With the view of educating MSMEs/Entrepreneurs in enabling their businesses digitally on the Amazon platform by using the fulfilment model offerings, World Trade Center Mumbai and Amazon India (Amazon) jointly organised a webinar on ‘Sell on Amazon’. Mr. Sumant Gajbhiye, Head of Region, Direct Sales - West Zone, Amazon and Mr. Mrigendra Kumar, Business Development, Amazon presented the benefits of registering on the Amazon platform for forward integration in order to reach out to a wider market, during the programme.

The speakers suggested that Amazon works on bringing desirable solutions to its customers through its e-commerce platform. They educated the participants on the various opportunities and models, cost structure and profitability arising out of listing on the platform, and highlighted the benefits of the jumpstart kit for new sellers. They emphasized that Amazon offers a huge selection to its customers through its website and mobile application. It serves as a marketplace where one can shop at his/her convenient time, as against a typical brick and mortar shop which is open only during daytime.

With over 20 years of experience in global markets, Amazon has over 15 crore customers in India since its launch in 2013, with a growing number of Prime members. Over 5 lakh entrepreneurs use Amazon India marketplace to reach their customers across India. During Diwali period last year, 99.4% of pin codes in India placed an order on Amazon in 30 days. Over 88% of Amazon India’s new customers hail from Tier II, III and IV cities.

Owing to the high mobile penetration, and cheap mobile handsets and internet data pack availability, Amazon today is the third-most browsed website in India, which offers huge visibility and traction to its sellers. The search activity on Amazon goes on round-the-clock, while the machine learning algorithm helps customers zero down on their requirements. Customer reviews help sellers identify which products to list first whereas the analytics section gives a seller the complete hold over his selling activity. The Amazon platform brings to a seller improved visibility and marketing opportunities even for his offline business.

The Amazon marketplace offers a seller the freedom to control his pricing based on the demand, use sales reports to plan sales, use customer ratings to get feedback on products, leverage marketing and promotion opportunities and link the inventory uploaded on Amazon Seller Central to his central inventory. It helps the seller use e-commerce as an additional sales channel to grow his reach.

To list products on Amazon, no upfront investment is required. Therefore, a seller doesn’t have to bear any customer acquisition costs and his operational expenses towards delivery network, human capital and customer service are reduced. The marketplace offers visibility and reach to a new range of pan-India customers, while it takes care of shipping and delivery so that the seller can focus on his business.

The cost of listing on Amazon is simple as fees are deducted only after a sale is made, as also there are no fixed or listing costs. Payments are secured for customers and Amazon ensures timely and accurate disbursement of payments to sellers. It offers the seller a user-friendly panel to manage orders, inventory and payments, use of cataloging features and a dedicated seller-support team along with analytics support.

To create a Seller Central account on Amazon, one has to register his/her account, list his/her product and create an online catalog, select mode of operation (Easy Ship / FBA / Seller Flex), update pricing and available inventory for his/her offers, confirm the payment and shipping settings, and go live !

Under the SOA (Sell on Amazon through Easy Ship) model, inventory is held at the seller’s premises, pickups are scheduled by the seller and the seller needs to respond to the buyer’s queries and authorize returns. Under the FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) model, the inventory is stored at an Amazon Fulfilment Center, Amazon picks up, packs and ships the products and it also takes care of customer queries related to orders/returns.

Under the Seller Flex model, the inventory is held at the seller’s premises, and is reserved and stored in an area earmarked for Amazon. The picking and packing is done by the seller, whereas the shipping is carried out by Amazon. Amazon also takes care of customer queries, whereas the seller handles return shipments. Under the Local Shops model, the inventory is held at the seller’s premises, the seller has to schedule his/her deliveries through self or 3P carriers, and Amazon takes care of customer queries related to orders/returns.

The speakers further enumerated the benefits of subscribing to Amazon Prime and suggested that becoming a Prime seller with FBA can increase sales by upto three times. They said that for first-time FBA users, FBA-specific fees are free for first three months (upto first 100 units). They also discussed the cost-selling fees and highlighted the tools to succeed at Amazon as quality catalog, sharp pricing, prime fulfilment, advertisement, and reports and tools on Seller Central.

Mr. Anil Velde, Joint Director - Trade Promotion and Marketing, World Trade Center Mumbai gave the Welcome Address. Over 200 MSMEs/Entrepreneurs attended the programme.