ReshaMandi – the largest farm-to-fashion digital ecosystem for natural fibres in India – has introduced a new service called Cataloguing as a Service (CaaS) to assist its weavers. The objective of this initiative is to provide weavers with a fast and efficient way to catalogue their products in a professional manner. The decision to launch this service was prompted by the challenges faced by weavers, such as having to send numerous images and product information to each customer separately, as well as managing orders with varying prices, which often resulted in spending a significant amount of time scrolling through their phones. Also, with so many small clusters of weavers across the country having limited to no access to professional imagery services, the images used and shared do not truly reflect the fineness of their products.
Cataloguing as a Service (CaaS) provides several options for weavers, such as obtaining a polished digital catalogue of the saree draped on models and mannequins, which highlights every aspect of the fabric and design from five different angles. These drapes are systematically produced and only require a flat lay photo of the saree which the weavers can click using their mobile phones and directly upload on the ReshaMandi Super App. Additionally, weavers can specify the features of their sarees using this service. The output that the weavers get is a Web link to their dedicated digital store, rich with professional photos of the saree, its details and means of tracking the engagement on each of their products.
Saurabh Agarwal, Founder & CTO, ReshaMandi, said, “We observed that many weavers in most clusters were sharing unprocessed images of their sarees with customers through the popular messaging platforms because they lacked access or financial resources to utilise professional cataloguing services. Given the painstaking efforts that go into designing and sewing these sarees, we deemed it essential to showcase the yards of fabric in a manner that would accentuate their beauty, elegance, and distinctiveness.”
After its launch, Cataloguing as a Service (CaaS) has experienced a significant surge in usage by weavers, with ReshaMandi cataloguing over 3000 sarees for 200+ weavers. Weavers have also noted a decrease of at least 40% in the time it takes to share and track requested products, as well as an increase in client engagement, particularly from new clients.
Kumar Chatta, a weaver from Vayan Handlooms, Dharmavaram, says “The Digital Store is helping us easily showcase our sarees beautifully to our customers and directly impacting our sales. It is saving us a lot of time and effort.” The ability to learn more about sarees online without physically examining them has had a direct impact on their sales and has led to an expansion of their customer base.
