the product reaches the Amazon warehouse. They also handle returns.
Advice to fellow global exporters
Quality is king; ensure stringent quality checks are carried out at your end. This means having a highquality bar for raw materials used in your products. Ensure that your quality is better than what you have listed. For instance, if we say our fabric has a thread count of 300, it is likely to be higher than 330 for several of our products.
There is no room for product defects and mistakes; one negative feedback sets your product ranking back many-fold. If there are negative reviews, get to the bottom of it. Keep a close eye on your Amazon listing.
Another important aspect is inventory planning; it is critical for e-commerce exports. If you have forward deployed inventory, it helps serve customers faster. This planning helped us mitigate the impact of supply-chain related challenges over the last 18-24 months.
As your business grows, efficiently monitoring every aspect of the supply chain is important. Nothing happens on auto pilot mode. Once a container is shipped, we track it and ensure that it has reached its destination within the committed timeline.
Cottington Lane's journey exemplifies how an Indian business owner can build a successful international brand with Amazon. More businesses can dream big and unlock their export potential on Amazon and truly go #IndiaSeDuniyaTak.
(Amazon Global Selling has enabled over 125,000 registered exporters from 200+ cities across India to surpass $8 billion in cumulative exports since 2015. If you’re an aspiring exporter, here’s a comprehensive guide that can help small businesses become global exporters with Amazon.)
