Flipkart To Work with Local Artisans and Weavers of Himachal Pradesh

E-commerce marketplace Flipkart has signed a memorandum of understanding with Himachal Pradesh State Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation Ltd (HPSHHCL) to bring local artisans, weavers, handicraft and handloom makers into the e-commerce fold.

The partnership comes as National Handloom's Day is observed on Saturday to celebrate and honour India's rich community of handloom weavers.

Under the Flipkart Samarth programme, the partnership will enable Himachal Pradesh's master craftsmen, weavers, and artisans to showcase their hallmark products and provide them with market access training and support.

Himachal Pradesh is known for its traditional crafts work such as Kullu/Kinnauri shawl weaving, carpet weaving, Chamba and suni embroidery, thanka paintings, wood carving, metal and stone crafts among many others.

Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Flipkart Group, said Flipkart Samarth seeks to break entry barriers for these under-served communities and will extend incubation support and benefits in the form of seamless onboarding, cataloging, marketing, account management, business insights and warehousing support.

"This will create avenues to increase business and trade inclusion opportunities for these very important segments of society and give a boost to Indian art and heritage," he said in a statement.

Flipkart works with three lakh sellers on its marketplace platform who are able to unlock the true potential of technology to reach their end consumers. The Flipkart platform has mastered innovations like voice and vernacular meticulously to solve both the sellers' and consumers' needs.

Consumers on Flipkart can shop in 11 Indian languages and the marketplace sellers can cater to their unique and localised needs as they aim to bring the next 200 million consumers to the digital commerce fold.