The Challenge
Meera Crafts is a women-led cooperative of 34 artisans making hand-block printed textiles, blue pottery, and lac jewellery in Jaipur. They had beautiful products with genuine craft heritage but were entirely dependent on local retailers and one export agent who placed sporadic orders. Revenue was highly seasonal and unpredictable. Their biggest problem: European buyers wanted made-to-order (MTO) production — custom sizes, colours, and quantities — but Meera had no system to manage custom orders at scale.
The Sell Around Solution
Sell Around's MTO (Make-to-Order) module allowed Meera to list products with customisable specifications — colour, size, material, quantity, lead time. The WhatsApp chatbot was configured to collect MTO requirements from buyers in a structured format, automatically generate a quote PDF, and send it for approval. Sell Around's EU Buyer Discovery network connected Meera with 8 EU importers specialising in artisan products. Five placed orders within 60 days. A new broadcast campaign to European interior design buyers generated 140 new leads in the first month.
Why EU Buyers Love Indian Handicrafts — And How to Reach Them
European demand for handmade, sustainable, artisan products has grown 38% since 2022. Indian handicrafts — with their craft heritage and fair-trade story — are perfectly positioned. But traditionally, this market was only accessible to large exporters with overseas offices.
Sell Around's EU Buyer Discovery changes this. The platform's algorithm matches products to buyer intent — a Paris interior design firm searching for "hand-block print textiles India" gets connected to Meera Crafts' listing automatically.
The MTO System That Changed Everything
The game-changer for Meera was moving from stock-based selling to made-to-order. Sell Around's bot collects: product type, colour palette, dimensions, quantity, lead time required, and budget range. This data auto-generates a formal quotation PDF that the system sends to the buyer for digital signature. Once approved, the order goes into Meera's production queue with a countdown timer visible to the buyer — building trust and reducing follow-up messages.
"We used to sell our blue pottery for ₹450 to local shops. The same piece now fetches ₹2,800 from a Paris interior design buyer on Sell Around. The platform opened a market we didn't know existed."