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A screenshot of the website
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Guwahati, Sept. 10: Pocket-friendly customised T-shirts or traditional clothes, jewellery and accessories, eshopany.com, an online shop of the Northeast, has them all.
Conceived by Assam Engineering College (AEC) graduates Maharnav Gogoi and Jayanta Madhab Paw, the portal, which aims at promoting the region’s products across the globe and providing a market link to local artisans, was launched today.
“The idea behind the portal is to provide artisans and craftsmen of the Northeast a market link. While we know that our weavers are being supported by various government organisations, we have also understood that there is substantial scope of expanding their marketing territory,” Gogoi, chief executive officer of the project, said.
With the concept of e-commerce evolving, there has been a huge demand for ethnic items of the region in India and abroad today.
“We are eyeing a new market to bridge the gap between demand and supply. Towards this end, we have worked at the ground level, tying up with local vendors and designers,” he said.
Economist Jayanta Madhab, former NEDFi chairman and Asian Development Bank director, inaugurated the website.
“This is a novel venture, as through it, various entrepreneurs of the region will be able to sell their products. Besides, it will provide the region’s diaspora, in the country or abroad, easy access to ethnic items,” Madhab said, citing examples of entrepreneurs who had made it big from small beginnings.
Gogoi and Joyprakash Doley, another AEC graduate, have designed the portal, which has 200 products under 12 categories.
Redlemon Communications, at the Institute of Engineers, Panbazar, has provided technical assistance to the project.
The T-shirts have witty one-liners such as “That is also an important matter”, “Misa kole kidal hobo! (what’s the use of lying?)”, “Bhat (rice) is the secret of my Energy”, “Commerceor adda”.
On the USP of the portal, Gogoi said: “While eBay and Flipkart, among others, are popular for branded items, there is none that deals exclusively with traditional items from the region. So, eshopany.com will be the first of its kind.”
For a start, eshopany will not operate on cash-on-delivery mode.
“As of now, we are not facilitating the cash-on-delivery mode. But shoppers can use their debit or credit cards. Once a customer chooses to buy a product, he/she will be redirected to Directpay, our payment gateway, which is certified by Visa and MasterCard. We have tied up with DTDC to ensure that the ordered product gets delivered on time,” the project CEO said, adding: “In case the buyer wants to return the item purchased, that has to be done within 24 hours of receipt.”
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