Online Market Places

We are a small handicrafts manufacturing company and we primarily sell online. A good part of our sales come through our own website - www.kraftinn.com but we soon realised that as a brand, looking at your website alone is sometime not the best strategy. This is basically because of the following :

1) Costs : Setting up an online store is not very difficult nowadays. However getting good traffic is indeed a continuous and difficult task. This is where marketing comes in and whichever channel you choose be it Google ads or Facebook, cost of marketing is significant. Apart from that there are other transaction costs like Payment Gateway costs that are significantly high at small scale.

2) Brand : Each brand is unique and people connect to it in different ways and even though customers may love your brand, many are more accustomed to online purchases through the very large established online players like Amazon - this is due to a lot of different reasons from trust to customer service to purchase guarantees to robust feedback mechanisms.

Because of the above, we made a conscious decision to make our products available in well known marketplaces like Amazon.in and Ebay.in.

Some of the great advantages of the market place model are :

- If you got a great product, you just need to list it. There is no additional expenditure for marketing and commissions are paid only when a product is sold. This frees up marketing expenses that can be put back in the business for expansion.

- Good marketplaces reward you for good performance. This means if you ship on time and customers are happy with the product, you get good reviews, your products get better rank and this converts into better sales.

- Marketplaces have great followup mechanisms and analytics tools that can give you excellent insight into what your customers are looking for.

- The commissions that are charged are usually in line with the industry one operates in.

The only model that works for us in the marketplace model right now are ones that just connect the buyer with us for a reasonable commission - the ones that take care of the logistics or ask us to ship to them or ask for very high commissions don't work because the Indian Ecommerce market is a value market - where the customer has to be happy, the vendors have to be sustainable and inefficiencies have to be minimised. Thats all for today. Thanks for reading. 

A Message to our Customers

At KraftInn, our endeavour is to create great new products using ecofriendly material like Bamboo and Water Hyacinth. Each product we make is made by our employees at our factory and this is why we are able to provide factory prices directly to our customers leveraging the power of ecommerce. This means we are able to eliminate distribution costs, warehousing costs and real estate costs and are able to pass these benefits to the customers. Every sale that is made in KraftInn is able to provide for sustainable income for KraftInn artisans and makes a bottom of the pyramid social impact. We currently employ 7 full time artisans and hope to be 20 by the end of the year. Thank you for your support. We appreciate it.

Best regards,
Parikshit
Promoter, KraftInn

Ecommerce Packages

Packaging is an important part of our job. 
Anjan, our Packaging expert is among other things, 25 years old, father of three, has the toothiest smile in the world, a painter, collects water hyacinth leaves during the weekend, lives by the highway, chews betel nut all the time and has been integral to the KraftInn journey

Top Advice for First Time Business Owners

When I started a few years ago, things looked quite disappointing. I was 30 years old, I had no savings and the company I worked for was about to close down. No one in my family had ever done any business and I had no idea how to go about it. One thing I did was I solicited a lot of advice from anyone who was willing to give it - friends, family, small business men, naysayers etc. A lot of the advice, I didn't end up taking but some of it was golden. Here are a few that were pretty simple in hindsight but helped me a lot.

1) Give it 5 years : I met a 50 year old man who had been in business for two decades. I have almost no idea about the kind of business he did, but he told me - 'It will take at least five years before you will know whether your business is successful or whether you should try something else'. In the beginning, I was a bit sceptical because five years seems a long time but I guess though there are outliers, most businesses are not instant successes and the first couple of years are tough.

2) Create a Brand - The first year, I concentrated on creating a lot of products but at the same time, we took a lot of orders where we basically served a lot of architects and designers. It was pretty good but we hardly had any visibility into orders and had no pricing power at all. One of my good friends suggested that it was important to create a brand and make it stand for something that people could identify with. That's when I seriously started building our brand which has been a great thing.

3) Experiment - A friend of ours told us to do something outrageous - it didnt have to make a lot of sense but it will help push you to do things that you wont otherwise try. That's when we created the Wisdom tree using bamboo strips - it took us more than a month to create and it was exquisite and beautiful. It never sold because the price became prohibitive and was too big to ship but it re-inforced in us what we could do - everything after that became easy

4) If it breaks, fix it again and again - We sent a item to a customer and it got slightly damaged. We replaced it but the second time around, it got bent a little. The customer, being a perfectionist, advised us to send it again - we could have refunded the money and practically it was a small item with no real profits. However, the customer was adamant and didn't want a refund. In the end, we sent the same item for the third time and finally got it right. It was not a very pleasant thing to do, but in the end, it helped us be extremely quality conscious and made our packaging foolproof.

Best Practices for Selling on Ebay

When we first started selling online, we didnt start with a online website of our own. This was because it takes a lot if effort to actually build a website from scratch - the hosting, the technology, the SEO, the advertisements, the works. Also, we had very little idea about the challenges of selling online - the supply chain, the logistics, the inventory management, the customer service aspect of it. Ebay as a platform made perfect sense for us to launch our products online - apart from the fact that it was the biggest marketplace in India, the tight feedback system and inherent rewarding of good performance was a big draw. We have had a fairly reasonable experience with Ebay and we learnt quite a few small but important things along the way. Here are some of the important ones in case you are looking to sell on Ebay (especially India)

1) Feedback is Key : Good feedback is extremely important. Take that extra leap to get good feedback. Sometimes you may be at fault and sometimes you may run into an unreasonable customer - whatever the reason, try to get good feedback even if it means you lose money on one or two transactions

2) Ship fast : Ship as early as possible which is usually 1-2 days - the quicker you send it, the better it is. If you cant ship early due to inventory issues, think of de-listing such items

3) Good Photos : This is obvious - put up good, reliable photos. Dont zoom too much or make things seem larger than it is - the customer may buy the item but give you a bad feedback which is worse than not buying at all.

4) Good Description : One liners or very small descriptions are not very helpful. Customers want as much information as possible - about the item, size, material etc, especially since they cant really touch the product.

5) Over Communicate - Ebay sends notifications when an order is placed or shipped. However, if you send an email or call a customer, it is at worst an irritant and at best a customer who is assured and may come back for repeat customers.

6) Dont try to deal outside Ebay - There is an implicit trust that is set in the platform while setting up buyers with sellers. If you or the buyer breaks the trust and does the transaction outside, there is a good chance that one of you may not be happy and there would not be a neutral authority to sort it out.

7) If you make a mistake, admit it and correct it - e.g if the item is broken, talk to the customer and resend or refund the money.

8) Free Shipping - People hate to pay for shipping. Its a psychological thing - somebody needs to pay for the shipping and it has to be part of the cost but dont make it explicit and differentiate customers based on location.

Thats all for today. Do visit our Ebay store : http://stores.ebay.in/kraftinn

Overcoming the Greatest Challenge - Logistics

Kraftinn Lamp at Client Location

(... continued from Kraftinn Journey- Learning the Process)
We see bamboo home furnishings and lamps as a winning opportunity as there were no other players in this area but we realised after making many mistakes that the best delivery and the best customer support systems will only win the game. When we were ready with the product, we realised that there is a very limited option for delivery. Quality service sometimes has a surprisingly high cost and because of geographical disadvantages of operating from Assam, it was very difficult for us to find reliable resources.The logistical challenges of delivery are far more challenging and costly than we anticipated. The challenges of delivery cannot be compared to delivering books, clothes or electronic items.

There were many secondary materials like good quality electrical wires, holders and packing materials etc. were not easily available. We got the wired sourced from Bangalore. Then the challenge for us was to identify packaging materials that are fit for our products at a minimum cost and with minimum environmental impact. At the beginning we tried a mixtures of materials like bubble wrap, corrugated box and heshion cloths for outer layer packing at a surprising high cost.There were times when we spent the whole night engrossed in packing the lamps to ensure that the product reaches safely to the customer. We have verified several number of times that the product is satisfactorily packed and appropriate to get the delivery to the customer’s place safely. When you are in a startup, you have to do all the things on your own to ensure that everything is perfect especially when it is the first order.

Packages meeting the weight and dimension requirements of courier companies are not the easiest. Our products were very light in weight but very voluminous in dimensions and the shipment cost of a particular consignment was much higher than the actual cost of the product. Customer experiences cannot be compromised regardless of issues you cannot control. Then we decided with a approval from the client, to dispatch the shipment via speed post services of Indian postal services which charges the consignment on the basis of weight. So we managed to ship the items.

After the first layer of packaging

Unfortunately for us, out of the 8 packages we shipped, 4 packages were completely damaged during transit. For us, our reputation and customer service is of paramount of importance, so without taking much time, we immediately replaced the damaged lamp and I personally went to Delhi and hand-delivered the lamps at the clients place. The client really appreciated the service and very satisfied with the product. So, our first order, was a complete loss but we have learned a lot by making mistakes. We realised that, despite how good your products are but if you are not able to deliver it safely it has no value.

After the second layer of packaging

Given the fact, and taking so many measurable steps, most of the lamps arrive broken at the client’s place. Unfortunately this is an all too common problem, one that results from rough handling during shipment. We knew that we cannot control the handling of the Indian Postal Service, Blue Dart or any courier services, so we need to make sure that the lamps are fully damaged proof prior to shipment. I would also like to share as per my experience, the differences between the various courier companies and Indian postal services aren’t any, because none of them handle packages gently than the others. Indian Postal services are good, but if the item is bigger, they don’t deliver at home, you have to collect it from the nearest post office which many customers don’t prefer. So, we need to reach a balance by de-risking the delivery into multiple courier companies.

The product after final layer of packaging

We cannot afford to ignore the packaging and transportation and the ever-rising cost of shipping makes it desirable to keep the packing as small and light as possible. We need to facilitate safe transport with minimal expense. It is the time; we need to assess the packaging as a part of the product. We need to monitor each element of the packaging process. So, we make some changes in the products and avoided products which are easily breakable and very voluminous.

The Product remains safe even if a man stands over it

The selection and use of packing materials is very important. This is another area where economics play a part. Corrugated box. thermocol, bubble wrap or foam and the cost of packing has significantly impacted our expenses. This is where recycling comes in. We visited few of the warehouses or small retailers who like many tend to have many packages coming in and we started collecting what can be reused. I've found that the thermocol which used to protect electronic products such as computers, TV and such can be easily cut to fit. We used newspaper as filler so that the lamp is centrally positioned inside the package and the shape of the lamp is not distorted. We used foam to wrap the lamp so that the slit of the bamboo doesn’t come out while unpacking it. After that, we cut the thermocol according to the size of the lamps. Then the package is stitched with SDP or heshion cloth as the outer layer so that the product inside is intact. Given, the effort and values of Kraftinn products, we cannot afford to run risk of having the lamps broken again. So, we have started a practice where all the ready packets has to survive the drop head test, wherein we drop the products several times from top and check whether the package can withstand several such drops and what happened if something weighing 50 Kgs dropped on it.

Finally, with some little effort and learning from mistakes, we have overcome the challenges of packing and our approach varies from one product to next. Now, we can practically guaranty that our products are shipped damage free and it is well reflected in the feedback and reviews of our product.

You can check our ebay Feedback

- +Parikshit Borkotoky 
Founder, Kraftinn 

(to be continued..)

Kraftinn Journey - Learning the Process

(... continued from KraftInn - The Journey so far )

Many people discuss about the quality workmanship of bamboo handcrafted items, but the challenges of retaining its originality require different techniques and treatment processes. At the beginning, we thought of supplying the lamps sourced from a group of artisans and the workmanship of these artisans is very excellent, but if the item is not treated, it outweighs the quality. And, moreover, sourcing introduces a lot of delays, and quality and delivery of suppliers is an issue and overall transaction is not financially prudent. We learned early that we would need to have a setup wherein we can have full control of the quality standards and supply chain. 

Immediately, we made a small bamboo shed wherein we could accommodate people to work for us. It was very difficult to find skilled artisans and we had to provide good incentives while persuading them to move to Kraftinn location at Jorhat. We visited more that 15 villages across Assam to search for the right people and finally hired two artisans. 

Bamboo is a rapidly growing fibrous plant and is abundant in mostly tropical forests. It mainly consists of roots, culms and leaves. They are usually hollow and vary in sizes, diameter, colours and textures. The cellulose fibres run along the length of the culm and carry nutrients between roots and leaves. Because of its cellulose fibrous nature, it is one of those materials that have very high tensile strength. But, bamboo, because of its high starch content, has very low resistance to biological degrading agents. 

Bamboo Treatment - The firewood used is waste bamboo for its low pollutant residue

We needed to ensure that the bamboo we use need to be treated to enhance the durability of the bamboo. We use the immersion technique where we immerse bamboo culm in 6% solution of boric acid and borax as suggested by Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre(CBTC), Guwahati, Assam. But, in this process, selection of bamboo also plays an important role. We start by individually hand picking mature bamboo which has to be between 3-5 years old, otherwise the bamboo would shrink and crack when dried. Also, for harvesting Oct-Nov is the ideal time when the starch content in bamboo is at the lowest level. Once the bamboo is treated, it needs to be left to bask in the sun for 4-5 days depending on the sunlight. Then the bamboo needs to be dried in a dark shade to weather.

Bamboo Kept for Drying

Finally, we are ready with treated high quality bamboo for our use. Luckily, our first client was very co-operative and he showed full trust in me and I was able to convince him to extend the delivery deadline.

We didn’t want to take any risk in executing our first order and we started our production and are ready with the desired lamps. As a normal human nature, we prided ourselves on the final outcome of the products regardless of how will we manage to deliver the products safely to the clients place. When, we received the order, we were not very sure about the logistical challenges and quoted the price accordingly. But, the logistical challenges of delivery are far more challenging and costly than we anticipated.

 - Parikshit Borkotoky
Founder, Kraftinn

(continued at Overcoming the Greatest Challenge: Logistics)

KraftInn - The Journey so far

After coming fresh out of my college in 2004, I got a job with an MNC bank in the sales division. But, you may say, because of peer pressure or whatever, I started to believe that to make a solid career in the corporate sector, you need to hop around jobs. Because of no reason, I started looking for better jobs as I was not very clear of what I really wanted. By this time, I ended up in a start-up software company and heading the BFSI domain for the Northern Region.The experience in working in a start-up company was incredible. In a start- up company, you are master of your own destiny. It may be scary sometimes but the sense of responsibilities and ownership drives you to work incredibly hard and allows you to enter into a territory which was unknown to you. There are no cleared defined roles but you will need to get involved in all aspects of the business. This helped me a lot to sharpen my entrepreneurial skills and gave me well rounded view of how a business operates. During October 2009, there was a massive economic slowdown in US, which directly affected the business in India. The company where I was working had to be shut down. I was left with no job and almost no savings of my own.

By virtue of our experience in a start-up, I realized that I too can also build a company. With few of my friends/colleagues, we started a consultancy firm “ROPeS Consulting” named after the initial of the partners name. But, we were not able to match up with the competition and failed in our attempt. Not to mention that recruitment is not among the most lucrative of spaces during a downturn :). The experience made me realize that building a company requires a good understanding of the area in which it operates and also the importance of building core competency.

I packed my bags to Bangalore to start afresh. My brothers are well established in software companies in Bangalore. I discussed with my brothers about the intention of starting a business. There were few ideas spinning around our head at the time but I was not very clear about how to start . Finally, we zeroed up with a thought to start something which can promote the crafts and hand-looms of NE India which has a lot of potential and is being unexplored and untouched. My brothers, sister-in- law ensured their full support and confidence in me. Immediately, we brainstormed about the name for the firm and booked the domain name www.kraftinn.com.

 

Assam is well known for art and craft skills. It is home to 140 different tribes and every tribe practices a different style of craft. The sense of simplicity, style and richness of handicrafts and hand looms in this part of India is truly limitless. So, the name Kraftinn struck, its a slight twist of two words- ‘craft’ that symbolizes our desire to design unique products and harness the skills of artisans who have evolved over generations and ‘inn’ where people passing by, can experience a little bit of the local culture. We envisioned www.kraftinn.com as a place where people can get a little bit of the unique north east culture and take it back to their homes as tangible artifacts like lamps and bags.

 

Once we had decided on what type of business we would like to run it was then just a case of doing some research work. We looked at various websites and drew up a list of products which were selling and were popular at that time. For the first three months, much of my time went on extensive field research, meeting artisans of different crafts work across the region.

At the beginning, we have chosen bamboo because of its characteristics and availability in Assam. Bamboo home décor has a good demand and this market is largely disorganized and it’s largely a very niche and untapped category. Besides this, we wanted to start something which will address sustainable income to the artisans, environmental and social awareness by using Eco-friendly products, reviving the dying art forms of Northeast.

I went to Delhi, with some of the samples collected from a local shop from Guwahati, and showed some of the samples to few known exporters. Luckily, we got a lead from a exporter and they introduced me to a reputed designer who was working on a bamboo project. And to our rescue, we clicked our first order of 100 lamps with some amount of customization. That was great sign to start and we were at the top of the world. We were very happy with the start as we were not aware of the challenges of delivering.


- Parikshit Borkotoky


Founder, Kraftinn

(continued at Kraftinn Journey - Learning the Process)

KraftInn at IIT, Guwahati for Startup Showcase,Techniche'12

In a recently organised event, Startup Showcase as part Techniche, an annual technical fest of IIT, Guwahati, KraftInn was invited as one of the top innovative startups to showcase themselves in front of a distinguished audience which included personalities like Amit Ranjan, COO, Slideshare, Satish Kataria, Consultant (DARE), Cyber Media Publications, Anil Joshi, Pesident, Mumbai Angel Venture Mentors and Navin Honagudi of KAE Capital.   It was great time interacting with these people and the curious students of IIT, Guwahati, who aspire to entrepreneurs. We are sharing some of the pictures of the event. 

Making of a delightful lamp

You have always appreciated our lamps so we decided to show you how we make them. The following is a video of one of them.
 

Coloring Happiness

"It isn't just a color, it's an attitude."

                                        -Anonymous

When it comes to interior decorations, it is very important that the decor represents your personality properly and colors are an effective way to do that. So, we in KraftInn decided to add some colors to our products. The first and foremost challenge that we faced is that bamboo does not have a surface that will make conventional paints to be applied easily. So, we tried applying stains to our products but that also was not easy. Sometimes, the colors faded away, and at times the colors get into your hands. Some stains cannot be applied uniformly while others do not look. Finally, we got the desired results after many tests and failures. We tried to apply the following colors:

1. Olive Green
2. Grass Green
3. Lusty Red
4. Chocolate Brown
5. Sienna Brown
6. Smoke Brown
7. Ash Black
8. Soot Black

We were not successful in applying all the colors at the present but we are sure we will be coming up with those. Presently, we present you with the following colors:

1. Grass Green
2. Lusty Red
3. Smoke Brown
4. Ash Black
5. Soot Black

We now bring you the initial products with colors with a promise to bring more colors and products so that you have a wide variety of choices. These colorful products give your home a vibrant look and a cheerful environment is created.

Presenting Atlas Shrugged

Yesterday, we showed you an image of Atlas Shrugged, the book shelf that we have been working since last month. Today, we are proud to present the final product before you. We hope that you will love our latest offering. More details would be soon available in our website.

Atlas Shrugged: Work in Progress

Last month we spoke about a design that we were working on through a post. Now we would like to say that it is almost ready with only a finishing touches to be done.  The novel's title is a reference to Atlas, a Titan of Greek mythology, who is described as "the giant who holds the world on his shoulders".  We believe a man(or a woman) is able to bear the weight of the whole world if he (or she) is a well read person and hence the book shelf to reflect that philosophy. We are presenting you the first images to you and will soon update you with the final images.

-Team KraftInn

A peek inside the KraftInn workshop - Part - I

Bamboo Selection Process

Bamboo Being treated against termites (Open Boiler Tank Method)

Kept for drying post treatment - 2 days under direct morning sunlight. Later on, they are shifted to shaded area and kept fro 3 months for seasoning

Meshar Ahmed - Chief Craftsman of KraftInn at work,

Aamer Ali - Craftsman, KraftInn at work

Giving Final touches

Jogen Harijan - Craftsman, KraftInn doing the final checks

Candle Shades kept for drying.

Work in Progress: Atlas Shrugged

Being book lovers, we have been always coming up with new ways of storing them. We in KraftInn believe that best decorative piece in any home would be their bookshelves. Our Wisdom Tree in the past has helped us bring many appreciations. Looking at the response, we decided to sit for our next design of bookshelf. Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged happened to be there at that time, and that lead us to our design, "Atlas Shrugged." For book lovers, books define their world completely. 

The following are the initial images that we are working on presently:

The globe would hold from 35-40 books. Let us know your feedback.

- Team KraftInn

Welcome to KraftInn Blog

Welcome to our blog! We are the KraftInn team. We are into manufacture of contemporary handicraft items and we strive for excellence in what we do. 

Through this blog we’ll discuss things about the company and the handicraft industry. The mission for our blog is to share information that will help make everyone feel part of our creations. We hope to get your thoughts on what is important to you, what you like about our blog and products, and where we need to improve. And through our discussions, we hope to deliver with you products that meet your needs.

KraftInn was established in June 18, 2010 in Jorhat, the cultural capital of Asaam, India. It was a humble start, with two craftsmen in work, we started working with various designs and came up with 10-12 designs. In August, we got our first consignment from Design Inline. After that, there has been no looking back. Today we have a wide variety of handicraft products and they are available all over India through various online channels and our Showroom at Jorhat, Assam. Do visit www.kraftinn.com for more details

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