BENGALURU (TIP): In a major boost to the Indian SMEs that are a part of the Amazon Global Selling programme, 1,00,000 goods from India have been shipped to the US in preparation of the forthcoming holiday season. These products will be made available for one-day delivery through Amazon Prime.

“The four-day weekend starting this Friday, marks the beginning of Christmas shopping in the US. Black Friday, the day following Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, have always been major shopping events in the US. Through our initiative, we want to bring this US shopping season to the Indian sellers,” said a spokesperson for Amazon.

With an aim to get Indian sellers access to a slice of the celebrated US shopping season cake, “we have shared with the sellers our insights on what products sell during the season. We have found that electronics, toys, cookware and clothing are some of the popular categories in this context,” the spokesperson said.

Specific products from Indian sellers being made available on the platform include electronic accessories, brass idols, nautical instruments, sports accessories, etc. Home decor items like bedsheets and cushion covers, and Indian apparel such as tunics and sarees have also found a place on the platform. “Indian clothing, home decor, sporting goods, leather products and health and wellness products from India are among the popular categories in the US,” the spokesperson said.

Getting global

The event-based initiative is a part of the Amazon Global Selling programme in the US and the UK, giving over 5,000 Indian sellers access to Amazon’s global customer base of 280 million. The programme took roots in the second quarter of 2015, to give Indian entrepreneurs and artisans exposure in the global market.

Bestblackfriday.com has predicted Black?Friday online sales to touch $1.85 billion this year, up 23 per cent from last year. It has further predicted that Amazon is expected to offer an total overall Black Friday discount of up to 40 per cent.

Within the framework of the programme, Amazon helps SMEs get discoverability on the platform via promotions such as the ‘Lightining Deal’. “However, with the promotional activities on the website, it becomes the seller’s prerogative to participate or not,” the spokesperson said. “Additionally, seller support centres have been made functional during Indian business hours for the benefit of Indian sellers,” the spokesperson added. While educating sellers regarding opportunites in the US market, Amazon also helps them connect with the third-party service providers for imaging, cataloging and creating digitised versions of their products.