An increasing number of small businesses, artisans, weavers, and handicraft makers
in India are adopting e-commerce, realizing the convenience and growth opportunities it offers. Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, continues to provide these businesses with access to a nationwide market, operational support, consumer insights, and business counseling through the Flipkart Samarth program to ensure that their onboarding onto the ecommerce marketplace and subsequent business operations are quick and smooth.
Flipkart Samarth, launched in 2019 with the aim of bringing India’s artisans, weavers and micro- enterprises into the e-commerce fold, is today making a positive difference to over a million livelihoods. Rajasthan is among the states with the highest rates of adoption of e-commerce by small businesses. The Flipkart Samarth platform witnessed a 3.2x growth in its seller base in the State this year as compared to last. Sikar, Jaipur, Churu, Jodhpur, Barmer and Udaipur were the top cities contributing to
this growth. The top-performing product categories by artisans, weavers and handicraft makers in Rajasthan included Large Furniture, Home Décor, Household and Women’s Ethnic wear.
Flipkart is now hosting a first-ever dedicated Flipkart Samarth sale event – ‘Crafted by Bharat’, to be held on January 26, marking the occasion of India’s Republic Day. The event will focus on celebrating India’s rich culture and heritage by showcasing the wide range of handicrafts and handlooms from across the country.
Rahul Kumawat from KC Deals, a resident of Jaipur who joined Flipkart Samarth in 2019 said, “I have been working with Flipkart samarth for over two years now and have got opportunities to make my handmade products visible to a much larger audience. Through this program, local businesses like ours get dedicated support and assistance with cataloging that allows the work of our artisans and handicraft makers to be displayed appropriately. I am very excited for the upcoming event which is dedicated to sellers such as ours and will provide a greater opportunity for us to promote our products to a pan-India consumer base who is looking to explore local Indian handicrafts.”
Sandeep Jangid from Meera Handicrafts based out of Churu, Rajasthan said, “We joined Flipkart Samarth during the pandemic as we wanted to enhance our market opportunities and join a digital platform, especially when consumers were unable to step out and buy products. As we got to know about the program, we realized how companies such as Flipkart are hand-holding local businesses that are generating employment for artisans and handicraft makers. Since our joining, we have been seeing good and sustained growth on the platform for our niche furniture products, manufactured and crafted locally. We are excited for this dedicated event by Flipkart Samarth, taking place on January 26, which will provide us with greater scope to boost our sales and in terms of generating even more income for the employees associated with us.”
Under the Samarth program, Flipkart works with several Government entities, livelihood missions and NGO partners to onboard rural entrepreneurs onto its platform. Flipkart is further making the e-commerce experience seamless, with the Flipkart app available in 11 Indian language interfaces including Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and more. Through this, Flipkart is truly bringing technology to democratize and empower the under-served sections of the society.