eBay talks to online women entrepreneurs with #SheMeansBusiness

Along with Yourstory.com, eBay.in will not just highlight inspiring business ventures by women entrepreneurs, but also give free listings to six shortlisted entries from September to December 2015.

In the last few months, we have witnessed a spurt of seller-focussed campaigns by big and small online players. While some struck an emotional chord (Snapdeal's 'Dil ki Deal'), others talked about living one's dreams (Flipkart's 'Apne Sapne Jee Kar Dekho'). Joining this bandwagon is e-commerce giant eBay India, but with a twist.

The online marketplace has launched a seller-centric campaign, but only for the fairer sex. Titled #SheMeansBusiness, the digital-only campaign is being executed in partnership with startup-focussed media portal Yourstory.com. Through this campaign, the company is inviting all online women entrepreneurs to share their success stories in the form of a write-up, video or audio, which will be judged by an esteemed jury.

Six shortlisted women entrepreneurs not only stand a chance to share their stories with the world through Yourstory.com, but also stand to benefit from free listings on www.ebay.in during the festival season from September to December 2015.

Women entrepreneurs can share their stories starting July 20 till August 15, 2015, on a specially created microsite.

Shivani Suri, head - marketing, eBay India, tells afaqs! that eBay has globally recognised 2015 as the 'Year of The Seller' and that this campaign is in line with it. Currently, an eBay seller reaches out to consumers from over 4,500 cities, towns and villages in India and 206 countries across the globe.

"The aim of our campaign is to recognise, reward and further encourage entrepreneurship among women from all walks of life. We want to empower more women to sell their products on the marketplace by providing a superior global customer base. In the coming times, women sellers will contribute substantially to India's online e-commerce revolution," she says.

Negating that there is a specific age or demographic of women sellers on eBay, Suri informs that the platform supports all levels of businesses, ranging from small and medium enterprises to individual entrepreneurial traders.

Over 5000 women entrepreneurs are currently selling their products across categories such as home furnishing, jewellery, handicrafts and fashion apparel to a global base of buyers who have a penchant for Indian products.

eBay claims to have over three crore products across over 2,000 categories of electronics, lifestyle, media and collectibles. Today, of the 65,000 sellers, small and medium entrepreneurs, along with well established brands and large format retail (LFR) chains, are exploring the online route as part of their multi-channel strategy to reach out to customers across the world.

Suri informs that eBay India has been organising educational workshops for women groups and entrepreneurs, in order to train and equip them with the necessary skills for smooth functioning of their online businesses.

"Our aim is to go to the grass-root level and empower sellers to connect with global eBay buyers. The intent is to create an additional source of livelihood for women merchants by enabling both retail exports of Indian goods and widespread national trade," she adds.

For the record, women sellers constitute about 20 per cent of the one million sellers on online platforms that form the $12 billion online retail industry in the country.

eBay India is a subsidiary of eBay Inc and competes with homegrown companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal, ShopClues, IndiaMART as well as the international e-commerce brand Amazon India.