Bringing traditional Assamese clothing to the national market

Ashwin sells Mekhla Chador from the capital city of Assam, Guwahati. His offline store is centrally located at a busy traders street where customers walk in through the day to buy traditional Assamese attire. It gets quite difficult for Ashwin to get customer feedback on a day to day basis. Since he now lists his products on Amazon, he is always updated with what his customers across India are looking to buy.

''My name is Ashwin Sethi and I am a seller on Amazon. My Amazon seller profile is known as S Kiran’s. I sell Mekhla Chador on Amazon, which is the traditional dress of Assam. My family has lived in Guwahati for 50 years. We have a textile trading business. We also own a few manufacturing units. Primarily we manufacture Mekhla Chador. The Mekhla Chador is similar to a Lehenga Choli. The designs are different from that of a sari. The dupatta is referred to as the Chador and the lehenga is called a Mekhla here in Assamese. The local Assamese people over here, known as the Ahoms, feel a lot of price wearing the Mekhla Chador.

I started doing business with Amazon, last year. I started by listing around 15-20 products. During Diwali, I watched a few television ads about Amazon. Therefore, I thought if I list good quality products and increase the number of items then I would witness an increase in sales. I have processed more than 1000 products online. Half of my orders are from Assam and the rest half are from all over India. Amazon is actually doing a great job by partnering with us and taking back the Assamese people to their roots.

I also get many orders from Non- Assamese people from all over the country. These people want to experience a new forms of clothing and experience the ‘flavour of India’. Amazon has helped me shift my complete focus onto my business. Therefore, I can take care of the business I am in and I don’t have to worry about whether the products are getting delivered or how the packaging should look. Amazon takes care of everything for me. From 30 products, I now have 120 products online. Because of such great response, I have decided, in the next two years, I will list around 500 – 1000 products on Amazon. Like, whatever they promise from the beginning to the end, Amazon delivers that in an excellent manner.''