• The special storefront will feature close to 80K products from 450+ women-owned small businesses across various categories including eco-friendly products, healthy snacks, handmade crafts etc.
• Susan Ferguson, Country Representative, UN Women India inaugurated the IWD storefront at a virtual event in the presence of Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Textiles, Government of India
• For each order placed from the IWD storefront, on 8^th March, Amazon will contribute INR 25 towards sponsoring girl child education, in partnership with our NGO partner, Nanhi Kali.
• In partnership with UN Women, Amazon also launches limited edition bookmarks featuring real stories of women entrepreneurs who “challenge, champion, change”.

05 March 2021, Bangalore: Ahead of International Women’s Day, Amazon.in today announced a collaboration with UN Women to launch a special IWD storefront  with a selection of products made available by women-owned businesses. Susan Ferguson, Country Representative, UN Women India inaugurated the IWD storefront at a virtual event in the presence of Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Textiles, Government of India.  The IWD storefront will help customers discover and purchase from close to 80K unique products including selection like organic products, handmade crafts, healthy snacks etc. Over 450 women-led businesses and over 280,000 women entrepreneurs & artisans from Amazon Saheli are likely to be benefited from the launch of the special IWD storefront. The virtual event was themed on “Challenge. Champion. Change.”

This launch is in line with Amazon’s efforts to celebrate and support women-led small businesses and women entrepreneurs, who are breaking barriers, challenging stereotypes, and championing for driving a positive change towards an equal and an inclusive society. The storefront will also feature innovative and unique collection in categories like innovative toys, natural wellness, personal care etc. from women-led start-ups associated with Amazon Launchpad and products from offline local shops run by women.

At the launch event, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Textiles, Government of India gave a salutation to the 6 million women who are at the frontline of managing COVID-19 pandemic. Further, she reinforced the important role that women led businesses are playing in India's journey of becoming AtmaNirbhar Bharat.

“UN Women is celebrating the leadership of women during IWD 2021. We acknowledge the challenges women entrepreneurs across the country have overcome to support themselves and their families through e-commerce. Amazon has an important part to play in helping women become financially independent. Witnessing the success of women entrepreneurs on Amazon makes me hopeful about the enormous opportunities there are for women in the online world,” said Susan Ferguson, Country Representative, UN Women India 

Amit Agarwal, SVP & Country Head, Amazon India said, “It is inspiring to see how women entrepreneurs across the country are leveraging digitization, e-commerce in particular, to create products customers love and build scalable businesses that have a meaningful impact on society. We are humbled to be a catalyst in their journey, and committed to enable global access to customers as they unlock their potential in a Digital India.”

As part of the launch, to encourage customers to support women-led small businesses by shopping from them on Amazon.in, for every purchase made on International Women’s Day (March 8, 2021), Amazon will contribute INR 25 to directly sponsor girl child education. This will be in partnership with the NGO, Nanhi Kali. In addition, to mark International Women’s Day in India, Amazon today unveiled limited-edition bookmarks that feature stories of real women entrepreneurs. Books purchased on Amazon will carry these limited-edition bookmarks throughout the month of March’21.

Amazon India has introduced several initiatives to promote the growth of women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses across the country. Launched in November 2017, Amazon Saheli is a pioneering program that offers extensive training and skill development workshops to help women entrepreneurs understand the nuances of online selling and develop skills and capabilities necessary to grow their business on Amazon.in. Over 280,000 women, entrepreneurs are likely to be positively impacted by the program. Also, Amazon has launched all-women delivery stations in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu to create more opportunities for women and enable their success in the logistics sector.

About Amazon.in

The Amazon.in marketplace is operated by Amazon Seller Services Private Ltd, an affiliate of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon.in seeks to build the most customer-centric online destination for customers to find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online by giving them more of what they want – vast selection, low prices, fast and reliable delivery, and a trusted and convenient experience; and provide sellers with a world-class e-commerce marketplace.

For more information, visit www.amazon.in/aboutus

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About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.

For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

For more information contact:

Shashank Rathod

Amazon India

rathshas@amazon.com