In a bid to aid small sellers to bounce back from the financial losses that were induced by the pandemic second wave of COVID-19, Amazon India announced that the company host Amazon Small Business Days (SBD) that will begin from midnight on July 2, 2021, until 11:59 pm on July 4, 2021.

“As India tries to get back on track post the impact of the COVID-19 second wave, we are prioritizing our efforts to help small businesses bounce back from the economic disruption. Towards this, we are hosting Amazon Small Business Days, to help generate customer demand for offerings from small sellers on the Amazon India marketplace thus helping them to get their business back on track,” said Pranav Bhasin, Director, MSME & Selling Partner Experience, Amazon India.

During the three-day sale event, customers will have the opportunity to discover and purchase as well as enjoy deals and offer on products across categories including monsoon essentials, immunity boosters, regional handicrafts, at-home fitness supplies, etc. among many more from the special themed stores on the marketplace.

Whether customers are looking to purchase Work from Home essentials, comfort food or heritage handloom weaves straight from regional weavers, Small Business Days will have the widest selection on offer for everyone. Customers can save more with a cashback offer of up to 10% powered by A-pay and on other forms of digital payments for purchases made from participating small businesses.

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, said, “MSMEs are the backbone of our economy, contributing to nearly 30% of the country’s GDP and half of its exports. Around 6 crore MSME units across the country employ over 11 crore persons.”

“MSMEs contribute significantly to the socio-economic growth of the country by fostering entrepreneurship and generating large employment opportunities. I believe that technology will play a key role in the success of MSMEs, and in increasing the contribution of MSMEs' share to the country’s GDP. It is important to accelerate the growth of MSMEs especially after the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and I congratulate Amazon for hosting Small Business Day to help generate customer demand for their products and revive livelihoods of lakhs of MSMEs in the country”, he added.

“Customers will be able to discover thousands of unique products from local shops, women entrepreneurs, start-ups, emerging brands, artisans, and weavers, at a great value, making their shopping experience enjoyable,” added Pranav Bhasin.

Small Business Days 2021 is a sale event part of Amazon India’s efforts to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sellers. Over the past few months, with the onset of the second wave of the pandemic in India, Amazon has taken a host of measures to help sellers including a variety of fee waivers, relaxation of policies on reimbursements and performance metrics, and more.

Amazon is also providing vaccination support to its sellers and their dependents. In addition, Amazon has also enabled an ‘on-demand disbursement’ feature that enables sellers to get their disbursements daily to help sellers navigate the economic challenges during these challenging times.