Sellers expanding their reach, sales this festive season and loving it!

The pandemic has certainly changed the way we live and work, creating new challenges for small businesses around the world. Many local enterprises and small sellers have met these challenges head on, however, fashioning incredible stories in their own way. One of the most significant trends in these pandemic times would have to be small sellers going online to revive, expand and grow their businesses, while creating new jobs and continuing to serve their customers.

Riding on this online retailing trend, the Amazon Great Indian Festival has been the perfect platform for many small sellers this season. Says Parul Vanani, founder and owner, Satpurush, “I started selling bath accessories online this year post the pandemic. This is my very first Amazon Great Indian Festival. And on the very first day, my daily sales grew by 5x! This gives me a lot of confidence. I will continue to add more products and am super excited to delight even more customers throughout the festive season!” Parul’s brand is also part of Amazon’s Saheli programme.

Part of Amazon’s Karigar platform, the online marketplace for authentic Indian handcrafted and handloom products, Chitranjan Pal of Odisha Handloom is also excited about sales at the Great Indian Festival. “Just 24 hours into the event, we are already doing 3x our usual business! We have ramped up our inventory and are hiring more artisans to help us during this busy season. Thanks to Amazon for not just guiding us through this but also enabling us to light up more lives with events like these!” shares Chitranjan.

No more held back by geograhical boundaries Local Shop owners are witnessing the benefits of integrating e-commerce (via the Local Shops program) into their operations and are full of gratitude to the customers. Amit Singh, of Pots & Plants, Noida, says, "We are completely taken aback by the love we have seen from customers on the first day of the Great Indian Festival! We have received orders from over 17 pin codes across different parts of India- from as far wide as Jamnagar, Gujarat to Katihar in Bihar, and have seen 4x spike in the sales. A big thank you from all of us for supporting our business during the Diwali sale."

Echoing a similar sentiment is Mustak Mohammad from Noida, Cite Leaf, who sells outdoor furniture. He says, "This time we are shipping our products across Delhi-NCR. On Day 1 of the Great Indian Festival, we have seen a 3X increase in our sales and busy packing and shipping orders. We have been working with Amazon since October 2020 and the festive sale has always been the most rewarding event for us."

The festive season has also seen customers look for new and emerging brands as part of their shopping. Sellers who have been onboarded as part of the Amazon Launchpad program. Aakash Vaghela, Founder, Evocus, says, "We are India's first and only black, alkaline water brand and are very proud to sell our unique product on Amazon. During this sale, we have seen a 4x increase in our sales and we are now busy at our factory, manufacturing cases of Evocus to cater to the entire country! We have been working with Amazon since June 2019 and the Great Indian Festival has always been the most rewarding sale event for us."

Vimal Vadher, Founder, Indigenous Honey, says that the Great Indian Festival has resulted his sales grow 2x. "It has given me confidence to power up my business on Amazon. With good discounts on our product, I have ensured the best quality too. I’m delighted to be the part of Great Indian Festival," adds Vimal.

Sharing his thoughts on the optimistic start, Amazon India Vice President Manish Tiwary, says, "Amazon Great Indian Festival 2021, our month-long festive celebrations has gotten off to a strong start, with millions of customers buying from small sellers listed on Amazon.in, including local shops, start-ups and brands, artisans, weavers and SMB’s. During Prime Early Access on Oct 2, the number of local shops participating in the event more than doubled compared to last year. We also saw a 60% increase in sellers who received their highest ever single day sales year-on-year on Amazon.in; number of sellers receiving an order from Tier 2/3 cities jumped by 21% and 16% more sellers received orders over last year.”