Industry overview
What is shaping textile
Textiles run from handloom weavers and spinning mills to garment exporters and retail brands. Buyers demand quality, compliance and speed; workers and artisans need fair, stable livelihoods.
- International buyers expect compliance and traceability
- Handloom and artisan programmes support livelihoods
- Fabric preferences change with fashion and climate
Client background
A textile artisan collective, working in Rajasthan, with customers in the USA, UK & Australia. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A textile artisan collective
- Sector
- Textile
- Team engaged
- Digital Marketing
- Services
- E-commerce development, E-commerce marketing, Video marketing
Client challenge
The collective sold mainly through exhibitions and middlemen. It wanted to reach customers directly but lacked a store, photography and marketing. Artisans also had little control over pricing, and buyers rarely knew who had made the pieces they bought.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: taking a textile artisan collective online.
- Set measurable targets and a tracking baseline before launch.
- Improve results through structured testing, reported in plain language.
Target audience
Scope: Website, marketplace and social channels.
Audiences we typically reach in textile
Weavers and artisansMill and factory workersGarment exportersInternational and domestic buyersFabric retailers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Rajasthan, with customers in the USA, UK & Australia. Markets: India, United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
- India
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Australia
Research methodology
A test-and-learn programme: a clear baseline, focused campaigns and weekly optimisation against agreed targets.
- 1Brief
- 2Online store
- 3Artisan stories
- 4Social campaigns
- 5Insight
We built an online store with clear product photography, care instructions and stories of the artisans behind each piece, and launched social campaigns with short videos of the crafting process. Artisans were trained to photograph new pieces with their phones and upload them through a simple process, so the store could grow without depending on outside help.
E-commerce developmentE-commerce marketingVideo marketing
Sampling strategy
- Audiences were defined from the client's customer data and platform targeting, with test and control groups where possible.
Data collection
- Campaign, website and CRM data were tracked daily through analytics and ad platforms.
Data quality & validation
- Conversion tracking tested end to end
- Consistent UTM tagging on every link
- Numbers reconciled between ad platforms and analytics
- Two-person check before anything goes live
Data analysis
- Funnel analysis from impression to lead or sale
- A/B test results on creatives, keywords and pages
- Channel and campaign attribution
Key findings
- Direct online sales became a steady channel, and customers responded strongly to artisan stories.
- Artisans received a larger share of the final price.
Telling the makers’ stories differentiated handmade products from mass-produced ones.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: telling the makers’ stories differentiated handmade products from mass-produced ones.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: direct online sales became a steady channel, and customers responded strongly to artisan stories.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The collective also used order data to plan production around popular designs and seasons, reducing unsold stock.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Campaign assets and landing pages
- Monthly performance report
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: which fabrics are customers moving towards?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.