Yes!poho is a one-of-a-kind TechnoExperience social platform that seeks to improve the socio-economic situation of weavers by connecting artisans and weavers directly with their clients. It also provides purchasers with simple access to a wide choice of ethnic wear, as they have a large assortment of Designer Sarees, Party Wear, Uppada Sarees, Darmavaram Sarees, Pochampalli Ikkat Sarees, Designer Paithani Sarees, and many more.
Its USP is its inventory-free business strategy, which is founded on unique technological solutions like TryMe, which allows customers to try and share things virtually. CreateMyDesign- a service that allows users to design their own products based on their preferences and tastes; Chat with Weaver enables direct communication between like-minded individuals and the artisan community. All of these characteristics distinguish the brand from its competitors. Founder, CEO and spokesperson of Yes!poho, Raghuram Kuchibhatla shares his insights and objectives behind introducing the platform -
1. When was Yes!poho launched and the idea behind the same.
Yes!poho was launched in Oct 2017. After completing my bachelor’s in Engineering from Dindigul, I went to the US for my Masters in EE. During my working tenure, I had initiated several startups and one such is a commodity/Contract trading platform. This is around 2011, While presenting this product to several small to midsize companies, farmers and traders in US, South America, I happened to give a demo to my Engineering college friend who hails from a weaving community. My intent was to onboard him for his raw material (Silk) purchases. After the product presentation, he asked me to visit him in Walajapet, near Kanchipuram. During my subsequent trip to India, after meeting him, I happened to visit all the weaving villages in and around Kanchipuram, walajapet, Salem, Dindigul. I learned that there is a much deeper and common problem going on in the artisan community. At the same time, on my way back, I decided to shop for a saree for my family members, and that shopping experience was not great - we spent several hours in traffic going from the store.
Both these incidents opened up an entirely new perspective where on one end customers are not satisfied, and at the same time artisan community on the other end is on the verge of extinction.
The real question is why are customers not satisfied?? And Why is the artisan community on the verge of extinct in spite of all government programs, 100s of retail stores, and e-commerce companies?
This is when I started to work on addressing the current problem and founded Yes!poho. Yes!poho is derived from the Spanish word “Espojo”, which means mirror. The word is transformed for easy pronunciation and it means “Yes! I look good in front of the mirror”
2. How did you connect with the weavers across regions and what challenges did you face while signing up with them?
We believe in working with artisans at the grass-root level. Unlike any other e-Commerce or social community. We believe that working at the grass-root level helps us understand artisan’s pain points. While it helps build trust and relationships,s in the long run, the short-term gains are even higher when we interact with them at the grassroots. Typical challenges in signing them up are – Technical skills in the use of Apps and in creating trust factors when it comes to payments. Once we solve both these, onboarding and transacting with them is easier.
3. How is the response during the festive season and what are your plans to tap the wedding season?
We plan to feature new products and collections from our artisans and how these products are made. We plan to create and raise customer awareness on how handicraft and handloom products are made and what it takes to make such a product. Every handloom and handicraft tell a story and it is essential that these stories are told the way it is and customer awareness is raised
4. How is the journey of Yes!poho so far from the launch year till now? What are the key milestones in your journey?
Since Inception, we have had over 10,000 artisans on the platform. Key milestones include our relationship with WAMA, Antaran, and now with fair trade India. Other milestones include – our platform has over 5 Million user base with over 150,000 customers on the platform with over 250,000 active engagement on the social platforms are some of the key accomplishments.
5. How technology is playing an important role in your business? How many artisans and products are under your platform now?
Technology is key in shaping Yes!poho’s purpose. Our TechnoExperience based digital social platform connects Artisans with customers using Technology such as AR/VR and social commerce. Our patented Technology such as TryMe and CreateMyDesign is used to create active and direct engagement between customers, their friends, and family and with Artisans. This allows for customers to customize their product based on their taste and preferences and also create an interaction with artisans thereby raising awareness on authenticity of handloom and handicraft products.
Our Technology tool also allows for artisans to maintain inventory, manage orders and chat with customers all in their own language.
Yes!poho has onboarded 10,000 Artisans and actively engaging with them on the platform. We have over 10,000 active products on the platform.
6. How is your platform trying to improve the lives of artisans/ weavers?
Yes!poho platform provides for direct interaction and engagement with customers and increases direct market access to our artisans. The average primary income of artisans have increased over 20% month over month and their global market access has increased over 30% ever since they have signed up on the platform.
7. How has the pandemic affected the sales? What kind of impact did you see?
Yes!poho is a social engagement platform and during the past year, our engagement between customer and Artisans have grown 30% month over month. As a result of our increased engagement, more artisans have since onboarded onto the platform and sales have been growing due to the increased product base.
8. Please share your expansion plans?
We plan to expand into other categories such as jewelry, bags, shoes, belts, etc which complement the existing product line. We are also planning to enter into men’s fashion as well. In the next 1-2 years, we plan to have over 1.5 Lakh artisans and over 10Million + user base actively engaging on the platform.
9. Anything else you would like to highlight
Rather than using new technologies, I believe that providing the last mile experience and on-time delivery is essential to increasing customer experience. Handloom and handicraft products are high-quality products compared to power loom or other kinds of products, so while that aspect of quality is taken care of, providing customers with choices and delivering on time will be key for customer experience