Online e-commerce retailers like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon have recently started turning towards small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to find unique products for their marketplaces. These SMEs provide an assorted collection of products including clothing, handicrafts, accessories and jewellery among other things and in return get a platform for selling their products, plus training, infrastructure, logistical support, and technology from online retailers. Such agreements benefit both sides. Online retailers looking for niches to drive customer interest get to push unique products and offer small brands via their marketplaces while in return SMEs get to market their goods to a worldwide audience without the need for intermediary sellers or wholesalers, increasing their exposure to customers and driving sales. Having an association with established market players, also gives credibility to SME products, increasing consumer confidence when buying. Current tie-ups Flipkart: The latest of Facebook's SME tie-ups is its partnership with the National Institute of Fashion Technology, which would see the e-commerce major work with local weavers and artisans in Varanasi, especially to feature Banarasi saris to its website, reports afaqs. The partnership claims it will target about 40,000 weavers from Varanasi, 10,000 artisans from Barabanki and another 15,000 weavers in Sultanpur. - The company had also signed an MoU with the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, as a part of which Flipkart would list products from rural Indian handloom weavers and craftsmen on its platform. According to the deal, the company would set up collection centers to collect these products and the weavers…
