The Indian arm of US e-commerce giant Amazon is looking to ramp up presence in the seven North-Eastern states along with Sikkim.

Apart from on-boarding new sellers, primarily small and medium businesses (SMBs) that include artisans, weavers and women entrepreneurs from the region; the e-tailer will tap into handicrafts, GI-enabled offerings and local spices targeting India as well as global markets.

Items such as Chakshesang shawls from Nagaland, muga silk from Assam, different types of weaves like the Moirang Phee from Manipur and varieties of teas and spices like the Mizo Chilli, amongst others are some of the unique items that the e-tailer looks to list. Most of these items are GI-protected.

Focus on the less focused

According to Pranav Bhasin, Director, MSME & Selling Partner Experience at Amazon India, the company will look to enlist 50,000 SMBs from the North-East by 2025.

The e-tailer already has 6,000-odd sellers who list and sell on its marketplace from the region; while the company delivers to “all serviceable pin-codes” of the region.

A new programme called “Spotlight North East” has been launched along with a special storefront by Amazon India. Spotlight North East will run parallel to existing seller programmes such as Karigar, Saheli, Amazon Launchpad and Local Shops on Amazon.

Bhasin adds, with additional focus on the North-East, commodities specific to the region such as tea, spices and honey, are expected to get a boost in international markets. The project will support the local economy and also help local artisans and women entrepreneurs “embrace digitalisation”.

“One out of two households in the North-East are dependent on income from handicrafts and handlooms. We will look to onboard 50,000 small businesses including artisans, woman entrepreneurs and local shops by 2025 with 5,000 plus local craft-based products being listed for sale in India and overseas,” he told BusinessLine.

Unique demand

According to Bhasin, Amazon Global Selling — a unique programme that enables exports through e-commerce — is an option that is extended to all sellers who list offerings on its marketplace. Through this, traditional handmade and handloom offerings from India already have global takers including the Indian diaspora.

For instance, printed bed-sheets of Jaipur have a unique use case, where global customers have opted to use these products as beachwear (like wraps) or tapestry.

“As you see there was a new segment that got created from a traditional segment. So we started working with the sellers to rework the offerings targeting this unique demand,” he added.

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