E-commerce firms, retail groups boost handloom sales

The department, which comes under the Union Ministry of Textiles, has also tied up with 70 retailers to boost revenue

The handlooms commissioner under the Union ministry of textiles says they have brought in nine leading e-commerce entities, including Flipkart, Amazon and eBay, to increase these products’ penetration in the domestic market. With the same end, they also tied up with 70 retail outlets.

Alok Kumar, the development commissioner (handlooms), said: “The domestic market has huge potential but the problem is branding and reach. To address this, the department has tied-up with e-commerce players and private companies to sell handloom mark products. We foresee very high levels of sales with the e-commerce partners in the next five years.”

Traditionally, handloom were focused on sarees and ethnic wear. To attract the younger generation, the ministry is looking at Indo-Western products, casual and office wear.

The ministry says portals are approaching weavers directly, too; one has apparently done with 24 weaver societies. The weaver or manufacturer has to get approval and registration, and are then linked with an e-commerce partner for uploading specified products on the portal.

The e-commerce partners create a separate home page, with web links for the handloom mark & products. Payment to the weavers' accounts are done speedily, of 92 per cent of the sale value, on average.

It seems a weaver society producing Ikat fabrics has got a bulk order from the Future Group. Another, for Pochampalli has got an initial order from the Aditya Birla Group.