A new e-marketplace is being developed to enable women artisans in India to sell their products directly to customers.
The ‘tech for good’ initiative, supported by the Industree Foundation and international IT company Sonata Software, ultimately wants to take one million Indian craftspeople out of poverty within the next decade.
“E-commerce in India is leapfrogging to mobile first and mobile-only platforms and digital technology will remove layers of middlemen to bring artisans closer to their end customers and help increase their incomes,“ said Tridip Saha, vice president and head of Europe for Sonata Software.
A beta version of the e-commerce platform has been released and offers a range of customer facing functionalities including inventory management, invoicing and order fulfilment. By the end of the decade it will be further developed to allow enterprises to track orders and show customers where there money is going.
“In the near future, customers and buyers will be able to collaborate on a much more personal level. The transparent system enables the end customer to see the significant efforts put in by the artisans, from procurement to designing, which in turn can assure the artisans of getting the best possible prices for their products.” added Tridip.
