Amazon’s rural push: How the ecommerce giant is making it easy for women to become entrepreneurs

Efforts by Amazon to promote ecommerce in India took a different turn when it launched Amazon Saheli in 2017. This program empowers women entrepreneurs in Tier II and III cities by helping them sell their products on the Amazon marketplace.
 
So far, Amazon claims it has enabled more than two million women entrepreneurs across different pin codes within the country to leverage its ecommerce power along with giving the rural economy a push.
 
In a conversation with Business Today, Amit Nanda, Director of Selling Partner Services at Amazon breaks down the entire program along with its plans. 
 
Women taking the helm
 
Nanda begins by pointing out the gaps that come in the way of women participating not just in businesses but also in the daily affairs of life. 
 
“Better participation of women will blip India’s GDP. However, women are not really at the helm of things. One of the things a business requires is capital and capital is scarce. On top of that it is the men who take capital decisions in most cases,” he says.

He says that these challenges amplify as we go down the pyramid. “It is very difficult for women in tier two and three cities to be an entrepreneur.”
 
So how has Amazon weaved a solution for this problem?
 
Nanda answers by saying, “Selling can happen from anywhere. Ecommerce makes the entire country available to you as a marketplace. You are not constrained by the local market or people whom you know. This is how Amazon helps.”
 
The process for women to come on board is not very difficult. Any woman can be a part of Amazon Saheli. Moreover, the brand has also partnered with bodies such as TATA Powers, DEASRA Foundation, and SEWA, among others which helps in making these women more aware digitally. 
 
These women are required to click photographs from different angles, pack the items in a particular way, and get the pictures uploaded on Amazon’s virtual storefronts. Amazon’s delivery boys pick stuff from their houses, deliver it to the customers and the amount gets credited into the banks of these women.
 
To ensure that women scale up and grow, Nanda hints at some ways Amazon is ensuring its accountability. “We speak to them once a month for any clarity they need, set targets, and help women founders reach them. We also internally track the performance of their businesses through various metrics including how we are supporting them and helping them achieve market traction.”
 
The results of which have been that women entrepreneurs have seen their businesses grow by three to four times, he claims. 
 
He also says that one of the key areas they look at while working with women is pricing. “Some products are very topical. We want to ensure that the products are priced correctly,” Nanda points out. 
 
The challenging part
 
Despite the program growing at a modest pace there have been some challenges. “There are challenges around taxation and procedures. Selling in different geographies means being taxed differently by different states,” he said, adding that in the initial years, they had to focus particularly on making the mobile application user experience simpler. 
 
“Some of the products were designed for a person who is using a desktop or laptop,” Nanda states. He says that they had to ensure a smooth experience from two angles - ease of doing business on the entrepreneur’s part as well as providing an amazing experience to the end consumer. 
 
BT also spoke to a couple of artisans who revealed that sometimes their pictures were rejected because they were not taken from proper angles or for not “meeting Amazon’s criteria when it came to pictures”.
 
Moreover, Amazon Saheli still doesn’t cover all pin codes of the country.
 
2023 is going to be all about driving this momentum to higher levels and greater heights, says Nanda. “We will launch capability development training for women entrepreneurs onboard to upskill them and unlock their growth,” he highlights. 

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