How to Become a Handicraft Exporter Without Investing Big Money!
The Indian handicrafts products are renowned for their uniqueness in beauty and workmanship. The handicrafts products carry traditional creativity and symbolize Indian culture and heritage. It has immense popularity among a specific segment of people both in India and abroad. Indian handicraft industry is part of small scale cottage industry and has evolved significantly over years in terms of increasing the global reach and earning revenue through exports. It is now quite obvious that handicrafts products have a huge demand in overseas countries. This requires taking advantage of the best possible ways to promote export activities.
The handicrafts industry is decentralized and labor-intensive which employs a large section of people from different parts of the country. It is very essential to improve the export volume for the industry to flourish and generate profitability. With better reach to a wider range of customers spreading all over the world, the popularity of Indian handicraft products will increase and help to generate more export orders. There are various opportunities available to manufacturers today to plan and implement strategies towards improving their export business. The Indian handicraft business has seen a drastic change in terms of growth and generating revenue for the country along with providing earnings to many people.
Handicrafts Product Category
The Indian handicraft products are acknowledged worldwide for their creative design, variety, and craftsmanship. There are different types of handicrafts products based on the user requirements and functionality. The two major categories of Indian handicraft items are as follows:
- Consumer products
- Decoration items
Consumer products mainly refer to utensils, cutlery, textiles, body care products, and other consumer goods that are used regularly. The other category is concerned with purely decorative items and showpieces. While the former is manufactured on large scale using a variety of materials, the latter is a type of specialized item prepared by artisans and involves highly technical craftsmanship. As a result, such decorative pieces become more exquisite and expensive, making them an ideal export product. A huge segment of non-resident Indians living in different countries mostly prefer such Indian handicrafts for their home or commercial places. They also encourage others to have possession of such goods as a sign of India’s rich culture and tradition. The Indian handicrafts industry is fairly large, and it deals with different types of products so it is very important to decide which products are best suitable for exports that have been demanded in other countries and can earn handsome revenue.
Support from Government
As a small-scale cottage industry, handicrafts business does not support huge investments or expenses in manufacturing, marketing, and export of their products. To encourage handicraft product export, the government has set up certain schemes and regulations that help small-scale manufacturers. It is now possible to export Indian handicrafts overseas to a global customer base and connect with buyers worldwide. There is no need for large investments of money if you complete certain formalities and have your documents for exports in place. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India provides incentives to the handicraft industry in promoting export. It takes care of the handicraft industry by establishing special export processing zones in different parts of the country to export these handicraft items. There are options available like export carnivals, trade fairs, and other gatherings which allow you to promote your products for exports. There are provisions of loans by different banks to help fund the business and meet any export requirements.
The Digital Advantage
It is also possible now to reach customers around the globe using online platforms like craftezy that help in carrying out export activities conveniently and systematically. Registering on such online platforms is a low-cost opportunity and makes it easy for you to showcase all the uniquely handmade and handicraft items online. The potential buyers also can choose and place orders through the same platform at the ease and comfort of their location. Many fully managed marketplace platforms allow suppliers to showcase their products and help take the products to a global level resulting in more sales through exports. By registering online on such platforms, you can tap the large market of handicrafts products. Many online platforms allow setting up a virtual shop on an e-commerce platform that helps in the complete listing of the products for customer information and provides support so that you can quickly sell your handicrafts products all over the world. You can register yourself to avail of the support of such platforms and move towards becoming an international seller of Indian handicraft goods. To survive and progress in this competitive business environment, one must take advantage of the best cost-effective options available and focus on the online export of Indian handicrafts.
Registering for Online Platforms
There are various online trade platforms where you can register your business for free. It will help in listing all your handmade products in an easy yet attractive way for visibility to international customers. An e-commerce and trade platform like Craftezy helps to start selling handicraft products in overseas countries right away without the involvement of any major expenses. It is a new form of user-friendly digital channel for sales, which gives all the necessary support to showcase your handicraft products, manage listings, control the order process and get payment through simple and convenient methods. Craftezy aims to digitize the entire buying and selling process for traders worldwide and can provide international-level logistics and advanced methods to manage handicraft export for Indian suppliers. You have to register in this online trade platform through certain steps, to receive the benefits of getting support in your product marketing and selling. First, you have to create an account by providing the required details of the business and uploading the documents. Then you need to build a link to your seller profile with the portal which will be verified and activated. After that, your profile will be visible to potential customers worldwide. The site helps to create your product catalog professionally, reviews it regularly, and suggests refinements to attract more buyers.
Initiatives to be Taken
India is a developing country and the largest handicraft exporter amongst all the other developing countries. America and England have the highest demand for Indian Handicrafts. So there is a huge potential for handicrafts to export to other countries. Several export houses in India are engaged in promoting handicraft products outside India. The handicraft industry is considered to be the second-largest employment provider after agriculture because it employs millions of artisans on both a full-time and part-time basis. It becomes extremely important that Indian handicraft manufacturers be able to highlight their products to a wider audience across the globe and export their products as per the requirements of customers in a cost-effective manner to ensure profitability. To be successful in the export business, you have to gather sufficient information about the market. The best way to start is to make proper market research and implement the marketing strategies accordingly. This research on market and customer profile reveals how profitable is the export business for handicraft products and how to cater to the demands and requirements of a large variety of customers across the world. To research the export market, you must take the initiative to become updated and equipped to start the export activities of your products. Attending import-export-related exhibitions, fairs, conferences and taking advantage of social networks provide you with updated information. You can get a fair idea about the functional and quality requirements of products as per international standards, along with a competitive market and pricing scenario.
The Opportunities Available
Promoting the export of handicraft products can bring a good amount of revenue and increase the profitability of this industry. The government of India has taken initiative by setting up certain schemes that provide major support to handicraft manufacturers in export activities without investing in lakhs. An incentive of duty credit facility is given to the handicraft exporters and duty-free import of materials is allowed to manufacturers who are successfully conducting export business. The government has increased incentive rates under the export from India which will help exporters to recover the input costs. These steps have brought great advantages to the handicrafts industry by minimizing the amount of investment required for export business. The businesses need to register with the Export Promotion Council of India to take advantage of government benefits and other incentives. Export Promotion Council of India assists in export promotion without major cost involvement and helps in increasing exports of Indian products. There are opportunities available to manufacturers to take advantage of digital platforms which give access to technological tools and techniques in promoting and exporting their products. With international-level logistics and advanced tools provided by these platforms, starting and managing an export business becomes easy and cost-effective for you. Following the completion of legal and registration formalities, you are open to a lot of opportunities starting from the government-approved marketplace for exports to online portals that take care of your logistics, delivery, and payment processing and help you to successfully conduct your exports without investing a lot of money.
