Wanted: strategy to brand ethnic goods

Guwahati: A techno-commercial feasibility study of e-commerce platforms, conducted by North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi), has stressed the need for an organisation to brand the ethnic products of the Northeast for their online marketing.

“To promote the craft products of the Northeast as a whole, there is a need for an organisation to take the lead role by adopting a comprehensive strategy. The strategy needs to include the knowledge repository of the products, creation of a database of craft producers of the region, taking up marketing by building its own inventory as well as by facilitating a platform for other artisans to market their produce,” a recently released report of the study said.

The report said the organisation needs to take up capacity building steps like skill upgrade, facilitation of raw material banks, design banks and accessories banks among others that could help in branding and certification of the ethnic products in the region. “Once equipped with such a strategy, it will be easy for the organisation to promote craft products on social media too, and thereby promote crafts of the Northeast as a whole,” it said.

It said based on production capacity, pricing and ethnicity, the craft produce of the Northeast could be promoted under four distinct categories: Tribe-NE, Ethnic-NE, Natural-NE and Craft-NE. “Tribe-NE will include only those crafts which are produced by the tribes in their respective geographical locations following their age-old traditional practices. Ethnic-NE will include products with traditional motif, pattern and texture in value added designer products. Chemical free natural fibre products will be included under Natural-NE category while the remaining products can be accommodated under the Craft-NE category. Tribe-NE will be in the premium category in terms of pricing while Craft-NE will include products with comparatively lower-unit prices but with large volume in terms of production capacity. A certification process, similar to Craft Mark certification, may be adopted,” the study said.

The report said e-commerce market in India was worth $27.5 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow at the rate of 31 per cent as the country, at present, has 800 million mobile users and another 430 million with Internet connectivity.