Flipkart salutes the spirit of MSMEs and sellers across the country on World MSME Day

As small businesses explore to expand their businesses and identify new avenues of growth, the e-commerce marketplace has grown significantly, providing opportunities for these sellers. With the help of e-commerce platforms, businesses now have access to the national market and opportunities for online brand building, business growth and employment. The boom in the e-commerce sector has led to spectacular success stories of sellers, who have taken their business online.

Apart from providing a larger reach, e-commerce players are giving MSMEs access to additional support through finance, technology and training.

Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has been supporting these MSMEs with regular operational support, consumer insights, and constant business counseling to ensure that their online journey is seamless. Flipkart’s endeavors to uplift and empower all sections of society, has built trust among the seller community, ushering in further success for them.

Flipkart recently announced a slew of industry-first marketplace policy changes and new capabilities to build a more inclusive e-commerce ecosystem that contributes to the growth, prosperity, and empowerment of seller partners. These efforts build on Flipkart’s commitment to helping MSMEs and small businesses leverage the power of e-commerce to serve their consumer base, gain access to best-in-class solutions and drive their growth. The mix of policy changes and capabilities include a best-in-class payment policy with the fastest payment settlement cycle in the industry, hassle-free 10-min onboarding, guaranteed ROI on Ad spends, low return cost for performing sellers, deals with Cleartrip integration for travel-related requirements along with a host of other integrated benefits.

Below impactful stories from Flipkart sellers showcase the true potential digital transformation can bring to local businesses.

Delhi

Anita Premchand Chauhan is a homemaker turned entrepreneur hailing from the city of Delhi. She lives with her husband, in-laws and two children. Having graduated with a B.Ed degree, Anita was a full time teacher, but could not continue her job. After being a homemaker for a few years, she was looking for jobs to resume her career journey, but came across the idea of becoming an online seller after purchasing a few products on Flipkart.

With the support of her family, Anita decided to source kitchenware products and sell them online which were being sold offline by her brother and were available around her locality. She onboarded as a Flipkart seller about 3 years ago. Started with one or two orders per day, Anita's business now receives about 100 orders per day.

Amidst the pandemic, it was also getting difficult for her husband, Ajay, to continue his bank job. Witnessing the growth potential of his family led business, Ajay too then later decided to quit his job and support Anita's online business. Now, the business is run by a team of six hardworking members.

Anita believes that online marketplaces offer great flexibility for customers to browse and shop a variety of products from the comfort of their homes. She also wishes to expand her products from selling gas stoves, to include other categories such as storage kitchen products and toys in the coming months. Her team gathers every ten days or so to discuss the new products being launched in the market and how they can upgrade or make their products better.

Talking about her growth and the support offered by Flipkart, Anita says "The products, especially the gas stoves are often prone to the possibility of damages while being handled. Flipkart's support to claim reimbursement for such damages ensures that MSMEs like myself are compensated for it and has kept us motivated. Our business is well received from consumers across India and events such as The Big Billion Days offer the scope for exponential growth. We witness a 4x increase in orders during this flagship sale event every year.”

Another such seller is Ikramullah Khan, a 50-year-old retired government serviceman from Delhi. After retirement, he joined a renowned finance company as a branch manager, but eventually had to quit due to health reasons. He then started a business selling garments, but had to shut it down due to various personal reasons. After this, Ikramullah started looking for a part time job that required less energy. It was at this time that his brother and a few friends suggested he can become an online seller on Flipkart.

He onboarded as a seller on Flipkart in 2021 selling men’s and women’s clothing, and has been actively involved in growing his business. Initially, he would receive about 5 to 10 orders per day, but now on an average receives about 70 to 80 orders per day. His business generates an income of about 8 to 9 lakhs per month.

He says that his assigned account managers at Flipkart have guided him and have been extremely helpful. He also adds that his sales increase about 10 to 20 percent, especially during the festive period. “I want to include various categories such as men’s shirts and make my brand Fariba the go-to renowned Fashion brand among online consumers. I also wish to expand my business by doubling my sales target to receive about 150 orders per day” says Ikramullah.

Maharashtra

Inayyat Ansari is a 35-year-old B-Tech graduate who lives with his family in Mumbai. He used to work in the IT sector for a few years, but later decided to quit when he realized that there wasn't a lot of growth potential for him in the industry.

Inayyat had always wanted to start a business of his own. So he decided to join his family business of garment manufacturing and expand it further. As the production part of the business is looked after by his brother, Inayyat decided to look after the retail aspect of the business.

While managing the business, Inayyat faced challenges of timely payment with some vendors he sold his products to. Having heard a lot about the online marketplace and its benefits for sellers, he then decided to become an online seller on Flipkart in 2020. As an online seller, his business took flight and he saw immense growth with pan-India access. Now, he receives around 45 to 50 orders per day and also witnesses a 50 percent spike in orders during festivals, especially during Flipkart’s flagship event ‘The Big Billion Days’.

“I am grateful for the support and guidance I receive from Flipkart in various forms. My account manager regularly reaches out to me to share necessary input to help in the progress of my business,” says Inayyat. He also adds that he is extremely happy that the seller community is financially supported by platforms such as Flipkart, where MSMEs like himself are given loans to develop and expand their businesses, further aiding their overall progress.

Gujarat

Kamlesh Bhai Jay Ram Bhai Seladiya is a 50-year-old man who lives in Surat, Gujarat. He lives with his family consisting of his wife, two kids and his mother. He studied till the 8th grade while his wife completed her matriculation. The couple worked very hard to set up their own business of artificial jewelry for over 25 years. Now, they also manufacture their own jewelry.

Kamlesh notices that most vendors he sold his jewelry to adopted the online marketplaces to expand their business, which drove him to the thought that he too could sell his products online, directly. He joined Flipkart as an online seller in the year 2020. Over the years, his business has taken flight and now receives over 100 to 125 orders per day, generating a revenue of over 15 lakh rupees a month.

His brand offers a variety of products, including necklaces, chains, and other jewelry. He puts in a lot of effort to understand what the market needs are and provides only the best of products online.

"Trying something new will only increase an individual's self-confidence. I attribute my success and my journey to Flipkart, a platform that gave my hardwork and skills an opportunity to progress" adds Kamlesh.

Uttar Pradesh

Piyush Agrawal is a 28 year old from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. He lives with his family consisting of his parents, brother and his sister in law. After completing his MBA, Piyush worked in a finance company as an internal auditor. But amidst COVID and the lockdown, it was getting difficult for Piyush to manage his job and his family. Then, he decided to quit his job and start his own business. Previously too, under a partnership with his friend, Piyush had worked on a startup and a business to sell leather products, but the business did not really take flight.

Hearing about the benefits of e-commerce, Piyush onboarded as a seller of Flipkart in the year 2020, after quitting his job. Initially starting with dry fruits, Piyush moved on to selling incense sticks of different varieties, sizes and fragrances. He came up with the idea of incense sticks once he saw somebody buying incense sticks at a store and thought that manufacturing and handling incense sticks would be easy.

He now runs his business with a team of four people and also wishes to expand his offerings to customers by including at least 20 different varieties of fragrances. He has also applied for a trademark for his business branding. He wishes his business to be established as the go-to brand when consumers are looking to shop for incense sticks.

"My journey with Flipkart has been quite rewarding, especially with the support of my account managers. I receive about 20 orders per day, most from East India and the business generates a revenue of about 1.5 lakhs per month." adds Piyush.

During Flipkart's flagship event, The Big Billion Days, Piyush's brand witnessed about 1.5x growth in sales and revenue. Piyush says that his products offer quality fragrance that won't be available to customers anywhere else in the online market, making it unique and special. He also wishes to add more machinery to help manufacture more products and meet the growing demand of customers.