West Bengal is the largest seller base for Flipkart in east

Aimed at educating and empowering SME's from across West Bengal and growing the seller base here, 2015 will see several focused seller engagement initiatives from the Indian e-commerce giant in this region.

With 10-15% M-o-M growth in the seller base, West Bengal is poised to become one of the key seller hubs for product categories like home décor & furnishing, jewellery and leather accessories.

Sellers of these categories will be offered special support and training to extend their range of offerings with products that will appeal to customers across geographies.

Among the products sold by sellers within this region, apparels, jewellery and leather products see a majority of almost 60% of demand by Indian customers. Market demand for other categories like home décor, furnishing and handicraft products is estimated to grow by 30-40% in 2015.

Speaking at a media event in the city, Ankit Nagori, SVP- Marketplace, Flipkart said, “West Bengal is well-known for its unique range of home décor, handloom, clothing and handicraft products. With thousands of local artisans/entrepreneurs in this region, Flipkart’s primary focus will be to educate and empower these sellers, and help them understand the benefits of selling to the customer directly via the online platform. We see huge potential for sellers from this region and as this is one of our key markets, it is important that we support and nurture them. With a current seller base of over 3000 sellers from this region, we expect this number to double in the year 2015.”

Ankit further added, “This year handloom, home and local artifacts will emerge as prominent categories from this region. We are confident that we will see more sellers from these categories join us to reach out to a wider range of customers nationally.”

Commenting about his association with Flipkart, Sanjoy Biswas, Owner, Jewelz, a seller on Flipkart said, “Selling on Flipkart has given a whole new dimension to my business – from increase in demand for my products to the opportunity to cater to a wider set of customers across geographies. In fact, my business has seen an 8X growth with nationwide customer base. The way my business has transformed with Flipkart, I am excited at the prospect of a long and prosperous business relationship with them.”

Adil, Owner, Wild Horns, a seller on Flipkart, said, “My leather and travel accessories brand has seen an immense growth since August 2014 when I started selling on Flipkart. This platform has helped me grow my business along with connecting to the largest customer base in the country. Today, I get over 250 orders a day as compared to the sales of 20 wallets a day just six months back. I am thrilled to be a part of this success story and look forward to expanding my business as well as my manufacturing facility.”