Why become an Amazon Saheli seller?

Finding an alternate solution to manufacturing paper to avoid cutting trees for it, Surprise: Someone found their way to produce recycled handmade paper out of cotton rags/waste cotton and paper waste. And while they produce environment-preserving papers, 85% of the workers engaged in the initiative are women.

With the aim of reducing the plastic waste created by polythene and plastic garbage bags, greenBug manufactures paper-made dustbin liners. Started with newspaper dustbin liners, today they make high-quality paper dustbins. greenBug involves homebound women to empower them as they make these environment-friendly bags.

iVillage is an initiative started specifically for employing women and girls. They create exquisite handcrafted products. Started in 2015, today iVillage has employed around 600 skilled women from 96 villages of Uttar Pradesh. These women make beautiful handicrafts and earn a livelihood for their families.

These are just a few of the hundreds of businesses running on Amazon Saheli. As you might have noticed, the businesses mentioned above are led and run by women and this is what the Amazon Saheli program aims for - to empower women-led businesses across the country.

Amazon Saheli is a special initiative started by Amazon to encourage women entrepreneurs in India. The program’s objective is to drive women empowerment by enabling them to sell products on the Amazon marketplace. Under this initiative, Amazon has also designed a special online store Amazon Saheli to sell products by women-led businesses. In this store, you’ll find all types of products produced by women like handicraft, handloom, accessories, jewelry, and more.

Through this initiative, Amazon supports women entrepreneurs in launching and scaling their businesses on Amazon. Today, the Saheli program has over 80,000 women artisans under it. There are seven NGOs that make this mission possible by enabling these women. Together, these successful women entrepreneurs and NGOs inspire and involve other women with them to sell in the Saheli store and make their identity.

Amazon has partnered with several groups and initiatives like Sewa, National urban livelihood mission, Tata power , etc. to help women driven by entrepreneurship. These groups provide a platform for these women to start their business and become economically secured. They envision to provide a large market reach to the women sellers and generate more employment opportunities.

These partners act as the bridge between the artisans and Amazon Saheli. They identify the potential woman entrepreneurs and get them onboarded on the Amazon marketplace. They support the sellers in kickstarting their business by facilitating all the required help like documentation, registration, etc.

Amazon Saheli offers various benefits and services to the sellers to help them grow and for sellers to try and establish their brands. Here are some of these benefits Saheli sellers enjoy.

Along with getting a special place on Amazon.in, Amazon also has special benefits in the store to motivate the sellers to join Amazon and sell their products. Here are the advantages of being a Saheli seller.

To promote women-run businesses, Amazon has reduced its Referral or Sell on Amazon (SOA) fee for sellers who are affiliated with our partners (government body, NGO, or Non-profit organization partnered with Amazon Saheli). The fee is capped at 12% or less for one year, depending upon the product category. Our partners work for women’s financial freedom and a reduction in fee will encourage more women to start their business on Amazon, giving a chance to make their selling journey a success.

Amazon Saheli sellers are provided with launch support such as training on how to sell on amazon. These training sessions are conducted offline as well online and are meant to help sellers on how to start selling on Amazon.

An account manager will guide the newly launched sellers through the marketplace and help them learn all about selling on Amazon. This support is provided for the initial 30 days of the business so the seller can get acquainted with the Seller Central platform.

Amazon helps the sellers in getting their product page up and running for the initial phase. Providing help with product information, including specifications, high-quality images, and videos increase product credibility. Amazon helps get professional product photoshoot and cataloguing to the new sellers, so that the product pages are up and live at the earliest and as per Amazon standards.

Amazon Saheli gives a special place to women-created products on Amazon. This helps in getting more customer attention and increases the chances to get more sales. The Saheli store represents all the product categories from women sellers, making it easier for buyers to select from the range of products. Sellers can also leverage various marketing strategies like Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brand, Sponsored Store to try and bring more visibility to their products.

Amazon has various marketing channels to promote handmade and Made in India products and encourage people to buy more of these products. Amazon also promotes Saheli products on various platforms like Amazon.in home page, social media, digital ads, PR, and through influencer marketing.

Amazon has several initiatives like Small business day and Smbhv dedicated to promoting local handmade products and small and medium businesses. Stand for Handmade initiative launched in June 2020, a 10 weeks high decibel campaign meant to support sellers with a jumpstart post lockdown has seen sellers grow their business by leaps and bounds. Sellers got a complete waiver on Sell on Amazon fee for the 10 week duration. We collaborated with Vidya Balan and Amazon Prime to spread more awareness.

Anyone who falls under these categories can apply for Saheli and start selling through Amazon Saheli:

● A woman entrepreneur already registered and selling on Amazon
● A woman entrepreneur affiliated with Amazon partner and looking for an opportunity to start selling on Amazon.

If you are an NGO/Not for profit looking to partner with us to help sellers affiliated with you, please apply for the program.

The first thing you need to join the Amazon Saheli program is the passion to start your business. The rest is easy. Here’s the three-step process to get your business started.

1. Application - Fill and submit the Application form. Amazon will reach out to you if you fulfill the required criteria.

2. Training & Account Set up - If you’re a new seller on Amazon and are affiliated with our partner, you’ll be assigned an Account Manager and will be provided training and support for the first 30 days of your business. In case, you’re already selling on Amazon.in and are applying for the Saheli program, your account will be integrated to the program and Amazon will provide marketing support.

Click here to start filling your application & complete your registration for the Amazon Saheli Program.

Through the Amazon Saheli program, Amazon is all set to step up women entrepreneurship and women empowerment in India. All the policy relaxations and special support provided to the sellers are designed to motivate the skilled women to start their own business and be financially independent. If you think you can make and sell products, Amazon Saheli is there to hold your hands and try to guide your way to success. Join Amazon Saheli today!