Rajasthali to go e-retail way to market local handicrafts

E-retail mania is catching on with Rajasthali. Looking at tremendous sales opportunity with the World Wide Web, Rajasthan Small Industries Corporation Limited (RAJSICO), a Rajasthan government undertaking, is tying up with e-commerce portals to promote handicrafts.

Now, going with the e-retail trend, the corporation has opened a Facebook account of Rajasthali and is tying up with major e-commerce portals such as Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon to showcase its handicraft products. “Tie-up with Snapdeal is in final stage,” said an official.

RAJSICO managing director Dinesh MN said, “In order to promote local artisans, and to provide them their fair share, the government purchases handicraft products and sells at Rajasthali. But we have limited space and cannot market every product individually. So, we have thought of tying up with e-commerce portals.”
“We are not just selling the product, but whole cultural package in the form of product, like paintings of Kishangarh, as how they are different and culturally associated. Through social media and e-commerce portals, we could not only showcase our products and provide a better share and recognition to craftsmen, but can also share our culture making it interesting,” he said.
In addition to it, the corporation is also planning to upload videos and pictures on social sites to inform people about the making of handicrafts by craftsmen to make it interesting.
“Through Rajasthali, we are selling over 150 handicraft products including textile, furniture, terracotta, jewellery, paintings, brass, leather and marble products, quilts and blue pottery,” he informed. Rajasthali has an annual turnover of around ` 7 crore with a profit of ` 50 lakh.
“We hope that tying up with e-commerce portals would double our sale and provide a huge platform to showcase our products,” he said.