As soon as the COVID strike on the Indian soil, our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi took a quick decision of implementing the nationwide lockdown so that the government can save maximum lives from the deadly COVID virus.
However, the lockdown that continued for 6 months, impacted both the small businessmen and the salaried people as the businessmen lost demand for their products, which led to the huge loss and the salaried people were laid off from their respective jobs.
Our Prime Minister took the cognizance of the matter and motivated the citizens to startup and promote local products in the global markets, and advised people to convert themselves from the job takers to the job givers. Additionally, the government also started many schemes so that it becomes easier for the borrowers to get business loans with fewer requirements and low interest.
Since there is low demand sentiment among the consumer, the consumers were facing difficulty on how to grab the share of wallet of the customers. The e-commerce platforms came across as the ‘Knight in the shining armor’ and saved them by showcasing the entrepreneurs’ products on their online platform.
So in this blog, we will tell you how e-commerce has helped small businesses to boost their sales.
Paytm mall Maha Shopping Festival
Though the Maha Shopping festival for Paytm is the year-on-year phenomenon, however, this year Paytm has focused to boost the MSME business that has been going through a tough time due to Covid. The festival will be from 16th October to 23rd October, where it will be displaying more than 4000+ local brands supporting artisans, handicrafts women entrepreneurs, etc and the plethora of products at a good discount during the flash sale between 11 am to 3 pm with the additional discount on payment through bank cards with the additional cash back. Though this event will be for a shorter period it will provide good financial assistance to these entrepreneurs.
Also Read: What is An MSME Loan and Who Gets It?
MSME Accelerate by Amazon
The program is conducted by Amazon by providing discounts, deals, and cash backs for the businesses to take products in the bulk. It was an initiative by Amazon in June to help MSME recover from the aftermath of Covid
Flipkart Samarth Program
Launched in July 2019, the Flipkart Samarth program provides an online platform for the often neglected communities comprising artisans, weavers, handicraft makers by helping them setting the online business at a reduced cost and providing them with the dedicated support for cataloguing, account management, business insights, seller and warehousing support. More than 5000 artisans, weavers, and small businesses have benefitted from this program.
9-Day Sales Scheme by Grofers
Grofers aimed to sell 9 crore items produced by its partner that also included the 5.5 crore items that are produced locally. It partnered with around 800 micro, small and medium enterprises for Grand Orange Bag Days (GOBD) in August. The company provided around Rs 50 crore worth of working capital support to its small manufacturing partners in a single month.
Shopclues ‘Atma Nirbhar’ Section
After the PM’s announcement, Shopclues introduced an Atma Nirbhar section on its platform that has categories consist of locally made products such as clothes, footwear, home and kitchen, watches, electronics, etc. For credibility, it has labeled it with ‘Made in India’ badges on all the products to go with the move to achieve the ‘Vocal for Local’ motto.
Also Read: MSME Loan in 59 Minutes: Eligibility, Documents, Interest Rate
Otipy
A social commerce venture started by the Farm to retail Agritech startup Crofarm work with the women reseller partners to facilitate the contactless doorstep delivery of the Agri products to the end consumers
Ecommerce has been able to add value for the MSMEs by providing wider market access and efficiently running the supply chain to the end consumers in a contactless manner and functioning well under the COVID guidelines of both the government and WHO.
Due to the liquidity crunch created in the market by the continuous lockdown, E-commerce has been able to channelize the business with the digital payments, ease of access, etc creating more value for the customers.
For the survival of the MSME, they must embrace the digital revolution and climb the bandwagon of other smaller brands, who understand the power of digital technology and the reach it offers that breaks the limited geographical boundaries prevalent in the offline channels.
The digital focus of e-commerce has been able to bridge the gap between the demand and supply during the lockdown and have helped most of the MSMEs to sail through the tough times and absorb the effects of the lockdown.
We have to understand that the MSME sector alone contributes to 30% of the countries GDP and create livelihood opportunities for a large number of population, so every possible step needs to be taken to ensure their survival and growth.