Online sellers in India can now expect a new customer base outside the country in UAE and Middle East as Amazon opens up its exports business. This is a new arrangement being made by Amazon to permit Indian sellers on its platform to sell directly to customers in the UAE, reports Economic Times.

B2B transactions will also be permitted, giving a new dimension and a whole new ready market to the Indian sellers. At a broader level, India’s exports could receive a boost however small the volume in the overall context may be. Amazon acquired UAE marketplace Souq, which it has now renamed Amazon.ae.

There are sellers already operating on the Amazon UAE site who would be pushing Indian products; now the Indian sellers will directly sell on the platform while servicing the B2B segment as well.

It is reported that the product segments which are expected to do well are jewellery, apparel, beauty and groceries. This is largely due to the diaspora. To put this in perspective, more than a fourth of the population in the UAE is Indian and in terms of absolute figures, it is 2 million.

India already exports a lot to the UAE and now this Amazon online channel will open up another window. Selling directly to the customers has its advantages too.

Amazon has created fulfilment centres in the UAE to take care of the delivery of orders. From the Indian government side, the formalities and documentation are being eased and technology pressed into service to make the process easier.

Sellers on Amazon from India have already been allowed access to markets like the US, Europe and Australia and now the UAE gets added to these.

The upside is that many of the small and medium sized companies will be benefitted from this move.