The moment you receive a parcel packaged in an old newspaper along with a handwritten note thanking you for your purchase, you know for sure it’s from iTokri. The go-to online store for Indian handlooms and handicrafts, iTokri always believes in the personal touch, whether with their customers or with their artisans. And that is one of the reasons for their resounding success.
The other reason is that it stocks everything handmade from every corner of the country. From papier mache up north in Kashmir and Ajrakh of Kutch from the west to Bengal Kantha from the east and Coimbatore’s handspun cotton down south—you name it and iTokri has it. You no longer have to travel to these places to procure the local handicrafts, because the e-commerce store sources all this directly from the artisans and bring it right to your doorstep. All the while sitting in Gwalior, its home base.
The brainchild of Jia and Nitin Pamnani, iTokri came into being about a decade ago. Until 2010, Nitin was a busy, award-winning documentary filmmaker, but decided to quit life in Mumbai’s fast lanes for
a slower pace back home in Gwalior. His wife, Jia, was all for it as well, and together the two embarked on a journey home that actually took them places—virtually, of course.
“I have always been deeply influenced by Ramashankar Yadav, also known as Vidrohi, who was a poet and social activist. His poems inspired me to work in the art and craft sector and support the cause of artisans,” says Nitin, an alumnus of Delhi University, where he studied Hindi literature.
The couple loved handicrafts and handmade products and realised there weren’t any platforms that housed the entire country’s multiple artisanal crafts under one umbrella, so they figured they could have
a first-mover advantage in this sector. Also, this was a time when e-commerce was picking up steam, so they decided to plunge in and give it a go.
Of course, they didn’t plunge headlong but took their time to do extensive research on the art and craft scenario in India. “After detailed study and analysis of the sector, it took us nearly two years to find what we needed and wanted to sell,” recalls Nitin. And thus was born, iTokri, with `30 lakh from their own personal savings.
E-commerce, however, was still at a nascent stage back then, and there were issues with logistics and payments, in addition to a whole lot of other constraints, recalls Nitin. So they began their online store in association with the well-known NGO, Dastkar. Through this organisation, the duo connected with many talented artisans, and today have built a network of over 500 artisan groups and individual creators, making a positive difference in over 10,000 artisan lives.
Nitin explains that the business runs like a social enterprise model with iTokri giving the artists and artisan groups listed with the brand, a platform to sell their handicrafts. The aim is to eliminate the middlemen and relieve the artisans of the burden of being saddled with huge, unsold stock.
Success came slowly, but surely. By 2015, iTokri was literally going places. Not only was it delivered to destinations across the country, but with the number of freight companies on the rise and logistics infrastructure expanding, iTokri products were flying in hordes to West Asia, the US and Europe. So much so that today, about 20 per cent of sales come from overseas. Also, the Rs 30 lakh investment has now crossed Rs 30 crore in revenue, with an aim to achieve Rs 100 crore in the next three years.
With close to 130-140 employees, mostly women and only 10 men, the brand has an inventory or ware-house-based business model, wherein all products come directly from artisans and are thoroughly checked for quality. A team oversees the products and processes from sourcing to delivery.
“We identify art forms and work with artisans to produce them. We do not follow an approach where we tell them what to do, rather we buy what they make. We, however, give them continuous inputs in terms of quality and online demand trends,” he adds.
Guess that’s exactly what our humble rural artisans are looking for—someone to hold their hand and tell them where to go. They already have the craft knowledge, they just need to be guided in the right direction. Something that Team iTokri is doing with empathy and élan.