E-commerce sellers: Ahead of its annual sale event The Big Billion Days this festive season, the e-commerce company Flipkart on Thursday announced crossing the 1.4 million seller mark with a 27 per cent growth over last year. The new sellers on the platform come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities such as Jammu, Vellore, Kanyakumari, Kollam, Ludhiana, Mangalore, etc., selling goods under lifestyle, books, general merchandise and home categories.
In July this year, Flipkart announced six policy changes for sellers under its Flipkart EDGE initiative focusing on pricing recommendations, promotions, rewards platform, fulfilment and speed initiatives, and guidance assistance to improve cost efficiency and sustainability of MSMEs selling on the marketplace.
Flipkart has also introduced tech interventions to its platform, including AI Powered Cataloging, an AI-led automated solution that converts any product image to Flipkart’s quality, making it easier for small sellers.
Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Officer, Flipkart Group, said, “We are encouraged by the participation of sellers from across India in the opportunities that the digital economy provides while creating lakhs of new jobs. We are immensely proud to be able to play a part in contributing towards this journey.”
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Helping MSME sellers is part of the larger goal for Flipkart and its parent Walmart to enable exports from India. The company has a target of exporting made-in-India goods worth $10 billion each year by 2027, announced in 2020.
The target was aimed at boosting MSME manufacturers alongside Walmart’s ongoing efforts such as the Flipkart Samarth and Walmart Vriddhi supplier development programmes in India.
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Recently, Flipkart Seller Hub conducted seller conclaves in different cities including Delhi, Surat, Jaipur, Agra, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata, with the participation of more than 4500 entrepreneurs in different sessions, according to the company.
Launched in 2007, the Flipkart marketplace has over 150 million products across more than 80 categories, with a registered customer base of 45 crore users. In comparison, Amazon India, which completed its 10 years in India, has more than 12 lakh sellers and has digitized over 40 lakh small businesses.