Bluerickshaw- A Platform for Enhanced World Of Crafters And Artisans

India is proud of its rich heritage, handcrafted products, and artistic skills. The country has millions of skilled crafters and artisans who use indigenous ways to sell their creations; however, only a handful get the true worth of their products. Thanks to the growing industrialization and participation in the global economy, Indian rural artists and crafters see the light of technology to reach more and more customers across the globe while earning the true value of their products. 

Bluerickshaw, a B2B export platform, started by Akshay Wadhwa and Krishan Chandak, has provided a rock-solid online medium to connect artisans and customers and build an advanced ecosystem for global artistic trade easily. 

When asked about the thought behind the project, the duo said the fragmentation in the small markets forced small crafters and artisans to be deprived of the true worth of their hard work. On the contrary, developing trust and credibility for buyers is a daunting task for handling the complexities of export compliances while sourcing the most authentic products from Indian sellers. Hence, Bluerickshaw emerged as the most-effective solution for both parties to indulge in buying and selling high-quality products from the country.

On the question of explaining the peculiar concept of the company, they cited various reasons that distinguish Bluerickshaw from others, including the completeness of the platform that lets buyers easily order a sample, make negotiations, provisions for product customization with minimum order quantity, and flexibility to contact the seller for anything else. Bluerickshaw assures only top-quality products through its myriad category listing while offering an encompassing ecosystem for sellers with a secured payment structure after deducting the transaction costs. Transparency and ease of buying and selling are the pillars of the trustworthiness of Bluerickshaw. In addition, buyers can get various payment options to purchase the desired items on the website.

When asked about the initial marketing strategies to convince artisans to join the website to connect with more customers, the founders feel that 361 rural artisans are a part of the Bluerickshaw family, and the number keeps increasing each day. Word-of-mouth or referral is the best existing strategy to gain popularity in such a short period.

On challenges Bluerickshaw in its journey, they say that most buyers used to operate in a purely offline space. Most artisans and crafters fall in two ages of 45-65 years with limited technological savviness. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company faced a supply of deliveries due to global travel restrictions resulting in slower growth and improvement. 

On the question of growth potentials, Bluerickshaw revealed that currently, the company has onboard 143 sellers and a waitlist of 100+ sellers. The company is recovering from the tough phase of the pandemic and started participating in the tradeshows, key events & others. The company works with various trade bodies in India and North America and different high commissions and trade commissions across the United States and Canada to get proper accreditations to build long-term trust and credibility on foreign soil.

Speaking on the vision and plans of Bluerickshaw, the founders entrust upon the pledge to help the country’s small manufacturers, weavers, and artisans in the international market without costing anything on promotion. The company works hard for retailers from North America to adopt an inventory-free model to sell directly to their customers without putting money in minimizing orders. They are looking forward to building a Saas-based virtual show with end-to-end buying for retailers to get life-changing opportunities for hundreds of small sellers to present their products in the global arena. They also want to establish a B2C channel that facilitates retailers in North America to establish an inventory-less model to push better sales opportunities for enhanced