Explained: How to become a seller on Amazon.in

Small and medium businesses are the backbone of the Indian economy and Amazon.in has made a commitment to digitally empower 10 million small and medium businesses by 2025. Remember, as many as 65% of Amazon.in’s selling partners originate from tier-2 cities and beyond. From humble beginnings in 2013 with just 100 sellers selling books, Amazon.in's seller base has now grown to over 12 lakhs. 1 lakh sellers are now exporting globally through Amazon.

On International MSME Day, we caught up with Amit Nanda, Director-Selling Partner Services at Amazon India, to understand how MSMEs can leverage Amazon to go pan-India.

To start their journey, businesses need to create an account on Amazon.in with a PAN card, GST number and an active bank account. Once registered, they can start listing their products and choose from one of the many options for storage, packaging and delivery. Once a customer purchase happens, payments are deposited safely to the seller’s bank account every 7 days.

Amazon unveiled a new and simplified registration process that enabes businesses to register as sellers using any smartphone. The mobile-based workflow is especially helpful for sellers from tier-2 and 3 cities who may have limited technological proficiency. The new process provides sellers with real-time support to address their queries and concerns during the registration process.

To view the new registration experience, download the Seller App from Google PlayStore/iOS Appstore or register your account to sell on Amazon by visiting sell.amazon.in. Once registered, click on the ‘Start Selling’ button.

Amazon provides sellers with help at their fingertips with 24/7 seller call center support that is available in 5 vernacular languages. “We also provide unlimited access to an extensive library of videos, tutorials, and step-by-step instructions on various aspects of selling online,” says Nanda. Further, Amazon helps sellers connect with verified third-party experts for product photography, cataloguing, account management and advertising through its Seller Provider Network (SPN) program.

1) Develop a quality catalogue: include accurate product titles, high quality images, detailed product descriptions and product features. Customers need to have complete confidence that what they see on the marketplace is what they get.

2) Do not compromise on product quality: Whether you are a brand/manufacturer or a reseller, ensure a very high bar on product quality along with the right packaging. Unlike offline sales where customers can touch and feel the product, online shoppers rely on sellers to uphold product quality.

3) Choose speedy fulfilment/shipping options: Customers want to receive orders as fast as possible. While sellers have the option of shipping themselves, sellers can also explore faster shipping options that Amazon.in provides. Did you know that 100% of India’s serviceable pin codes—including some of the remotest locations—are covered by Amazon’s delivery network?

4) Listen to your customer: Use the feedback and reviews given by customers. Reflect on the root cause of returns. Understand who your customer is. These steps will help expand your product portfolio, determine the right level of advertising, and take decisions on product pricing.

1) Pricing products too low or too high: Many new sellers do not have a benchmark on product pricing.

Pricing your product too low may create a perception of lower quality and this and could impact profitability. On the other hand, high pricing may ward off price-sensitive shoppers

2) Underestimating the value of advertising: Don’t expect sales from day one without the right word of mouth publicity, advertising or other forms of marketing. Consider experimenting with your advertising budget to arrive at the right mix. These measures will help alleviate the ‘cold-start’ problem that sellers face when they first start online selling.

3) Under-investing time in understanding the marketplace: Most marketplaces (including Amazon) have videos and tutorials on how to run your online business. Sellers must invest time early on to understand how marketplace tools and workflows operate. This will give sellers the confidence and ability to adapt and make changes quickly.

At Amazon, we enable sellers of all sizes to start their online journeys. We ensure their success by providing step-by-step guidance on getting their online shops ready for business, and adopting key growth programs like Ads, Prime, deals, and so on, in a simple to use, mobile-first interface. Over the last few years, we have been steadily adding hundreds of crorepatis and thousands of lakhpatis each year.

The Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises estimates that e-commerce exports will contribute $200-$300 billion to India's overall exports by 2030. Amazon Global Selling helps Indian businesses overcome traditional barriers to entry, expand their reach, and grow global brands. The program provides Indian exporters access to hundreds of millions of customers, including 200 million paid Prime members, in 18 Amazon global marketplaces across over 200 countries and territories. Indian entrepreneurs can list and sell their products on Amazon’s international sites in the US, the UK, the UAE, France, Germany, Canada and Australia to showcase their 'Made in India' products to the world.