Ecommerce major Flipkart eases the seller onboarding process for MSMEs
The outreach programme and revamped seller onboarding process by Flipkart will help the MSMEs get onto the ecommerce platform to reach its 150-million customer base.
Flipkart, India’s leading ecommerce marketplace owned by Walmart, has revamped its seller onboarding process to ease and improve first-time ecommerce experience for small businesses.
As part of this process, Flipkart has stationed 13 regional teams across the country to help on-board sellers in person, by meeting with them at their premises. These regional teams, based in cities such as Lucknow, Coimbatore, and Jaipur, cater to sellers in 4,300-plus pin codes.
Some the key changes that Flipkart has implemented include: a detailed description about each step to make sure they know exactly what is required, reducing required documentation down to GST number, cancelled cheque, and a signature, a single-step verification with the GST number, with additional support from the Seller Onboarding team so sellers do not need to wait for verification and improved dashboard interface that guides them on the progress of their profile completion, pin code serviceability, etc.
According to Flipkart, these changes will enable the small sellers to access its all-India customer base of over 150 million.
“By revamping our onboarding process and simplifying the number of steps, we are making it easier for any seller, no matter the size, to list on our platform and get started from day one. As a homegrown company, we know that the future of ecommerce lies in bringing more MSMEs and smaller businesses online, which in turn will generate employment and investment, and will meaningfully contribute toward the country’s socio-economic development,” said Nishant Gupta, Head of Flipkart’s Marketplace business.
Flipkart stated that government estimates suggest there are roughly 60 million MSMEs in India, many of which are restricted to their local markets due to difficulties in accessing resources.
The ecommerce major said its efforts on the onboarding front is to maintain its high-quality standards, while enhancing the experience and enabling access to the market for small businesses. This will be underpinned by Flipkart’s strengths in order fulfillment, first-mile and last-mile logistics, and swift and convenient payment mechanisms.
(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)
