Retailers, online firms enriching handicraft

If gifting that ethnic-looking handicraft like, say, a colourful terracotta Ganesha, is still on your to-do list for want of fairs or exhibitions in your neighourhood, or because your next holiday to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Rajasthan is six months away, there are simple ways to  lighten that list right now.

All you need is internet access, a valid card and imagination. And some self-control lest you should max your card out, buying all the wonderful, irresistible creations of Indian artisans.

Be it deities, river-grass mats, ceramic lampshades or banana fibre handbags, they can all be yours at the soft-click of the mouse. Indian handicraft, for long confined to specialist towns and pilgrim centres, are fast acquiring dimensions of an industry, thanks to niche online ventures and retail tie-ups. These new businesses seek to make the most of rising disposable incomes and attendant obsession with lifestyle-enhancement.

For instance, Kribha and OSM retail handicraft online. Kribha has a network of over 100 registered artisans while OSM sources chanderi saris and dhokra artifacts (an ancient Indian non-ferrous metal casting using the lost-wax casting technique) from around 450 craftsmen and weavers. “Over 50,000 transactions a month are made now. This number has been growing at 20% on a monthly basis,” says Monica Gupta of Kribha. The firm charges 15% of MRP (maximum retail price) as commission from artisans for each online sale.

Chances are, traditional retailers next door also may be selling bright, vibrant handicraft fashioned out of coir, river grass, bamboo, palm leaves, wood, marble or vegetable dye.

For the middle class Indian consumer, the new-found ability to gift (and adorn the living room display cabinets with) handicraft is a dream come true. Handicraft are no longer just decorative items displayed at exhibitions and tourist stalls nor luxuries that only wealthy people can afford, says Neelam Chhiber, managing director of Industree Crafts, a handicraft retailer.

The perception that handicraft are mere ‘showpieces’ is changing. They are now seen as products with distinct uses, says Mukul Goyal, principal designer of Designwise India which retails dhokra products.

Well, figurines and puppets are ubiquitous, but handicraft now include jute mats, clocks made of bamboo and khus, jewellery made of terracotta, window blinds, penholders and tea coasters made of hibiscus fibre and screw pine. That is not all. Textiles like shawls, stoles, duppattas, saris and kurtis are printed with ethnic designs like batik, bandhani, kanthawork, block print, kalamkari art, making them objets de desir.

This handicraft-are-useful-products perception is making them “more marketable”, says Goyal.

For instance, these days, traditional Kondapalli dolls from Andhra Pradesh are retailed not as stand-alone showpieces but bundled with a mirror or pen-stand. This approach, says Chhiber, “stokes consumer interest”.

Once interest is stoked, demand ensues. To meet rising demand, some handicraft ventures buy directly from artisans and retail at outlets. Others provide materials for craftsmen to create their beauties. Industree Crafts sources products from 10,000 artisans across India, and sells them at its eight Mother Earth outlets in Bangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Kolkata and New Delhi. Some of Mother Earth stores are located at malls.

Both rich retailers and not-so-rich artisans are keen to take Indian handicraft to the next level in high-volume sales. Some artisans such as B Rajashekaramurthy and Gangadhar Murthy from Karnataka have pooled their resources to start  cooperative outlets. The Murthys run the 500-square-feet Grameen Angadi in Bangalore in which 300 artisans hold stakes. With monthly sales Rs1.2 lakh, the venture is a success. “Each customer who visits our store brings two to three other customers at a later date,” says Rajashekaramurthy who makes Channapatna toys.

Word-of-mouth is the chief promotion tool in this game, and the players are seeing heightened activity.  “Although it is mainly professionals and those in the corporate sector who buy handicraft, other sections of the population like students buy handcrafted jewellery,” says Rajashekaramurthy.

Across-the-board enthusiasm for handicraft is encouraging Industree Crafts to aim for a turnover of Rs16 crore by March-end 2012 and a Rs100-crore, 12-outlet chain by 2015. “This will help us to reach 30,000 artisans,” says Chibber.

Gupta says Kribha expects to do at least 50,000 online transactions per day by December 2012 and reach out to some 30,000 artisans by then. “By the end of 2013, we will look at opening retail outlets through franchisees and also on our own.”

The growth potential in this sector has attracted funding from Future Venture, Grassroots Business Fund, Nexus Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Investment is the key to future growth as artisans cannot sustain by themselves, says Rajashekaramurthy. Participation at exhibitions requires rents around Rs20,000 “which is beyond the capacity of most artisans”.

As senior investment manager of Aavishkaar, Sushma Kaushik has overseen the firm’s investments in some handicraft firms. Several handicraft ventures are now properly structured, in terms of management, production and delivery processes, she says. Hence, they make good quality products.

“Ventures which have a strong retailing and delivery mechanism can attract investors,” says Kaushik. Aavishkaar, she adds, is open to investing in other handicraft ventures with “strong value proposition”.