Snapdeal & India Post partner to help Banarasi weavers

December 26, 2014 (India)

Online retailer, Snapdeal has launched a pilot project with India Post to set-up facilitation desks at Varanasi post offices to enable local weavers to sell on the Snapdeal platform. According to Snapdeal, this arrangement will provide access to millions of Indians who aspire to own traditional Banarasi weaves. The online retailer adds that this is initiative from Snapdeal and India Post is to empower local artisans and small and medium entrepreneurs by providing a platform to popularize their indigenous products. Through this association, weavers will be able to access the national audience by listing their products on Snapdeal, at a negligible cost. The post offices will act as a dropping point for sellers, and India Post will be delivering it to the buyers. Alongside, Snapdeal will also create an ‘India Post’ store to feature the associated sellers exclusively. Snapdeal will share its expertise in fashion and market insights with these weavers to help them create designs and products which will appeal to a variety of customers across the country. Speaking about the tie-up, Kunal Bahl, CEO at Snapdeal said, “Through this partnership we will take the Banarasi weaves to customers across India and extend the platform to more weavers and artisans in India.” “India Post is the perfect partner for us as they not only have the reach but are also as committed as we are to preserve and grow our traditional crafts and weaver ecosystem,” he added. India Post is world’s most widely distributed postal system with 154,866 post offices all over the country and 466,903 employees. In the past, India Post has associated with Snapdeal, to reach out to philatelists to offer stamps priced between Rs. 300-5,500. (AR)

Source : http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=169717