Home-grown e-commerce companies such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, which have reached out to Indian artisans and small cottage industries, are unable to sell their products in the international market, while their global rivals such as Amazon and eBay are able to do so with ease.
This is mainly because Indian players lack the logistical strength to ship products to global customers.
“Companies like Amazon have a long-term goal to export products from India and also, they have deep pockets (investments), while Flipkart and Snapdeal are still struggling in getting margins,” Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research, said.
He said American companies also have strong technology support and their strategy to attract was robust. Also, they have international logistics partners such as Blue Dart (through DHL), DTDC, FedEx and Aramex.
The Centre has been promoting the e-commerce platform to showcase and sell local products. Companies such as Flipkart and Snapdeal have tied up with the Textile Ministry through which they have connected with the artisans, weavers, and painters from Varanasi, Kota, Salem, Paithani, Jaipur, and Himroo to sell their products.
But, the customer base is restricted to India. However, the companies say that India is a huge market by itself.
“We are keen to list more handicrafts and artisan products on Snapdeal from wherever they are coming from — tier-II or tier-III [towns]. We have more than 2,000 artisans and want to reach out to more markets in India,” Abhishek Passi, Vice-President, Business Strategy, Snapdeal, told BusinessLine .
On the other hand, eBay and Amazon are leveraging their strength selling products such as handlooms, handicrafts, artificial jewellery and electronics to global consumers.
“We recently tied up with the Odisha State Cooperative Handicraft Corporation and Craftroots.org in Gujarat to enable their members to reach out to global audiences and showcase the States’ art and craftsmanship,” said Navin Mistry, Head – Retail Exports, eBay India. He said there are over 15,000 merchants on eBay selling their products to 201 countries from across the country. The US, UK, Australia and Canada are India’s main trading partners on eBay, he said.
“On eBay, commercial merchants based in India on average sell 48 per cent abroad (by value). These merchants export a product every 10 seconds to global eBay consumers,” Mistry said.
He said eBay India is committed to fostering the growth of Indian e-commerce by enabling many micro-multinationals and MSMEs to thrive. It also hopes to contribute towards the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ campaign. On an average, commercial eBay merchants are shipping items to around 21 countries, Mistry added.
Amazon’s plansSimilarly, Amazon India is also planning to export such products to its global customers.
“Amazon has more than 200 million global customers and this is a huge opportunity for local (Indian) manufacturers to become global/ international brands and not just national brands,” Amit Agarwal, Vice-President and Country Manager, Amazon India, said. He said the company is right now working to create the right systems for local manufacturers to go global.