India has wonderful treasures that go hundreds of years back, but artisans do not receive their true value, which makes them economically weak. GoCoop, an online platform for handicrafts, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian government to support local craftsmen of particular tribes and regions. GoCoop by making their products available online will be reducing the producer-consumer gap.
GoCoop.com includes a directory service, a trade inquiry listing, and e-commerce services with branded e-stores as well as a generic marketplace. The portal allows the customer to browse to handmade textiles from four states in India, namely Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha.
With the latest MoU being signed with National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC), NBCFDC, NSKFDC under Ministry of Social Justice Empowerment, Government of India, GoCoop will now move into six other states, and will also look to expand its customer base into the Asia-Pacific region with its large Indian diaspora.
GoCoop, established in 2012 to create an online marketplace for handwoven and handcrafted products, has nearly doubled its sales every quarter, and stands at around a quarter million page views a month right now. Their customer base currently includes UK, United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and Singapore, besides India.
Siva Devireddy, the founder and MD of GoCoop.com said that they are aiming to be the Amazon or Flipkart for handloom and handicrafts. There is a large need for marketing intervention for rural producers. An individual weaver in India cannot sustain.
With the Indian handloom market, estimated at Rs 24,000 crore (4 billion USD), is sustained by around 600,000 weaver cooperatives. GoCoop aims to reach out to 100 clusters over the next three years, eventually supporting 1 million artisans on the platform.
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