Amazon sees pick up in exports from tier 2-3 cities

E-commerce major Amazon is witnessing a pick-up in exports from tier two and tier three cities in India through its Amazon Global Selling programme. 

Exporters from Haridwar in Uttarakhand have contributed to $23 million in exports on the platform in 2022, exporters from Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan crossed $13 million, Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh crossed $1 million in sales and exporters from Kolhapur in Maharashtra crossed $4 million in sales in 2022. 

Overall, exports from 25 cities crossed $10 billion in sales in 2022.

• Also Read: Amazon introduces product customisation ahead of Prime Day

“Amazon Global Selling has a seller footprint in 200 plus cities and the cities that are doing $ 10 million are the ones people don’t primarily think of for exports and especially e-commerce exports. Sriganganagar in Rajasthan, Kolhapur in Maharashtra and Erode in Tamil Nadu are some of the places. This is giving us confidence that it is a pan India trend,” said Bhupen Wakankar – Director of Global Trade Amazon India to businessline.

Amazon started the Amazon Global selling programme in 2015 and has 1,25,000 exporters on the platform. The company expects $20 billion in cumulative exports by 2025 and $8 billion in exports by the end of 2023.

• Also Read: Industry welcomes big announcements made by Amazon, Google

In 2022, the company stated that Indian brands with ‘Made in India’ products gained popularity in the international market including Indus Cosmeceuticals Private Limited (beauty and wellness), Aadvik Foods (consumables), Native Fab (home textile), SG Enterprises (toys), Handicraft Home (home décor), and Luxmi Estates

Personal care product pick up

The company saw the toy categories grow over 50 per cent year-on-year in 2022 but is also seeing an uptick in exports of personal care products, and essential oils. The beauty segment grew 25 per cent year-on-year while the kitchen segment saw 35 per cent year-on-year growth. 

“We are seeing deep diversification over the last 18 to 24 months, where categories like Ayurveda products, essential oil, health and beauty care products are emerging and growing faster,” he said. 

While the UK, USA and Europe have been stable markets for exports from India, the company is witnessing demand for exports from emerging markets.

“In the last 12 to 17 months, three to four markets including UAE in the Middle East, Australia and Japan are growing a lot faster from an Indian exporter perspective compared to the established one,” said Bhupen.

• Also Read: Bl Podcast. Workplace Diversity: How Amazon tries to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ employees

Further, the company is using machine learning to help its exporters sell products in the international market, “It is a laborious task for a human to list their products across different countries with translations in multiple languages. We have built a pillar that is machine learning-enabled and can enable cross-listing in multiple languages. If the listing is in English, we can translate English into the UK, Australian, German and Japanese,” added Bhupen Wakankar.