It’s not just the government, even start-ups and big tech giants are actively trying to help the small business fraternity. Amazon is a small business friendly platform where a seller located in any location in India can open their store and sell to customers across India. But due to the intense competition on platforms like Amazon, a lot of small businesses fail to show up on the first page of search results or make profitable sales. As a solution to this, Amazon organises the ‘Small Business Days’ event which took place towards the end of 2020 and has recently concluded for the year 2021. This event is in line with national efforts to provide a technological leg up to the thousands of small-scale entrepreneurs whose livelihoods have been wiped out due to the pandemic.
About the Amazon Small Business Day 2021
The Amazon Small Business Day 2021 took place between the 2nd and 4th July 2021. As the name rightly suggests, it was an exclusive event by Amazon India to support small businesses registered on their platform. By encouraging shoppers to make big purchases during these days, Amazon did its bit to boost sales and revenue for the local and small business community.
Why is Amazon hosting the Small Business Days event?
Amazon is doubling up on its efforts to help small businesses survive and revive post the second wave. As such, they hosted the ‘Small Business Days’ event for a duration of 3 days to generate business for the beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries of the event – Types of small businesses, their locations
Local and pan India small businesses were the prime beneficiaries of the event. Local entrepreneurs, homegrown sellers, manufacturers, start-ups, brands, women entrepreneurs, artisans, regional weavers, local stores were invited to list their products. Unique sellers like Indian craft makers were introduced during the event and given a platform to make a fresh start for their business.
The Numbers Game
A total of 84000 SMEs have benefitted from record sales during the 3-day period. The statistics are empowering for small town sellers since 68% of the orders received were from sellers who belonged to non-metro cities in India. A total of 7500 sellers who were participants of the event witnessed their highest single day sale in this year’s ‘Small Business Days’ by Amazon. This year, there was a 2.8X increase in their orders when compared to the SBD sale conducted by Amazon in December of 2020. A total of 1700 local shops who participated received at least one order during the event. The Karigar sellers who were part of the ‘Amazon Karigar’ initiative contributed 3400 new products to the catalogue. The women entrepreneurs who were part of the SBD’s ‘Amazon Saheli’ initiative added 8000 new products to the catalogue.
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By encouraging shoppers to make big purchases during these days, Amazon did its bit to boost sales and revenue for the local and small business community.
What’s in it for me?
Events like ‘Small Business Days’ are a once-a-year opportunity for small businesses to get the limelight. By participating in such annual sales hosted by e-commerce aggregators, you get the opportunity to showcase your unique collection of products. The exposure obtained from the sale days will be beneficial for businesses struggling to acquire customers. You can earn rewards since customers are actively shopping to avail big deals and special offers during these days.
The numbers are staggering, and small businesses can immensely benefit from Amazon’s reach. While this year’s sale has already concluded, keep an eye out for similar events by other well-known e-commerce aggregators. Support and resources are provided by aggregators to list profitably during sale days. For instance, you can manage your inventory, prepare fulfilment centres, organise digital marketing campaigns, and automate your pricing strategy through Amazon’s platform. Participating in e-commerce aggregator sales and events, especially focused on small businesses will be your first or most important step in digitally transforming your business.
