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CraftsNation needs help to sell…..SOS

By Sankha Ray on 26 Comments / 3485 views

Dear Rodinhooders,

Thank you so much for allowing me to showcase my handicrafts e-commerce initiative CraftsNation. Now I am here again to ask for your valuable suggestions rather answers to my questions regarding the wellbeing of www.craftsnation.in.

It is rightfully said that Start up=Sales=Profit, everything else is secondary ( learned it from a fellow rodinhooder :-))

So here are the things that I want you guys to suggest me on

1.I am the one man army behind www.craftsnation.in, and started its operation entirely self-funded in January 2014. As it’s completely self-funded I started CraftsNations activity as a drop shipper to minimize my initial investments and to provide authentic Indian handicrafts at the lowest possible rates across the internet. Started a Facebook page, a Twitter handle and a thread in Pinterest updating about new product arrivals, promos and discounts, offers on special occasions etc. but as I expected there was no sale in January.

2. February was the month I decided to double the number of displayed products from just about 70 to 150.Got my 30th “Facebook like” on CraftsNations Page, but no sales.

3. In March I decided to create awareness about the brand “CraftsNation” as electronic media Ads were beyond my reach and print ads in Newspapers won’t be of much help, I decided to reach out to the real customers and participated in a number of handicrafts exhibitions and trade fairs, unexpectedly the response I got was really encouraging. Made my first ever sale of handicrafts under the CraftsNation banner. I utilize those exhibitions to exchange cards and started writing down contact details and emails of each and every visitor to my stall.

4. April started with a positive note. I got my first ever online order of Terracotta and Dokra Jewelry worth Rs.10K from a single customer, and stared sending across emails and sms to the visitors from the exhibitions.

5. Got my first ever sale from one of my Facebook fans of Kantha Stitch Saree in May ’14.But total   sales was as negligible as Rs.7000 with 5 nos.

6. June 2014,the total number of products at CraftsNation now is 200, and was really struggling to   develop quality content for my store as I have to do everything from contacting the artisans, visiting them , making them understand the work model, taking the photographs, editing them, uploading, doing the SEO, writing the contents all by myself. But unfortunately due to lack of fund could not hire someone to develop content /blog for my site or to look after the SEO , and stared looking for other avenues to generate sales like contacting the wholesale buyers /exporters of handicrafts and approached The EPCH(Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts) to support CraftsNation. But exporting handicrafts seems to be again something an activity which requires fund! Number of items sold in June via www.craftsnation.in just Rs.5000, with 2 nos. Continuing with sending emails and sms to the prospects and social media uploads.

7. July ’14, increased the total number of artisan from 2 in January to 12 with a total number of products at 249. Regularly posting product updates, promos, in Facebook, with a total fan follower of 72.Not at all happy with the numbers, unfortunately zero sales.

Now I request all my fellow Rodinhooders to come forward and extend me with your inputs / suggestions and or any kind of help to sell  these amazing and age old tradition of Indian handicrafts both online and offline and help www.craftsnation.in survive.  

 

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26 Comments

  1. Here are the first 2 actionable steps I’d recommend:  

    1. Leverage marketplaces with already established  distribution ( amazon, ebay, flipkart, etc).  This should get you some sales traction quickly.

    Check out this excellent post by a fellow rodinhooder Tanz on marketplaces matrix https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/flipkart-snapdeal-amazon-or-e… . Also check out https://services.amazon.in/services/product-ads/faq.html

    2. Definitely enable remarketing ASAP to build out your audience list and run a display campaign targeting them via CPC instead of CPM. Should keep your cost low while driving bottom of the funnel traffic with high propensity to convert.

    There you go. The first 2 steps I’d take immediately besides working on the B2B simultaneously.

    Wish you all the best.  Cheers!

  2. Dear Yatin,

    Thanks a lot for your feedback, but could you be more specific about what do you exactly mean by display campaign via CPC instead of CPM , and yes I am in constant hunt for bulk buyers or exporters to sell my products, any help regarding that will be much appreciated.

  3. Sankha, normally, Display campaigns are used as awareness  campaigns to create brand awareness / to target top of the funnel audience.

     Normally, these campaigns are created with a CPM ( Cost Per Mille aka Cost per 1000 impressions ) strategy.

    But, because you’re bootstrapping single-handedly, it’s critical for you to get cash-flow positive ASAP without bleeding too much.

    In CPC (Cost Per Click) model, you’ll be paying only when someone clicks on your display ad thereby ensuring that they’re very targeted and further down the funnel.

    Hope this clarifies. All the best!

  4. Thanks a lot for helping me to understand Yatin.

  5. Hi Sankha,

    You have mentioned in your 6th point that you are the only person and you are handling everything for your startup. I would suggest you to hire some freelancers and outsource some things. Outsourcing will allow you to save your time wasted on petty/simple things and concentrate on more productive and important tasks like getting sales and increasing the products on CraftsNation.

    I have a very small team of experienced freelancers and I can help you with the following things:

    Content Writing, Data Entry/Upload, Editing/Uploading of Photographs, Web Research, Collecting details from web etc.

    Regarding the charges, I assure you that it will be the lowest which anyone will offer you for this type of service. We can also complete projects worth a few hundred rupees too. ( I am serious! )

    I would suggest you to try out the services for a very low budget and if you are satisfied we can work together on more projects.

    You can contact me via Rodinhoods or drop me an email at ventures529@gmail.com

  6. Dear Shravan,

    Currently I am really struggling about creating genuine content for my Blog section( I don not want a cut, copy paste kind of an article), I even tried hiring freelance content writers from various websites but their charges are astronomically high, even i m looking for some one who can write quality product descriptions keeping in my the SEO and SEM aspects, but unfortunately I am not being funded with a VC firm or an Angel investor to back up these expenses or to boost my Facebook posts per say.

  7. Hello Sharvan,

    Loved your story. Looks like someone trying hard to get things done 🙂

    I am into Technology business enabling eCommerce. 

    Few suggestions:

    • Enable SEO friendly URLs (for OpenCart follow Link1 and Link2)

    • Make your Product images bigger in catalog page

    • Lot need to work on the design

    • Catalog needed proper management. Tried to checkout “Shantiniketan Kantha Stitch Bag” Its on home page but it says out of stock

    Will be happy to help you with what ever I can. If you need any help feel free to call me @ vineet.agarwala@bluehorse.in

    All the Best!!

  8. Hi Sankha,

    I am glad to know that you are trying hard to make Indian handicrafts popular among people. I have gone through your website, and believe me this area has big scope to grow in future. Although there will be several challenges which you will face during this journey. I myself belong to online handicrafts industry, so on the basis of my experience below are the some points on which you should start working immediately. 

    • Start focusing on building a team. Since you are a 1 man army till now, you must be spending most of your time in doing work which can be outsourced. Also search for a good partner/co-founder who can help you in taking this initiative ahead.

    • Focus – It seems that you are not the manufacturer of products and you are sourcing them from other vendors. So please ensure what you want “Craftsnation” to become – “Marketplace” or “Brand which sells on other marketplaces”

    • Who is your target customer?? Define your target customer and work in that direction. Marketing strategy is completely different for retail customers and bulk buyers. 

    • Manage and plan your funds. You must have realized in last 8 months that selling products online is not an easy task. Even if you manage to get sales of Rs 1L-2L per month after investing in paid marketing, SEO, social media, etc profits will be either very low or you might not be able to recover the money which you have invested. So think from long term perspective (till next 6 months) and manage/plan your funds accordingly. 

    • Operations – Once you will start getting sales, managing operations will be the big challenge in front of you. In handicrafts, lot of damages occurs if they are not packed properly or not handled carefully by your logistic partner. This might lead to bad customer experience.

    If you still have any questions, then send me a personal message and I will be happy to help you in this.

    All the Best..!!

  9. Hey Sankha, 

    being an online marketing guy, I would suggest you to focus on SEO & Social Media(FB especially)

    SEO: Some things you need to improve on this front is URL structure, meta tags and yes having content on your pages will be a big help, initially you can intelligently place dynamic content on all pages.

    Social: Try to put some money to promote your FB page, post good quality images there, run contests & send small gifts to winners to generate engagement. Initially use FB as branding tool.

    you can contact me here or on personal contacts at ashish150755@gmail.com or 9811153638

  10. Awesome reply Rahul! @OP, now you’ve both strategic & tactical road-map. 

  11. Hi Sankha,

    1.I know this has already been suggested. But ,cant emphasize this enough,leverage ALL possible marketplaces…They are a great sales channel.

    2.Also, try approaching “The Bombay store” in Mumbai. They have got 7-8 outlets,If you can successfully enter there as a vendor, im sure ,sales will pick up immensely. 

    Good luck

    Karan

  12. Hi Karan,

    1.Currently I am trying to tie up with various whole sellers/exporters of Indian handicrafts, and have already  chalked out some lucrative strategy .Trying to participate in various exhibitions and trade fairs also.

    2. Have Googled about prominent handicrafts shops in Mumbai and have already contacted The Bombay Store’s Procurement Manager in the month of July, but due to some unknown reasons they never replied back to us irrespective of several attempts. 

  13. Hi Sankha,

    I am currently working on building a mobile, location-based, digital OOH advertising platform and will be launching our operations in Pune post Diwali, 2014.

    As a fellow startup, I would be more than happy to help you reach out to your target audience.

    Lets keep in touch and I will keep you posted!

    Regards,

    Amit Sarda (8130090765)

  14. Hi Amit, Thanks a lot

  15. To add to what Yatin said:  

    1. Focus on building a fan base on Facebook.  

    2. Setup both FB Remarketing and Adwords remarketing and make sure your list bucket is set for 180 days.  

    3. Identify your demographic and …. ummmm… you don’t even have google analytics set up!!!! Oh my god, somebody please shoot me! Do you have any analytics engine running?  I’ve started insisting on google analytics because with the new universal analytics upgrade we also get demographic data packaged in.  This will be extremely useful in razor targeting your audience.

    Also, to echo what the others in this thread are saying – you can’t do it on your own.  There are way too many moving parts in an ecom gig like yours.  Focus on getting a team in place.  

    You should also read – Internet Business Manifesto by Rich Schefren https://www.strategicprofits.com/news/internet-business-manifesto/

    Fairwarning – signing up to his list will send you into an aggressive autoresponder loop with upsells/crosssells etc.  But his content and advice is good.  Plus observe his email sequence and adopt some of those tactics for your business.  

  16. Abey,

    Can you please attach the file (Internet Business Manifesto, if you have it handy) to this thread?

    I don’t want to be attacked by a stream of emails right now!

    Regards,

    Amit

  17. Hi Vineet,

    Recently I am facing a strange problem with my website http://www.craftsnation.in,every time I am checking a different product of a particular product category , a same photograph of a different product is apearing. For example every time I am clicking on the “Dokra Female Figure” which is on the sub category of “Dokra” under  the “Home Decor” section the picture of “dokra Radha Krishna ” is been displayed, where as ideally it should display the image of “Dokra Female Figure”, this is happening on other product categories like “Sarees”, “Wall Hanging” etc. as well. I checked the admin panel as well, but everything on the product side seems okay.

    Any help regarding this problem will be much appreciated.

    Thanks & Regards

    Sankha Ray

  18. sankha,

    pls read this. and get in touch with tanya (zepo) & nameet (sell mojo)

    https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/5-effective-ways-to-drive-more-sales-at-a-flea-market

  19. Thank you very much for the link Asha, even though the suggestions are easy to follow yet they are very effective.I have already followed most of the points discussed in the article in my earlier handicrafts exhibitions, and surely going to follow the rest in my upcoming exhibitions.

  20. Hi Sankha,

    You have already good feedback and certainly i can not add further value in technical aspect. 

    Have a look at CAKEHUNT.COM…. Will be happy to share space with you for selling some of your products on our site. These can surely sold as gifts, i trust. 

    You can write to me at cakehunt.ahm@gmail.com or call on +91 8905 365 24 7….

    regards, Ashish S Parik, the cakeman who delivers feelings. 

  21. Pls share your coordinates, I might know someone…

  22. Hi Amit,

    I am from Kolkata, and you can reach me at sankha.ray@craftsnation.in

  23. Hi,

    I know this is off-topic but I have a nice deal for you – I have some top notch brass door handles which are very beautifully crafted. I’m willing to ship you 5 sets for FREE so that you can add them to your inventory and if they sell out then you can source more from me. The profit margins are awesome and you will make a min 1000 – 1500 rs profit per sale on these door handles. I am sure you will love to carry my brand in your store further once the initial 5 are sold out. 🙂

    Take a sneak peek here: https://i.imgur.com/X1Okykz.jpg

  24. You have sold your products to couple to people since starting up. Have taken any sort of feedback such as written one? I suggest you do the same and use it to market your products to prospective consumers. Nothing is more reassuring to a potential consumer than a good feedback from someone who has already use a product firsthand.

    In the past I have even asked my consumers to provide their email id if anyone wants to ask them any questions about quality of my products. Not all will agree to this idea but it has worked for me. If you make good products and provide great customer service, your consumers normally support you as they too understand the difficulty you are facing and every small act goes a long way in spreading the word about your business.

  25. Hi Sankha,

    I may be able to help you with some writing. You mentioned somebody bought stuff worth 10k in a single order – Did you seek any testimonials from such customers? A few video testimonials would help build credibility among buyers. 

    I see a lot of opportunities in explaining the rich culture and history behind various art forms through a blog and driving traffic via FB posts on that blog. 

    You can reach me at fullpie@gmail.com

    Thanks

    Amit

  26. Firstly I suggest have a range which no one else offers in the market. If you get out of the small value Items and focus on higher value artifacts you could target the Home Architects. Serve the Rich and you will prosper. I had similar ambitions and had same Industry in mind but I found that it was better to choose high value wall murals, paintings etc which would be picked up by Architects. There is a shop called Satgurus at Linking Road Mumbai. Go and see what is exclusive. 

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