As exports continue to play a critical role in revival of Indian economy and with e-commerce exports providing an easy and rapidly scalable route for Indian MSMEs to generate higher foreign exchange for the country and in the process create employment opportunities, it becomes a necessity to provide business owners a comprehensive primer on everything one should know about the opportunity.
The Amazon India webinar, in association with Lokmat, helped sellers understand how they can leverage their knowledge and skills to build, grow and scale their exports business with the help of e-commerce. The webinar brought together Amazon leaders, industry experts, successful digital businesses and many entrepreneurs, who helped address questions like 'is this online model the right fit for my business,' 'how does an online presence change the market for my business,' 'how can I address the diverse customer cases across the world' and more such questions and concerns.
Highlighting the importance of Exports for the Indian economy, the webinar discussed at the length the the role of e-commerce exports in boosting the overall exports from India, e-commerce exports opportunity for Indian businesses, how Amazon enables Indian SMBs to succeed in global markets, the right policy framework for e-commerce exports to scale up and Amazon seller success Stories.
Today, businesses from metros as well as tier 2 and tier 3 cities like Roorkee, Faridabad, Siliguri, Cuttack, Dharamshala, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Coimbatore, Jodhpur etc. are benefiting from Amazon Global Selling and are taking their local innovation and expertise from India to the world and such stories were shared at the forum to inpsire SMBs to take their skills to a customer base beyond not bound by Indian borders.
The 2-hour session had panelists Abhijit Kamra, Director, Global Trade. Amazon India, Vinod Kumar, President India SME Forum, Mudita Todi Ajmera, Co Founder Jack in the Box Toys, Deepak Mehrotra – Co-Founder NMK Textiles, who will give insights into the business and the nity gritties of the e-commerce exports and how the online model helps lower the entry barrier for small businesses to start or expand their exports business by enabling them to focus on their core competencies.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Quote Unquote:
Abhijit Kamra, Director Global Trade, Amazon India: “E-commerce exports helps lower the biggest entry barrier for exports business from an initial investments point of view. It helps businesses sell directly to customers across the world. Global Selling program helps Indian exporters kick start or expand their business at a fraction of the costs associated with traditional exports. Through e-commerce and technology, we are bringing ease of access for Indian traders to reach global consumers, simplifying logistics, conversion of currency and fulfilling compliance matter. Amazon’s Global Selling program has grown from about 100 exporters in 2015 to over 70,000 now, with sellers coming from metros as well as tier 1, 2 and 3 towns. By making exports simple and accessible for MSMEs, we are committed to fulfil our to enable $10 billion in cumulative exports through Amazon Global Selling program by 2025, and contribute to the government’s vision for driving exports led growth.”
Subhash Desai, Hon’ble Minister of Industries, Government of Maharashtra (said in a video message): “It is important to promote exports through the medium of technology. In the past 6 months, as the nation dealt with various challenges, it was e-commerce that helped serve customers. With Amazon, multiple SMBs have been able to grow their business through e-commerce exports due to the ease of access offered and lower number of barriers. This initiative by Lokmat and Amazon will be helpful for SMBs looking to expand their businesses globally.”
Vinod Kumar, President, India SME Forum:“E-commerce is an extremely important ingredient for exports, and it would be impossible to become a $5 trillion economy without it. E-commerce significantly contributes towards the MSME sector, with players like Amazon enabling suppliers from tier 2 and tier 3 cities to grow their business. The major challenges faced by SMBs in exports have been eliminated by e-commerce today. Our Indian manufacturers have the potential to become big, and all that is needed is to ensure that the best quality products are being added to these platforms.”
Mudita Todi Ajmera, Co-Founder, Jackinthebox Toys: "We joined the Global Selling program in 2017, and since then there has been no looking back. Selling on Amazon has allowed us to get direct customer feedback which helped modify and create fully ‘Made in India’ products suitable for different markets. 2020 has been a challenging year and when offline retail orders were getting cancelled, e-commerce exports was the saving grace for us. It helped us to continue supporting our supply partners, employees and other associates, helping us storm through this year and do great business.”
Deepak Mehrotra, Founder, NMK Textile Mills: “Exports is crucial for our economy as it offers traders and businesses greater scope for growth across the world. With e-commerce exports, businesses are not solely dependent on select retailers. Since joining Amazon Global Selling, we have built our own brand, selling directly to customers, and have become one of the top ten bedding brands in the US. Amazon has simplified exports for us, and the stability that it offers has a far reaching impact on our business, workers, in short the entire supply chain. The simplest way to succeed through e-commerce exports is by focusing on becoming better, and then bigger.”
