Amazon Karigar for ‘Made in India’ handicrafts a bust for artisans
The e-commerce platform failed to recognise the unique business needs, select appeal and delicate nature of handmade products say craftspeople.
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This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.
When Shakil Khatri first heard about Amazon Karigar in 2018, he thought it might be what he had been looking for. Khatri, a sixth-generation artisan, is one of the few remaining batik craftspeople in western India’s handicraft-rich Kutch district. In recent years, fewer people have visited his workshop to buy his hand-dyed sarees and dupattas, prompting him to expand the business to e-commerce sites like Itokri and GoCoop. Amazon Karigar, he thought, could help him reach a larger base of new, non-local customers.
The programme solicited Indian artisans to sell their wares through Amazon’s e-commerce platform by offering nine weeks of training, professional product photos, and marketing. It had launched a year earlier with 55,000 products on the site, including hand-loomed sarees, blue pottery from Jaipur, and other “Made in India” handicrafts.
Khatri registered for the program and gave samples of his products to an Amazon representative, who had them photographed and listed on the platform. Two months later, not a single item had sold. Khatri decided to pull his products off the site.
Amazon promotes its Karigar program with a biannual special sale event and partnerships with crafts cooperatives and nonprofits from several Indian states. “These efforts not...
