Amazon-FICCI partnership to help merchants sell globally

Kolkata: FICCI, in partnership with Amazon, organised a workshop in Kolkata on going global through e-commerce marketplace for B2C leather product manufacturers, exporters, retailers and online sellers. The workshop is being held in association with Council for Leather Exports.

Bengal is one of the leading states for export of finished leather goods and there is a significant opportunity to explore the e-market platform to promote global reach.

The state is experiencing a healthy growth in the leather sector as it accounts for 54 percent of goods produced in India and is the second most important tanning centre in the country.

The state also has a large pool of traditionally skilled and competitive labour force with present employment touching over 5 lakh and has a strong presence of reputed institutions for training in design, manufacturing processes and technology.

Speaking on the workshop, Abhijit Kamra, head of global selling Amazon India, said: "We launched our Global Selling Programme in India in 2015 with the aim of helping Indian businesses take their 'Made in India' products to millions of active customers across the globe through 10 global Amazon marketplaces. Amazon Global Selling has witnessed a high interest from leather manufacturers and exporters across the country. Considering that there are thousands of such exporters in Kolkata, we see a huge potential for these small and medium scale enterprises to scale up their export business through B2C e-commerce channel across product categories."

Sanjay Bhatia, president, FICCI-CMSME added: "The number of digital buyers worldwide is expected to grow to 2.07 billion in 2019 from 1.3 billion in 2014. E-commerce shopping is a thriving market with people increasingly choosing this option to order products and services at their convenience. Realising the potential of the sector and the opportunities for the B2C product manufacturers especially MSMEs, FICCI-CMSME has partnered with Amazon to create awareness about the potential and take maximum benefit of this platform."