Flipkart partners with Nepal's Sastodeal, opening new market for MSMEs
In a bid to enable cross-border trade for small Indian businesses and sellers, e-commerce giant Flipkart has partnered with Sastodeal, a leading online shopping platform in Nepal. The move opens a completely new market for Indian MSMEs and will contribute towards boosting their business, which would be especially useful in the current COVID-19-caused slowdown. Here's all you need to know about it.
Products across categories to be listed on Sastodeal
As part of the partnership, a number of products available on Flipkart and Myntra's marketplace will be listed on Sastodeal for purchase by people in Nepal. In the first phase of the roll-out, the e-commerce platform will host more than 5,000 items across categories like baby care & kids, audio devices, men's clothing, women's ethnic wear, and sports & fitness.
"New avenue of business growth"
In a press statement, Flipkart said, "As MSMEs across the country bounce back and continue to look towards newer avenues for business growth, opportunities like these give them further confidence in the potential of ecommerce platforms." Currently, the e-commerce giant has 200,000 sellers, of which more than 50% are from small cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Meerut, Surat, and Kanpur.
Flipkart's own products will also be listed
Sastodeal will also list products from Flipkart's own brands MarQ and SmartBuy, covering categories such as electronics, home appliances, home decor, and furnishings. "It was a natural step for us to take our brands to markets beyond India. The preference of consumers in a country like Nepal is very similar to India," said Dev Iyer, Vice President of Private Brands at Flipkart.
Boost for Sastodeal as well, says Flipkart Marketplace head
Flipkart's Marketplace head, Jagjeet Harode, stated, "The partnership with Sastodeal, a homegrown brand like ours, will not just open doors for a wider market reach to our sellers but also allow them to boost their business significantly." Meanwhile, Sastodeal CEO, Amun Thapa, said, "The opportunity brought by Flipkart for Nepalese consumers is going to build a strong growth story for ecommerce in our country."
