Artisans and weavers from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha, many of whom have never seen a computer, are now selling their handmade products online to urban Indians and even retail buyers in Italy and U.K., thanks to a Bangalore-based e-commerce portal that’s offering small co-operatives and community enterprises a new marketplace.
Called GoCoop, it was started by Siva Devireddy, and conceived as a “social marketplace”. Today the site offers 20 categories of products ranging from saris, dress material and yardage, stoles, shawls and dupattas, jewellery, home linen, accessories, menswear, and handicraft. “Saris are our biggest category. We have more than 30 varieties of silk saris alone,” says Siva, founder and MD of GoCoop.com. There are other artisans too, from 15 states including Bihar, Chattisgarh, Assam, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Himachal Pradesh will soon be on board too. With over 14 years of experience in the information technology industry, and business consulting experience, Siva, a former director of the Innovation Center with Accenture wanted to set up a full-time social enterprise. “I used to be active in CSR projects and campaigns, but I felt what I was doing wasn’t substantial enough and didn’t feel satisfied with making these contributions only on weekends.” With his background in building B2B market spaces, (he earlier also headed a HP startup in California), he wanted to use technology to drive social change for small and rural producers.
Weavers and primary co-ops at the village level tend to sell their produce to local traders at very low prices who in turn sell at much higher margins to retailers and export houses. GoCoop was formed to address this need of producers to directly market their products, and provide them modern marketing support.
Since most craftspersons and weavers do not have a strong connect with technology, GoCoop supplements their own tech strengths with strong on-field teams that work in geographical clusters — where there is a physical concentration of artists. “Each artisan who comes on board goes though three months of handholding. We have different sessions ranging from what is an online market, the kind of merchandise required, the colours they need to use, to product quality. It is not a magic wand where whatever is put up is sold,” concedes Siva.
“Our focus is also on selling handmade fabric to international buyers. Small producers find it difficult to sell small quantities, because the loom produces a certain minimum amount of fabric. Bulk orders ensure that their looms are constantly working and they are provided a steady livelihood.” As of now, since their full-fledged online presence in the last three months, almost 40 per cent of their sales come from the international market. One Village, a U.K.-based fair-trade retailer recently sourced over 200 carpets, throws and bed linen from them, states Siva. There’s also a pending order to source 15,000 metres of Ikkat fabric for a foreign buyer and an Italian retailer is sourcing bed linen from them for over 1,500 stores.
GoCoop started their pilot project way back in March 2013, with 45 handloom development projects to get an understanding of the sector. They recently signed an MoU with the Ministry of Social Justice to promote backward class artisans. Today they have over 200 cooperative groups on board in the handloom sector, and about 400 self help groups (SHG) in the craft sector alone. “One of the biggest challenges was to provide craftspersons and artisans an alternative marketplace. The price of the product is controlled by the artisan. We don’t decide the pricing,” he reiterates. “We are only a marketing channel and we charge a commission ranging between five and 10 per cent.” They also provide opportunities for craftsmen to network between each other and source materials from each other.
