Guthali – challenges in marketing Indian
handicrafts and handloom
Rekha Attri and Rahul Bairagi
Introduction
May 2021: Financial year 2020–2021 had ended and Aayushi, the founder of Guthali brand
dealing in hand and block painted handloom and handicraft items, was comparing the
revenue figures of 2020–2021 with the previous year figures. Two years seemed to have just
flown by and Aayushi was concerned about the progression of her business of apparels
and artefacts, which had entered the third year of doing the business since its inception in
2019. The revenue figures in FY 2020–2021 were lower than that of the previous year (refer
to Exhibit 1), which was an area of concern and Aayushi had multiple questions flashing her
mind while reflected upon various dimensions of her business. What happened to those
customers who had purchased last year from Guthali and did not return for their next
purchase? How do I get into conversation with those customers? What do I do to acquire
new customers and keep them coming back to Guthali? Aayushi had been showcasing her
products on the Facebook and Instagram pages of Guthali but owing to handling multiple
dimensions of running her business as an entrepreneur, she could not devote a lot of time
on these online platforms. Digital marketing which everyone around her was advocating
seemed to be promising, but she lacked in-depth knowledge about the nuances of various
digital marketing mix. Digi Solutions – a digital marketing company, had provided various
options to Aayushi to choose from, to carry out digital marketing of her brand, but she was
unable to arrive at any decision and her anxiety levels were increasing with each passing
day. She knew that she had to do digital marketing for Guthali, but how much to spend and
on which tools was quite confusing.
Rekha Attri is based at the
Department of Marketing,
Jaipuria Institute of
Management Indore,
Indore, India. Rahul Bairagi
is based at the Department
of Administration, Jaipuria
Institute of Management
Indore, Indore, India.
The beginning
Right from childhood, Aayushi was a very creative girl. Painting was her passion and it was
this love for art and the ambition to get into a design school which made her join a coaching
centre to prepare for entry into a reputed design institute. Her hard work paid off and her
scores in competitive examination secured her a seat in Pearl Academy, Jaipur (Rajasthan,
India). She had the option of choosing between fashion designing and textile designing,
and Aayushi opted for the latter with a thought that she could start her journey from a yarn
and learn about multitude of textile options during her graduation years. In the year 2016,
during her third year in graduation, Aayushi was required to do a four-month internship, of
which two months had to be dedicated towards research and for the remaining two months,
it was mandatory to get industry exposure. For the first two months, Aayushi carried out
research on home décor block printing at Somendra Textile, an export house in Jaipur.
During the next two months, she worked for Kilol, a fashion brand in Jaipur which catered to
both Indian and overseas markets. During her internship period, Aayushi started learning
more about the handloom and handicraft industry.
DOI 10.1108/EEMCS-09-2021-0298
VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022, pp. 1-23, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2045-0621
Disclaimer. This case is written
solely for educational purposes
and is not intended to represent
successful or unsuccessful
managerial decision-making.
The authors may have
disguised names; financial and
other recognizable information
to protect confidentiality.
j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 1
Dream come true
Aayushi had always dreamt for being an entrepreneur wherein she could contemporize
various designs and art forms by working closely with local artisans. She had the support of
her family in this decision and that was the reason she did not apply for campus placements
during her graduation. In March 2016, she was offered a campus placement by Kilol which
she refused and after her graduation, returned to her hometown in Indore (Madhya
Pradesh, India). However, after a break of few months, Aayushi realized that starting her
business venture without work experience would not be a good idea. In July 2016, she,
therefore, picked up an assignment as a head designer at a fashion store in Indore by the
name of Pulpy Papaya, which primarily worked on fabric with hand painting and block
printing. Pulpy Papaya aimed at bridging the gap between artisans and customers by
offering handcrafted goods procured directly from the artisans and this was the exposure
Aayushi was always aspiring for. Besides working on designs, she also guided the trainees
on creating artefacts. Pulpy Papaya stocked Afro bamboo masks, hand-painted kettles,
trays, bed sheets, cushion covers and wooden fridge magnets. Un-stitched fabrics were
also available for customers to purchase. Other than this, they also had hand-painted
T-shirts and boxers for men and saris, palazzos and tops for women. Accessories such as
printed clutches, sling bags, laptop bags and duffel bags were also given an artistic touch
which greatly attracted the customers to purchase them for their uniqueness. Aayushi
worked for two years at Pulpy Papaya, but she was continuously aspiring to start her own
venture. In January 2019, she finally decided to quit the job at Pulpy Papaya and was
confident that with almost two years of work experience, she was ready to step into the
shoes of an entrepreneur and build connections with artisans for her business. She started
following the trends in the Indian handloom industry and also planned her travel to distant
countryside in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to meet and
source her fabrics and handicraft material.
Indian handloom and handicraft industry
As per the report published by FICCI, handloom industry is one of the largest unorganized
sector of economic activity in India, providing employment to 4.3 million weavers and
craftsmen from rural and semi-urban areas (FICCI, 2019). Indian textile sector is the sixth
largest exporter of apparels and textile in the world (PIB, 2020). National Handloom
Development Programme, Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme,
Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme and Yarn Supply Scheme are some
of the main schemes for handloom sector, implemented by Ministry of Tourism (MoT).
During 2019–2020 handloom export was worth US$315.62m (Apparel Resources, 2021).
The Ministry of Textiles had initiated various schemes to on-board the local artisans,
weavers and craftsmen so that they can reach a larger customer base. One such scheme
has been to develop craft villages in select handloom and handicraft pockets of the country
on important tourist circuits for integrated sustainable development of handlooms, craft and
tourism (FICCI, 2019). Several key initiatives for the welfare of the weaver community under
several flagship schemes like MUDRA loans, Cluster approach, Hathkharga Samvardhan
Sahayata and Capacity Building under SAMARTH have been promoted extensively by MoT
(Ministry of Textiles, 2019). On 7th August 2020, the 6th National Handloom day, the
Ministry of Textile had launched social media campaign # Vocal 4 handmade to promote
the handloom legacy of India and to encourage people to support the weaving community
(PIB, 2020).
Following the rise in the spending on personal decoration products and home décor items,
there is an increased awareness, liking and demand for handicraft works like garchola,
patola and mirror work from Gujarat; pashmina from Kashmir; block print and bandhini work
from Rajasthan; chikankari and brocade from Uttar Pradesh; pochampalli from Andhra
Pradesh; Kanjivaram from Tamil Nadu and jamdani and Kantha from West Bengal
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j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
(Fibre2Fashion, 2011). According to the Ministry of Textiles, the handicraft industry had
shown a steady growth of 20% and it has been forecasted that the world handicraft market
would be worth $1091.2bn by 2024 with a growth rate of 11% (Shah, 2021). As per official
data, India is home to 7 million artisans (unofficial data report artisan strength to be more
than 200 million). In the year 2019–2020, the handicraft export from India was close to US
$3.5bn (Woodwares at US$420.45m; embroidered and crocheted goods at US$320.51m;
miscellaneous handicrafts at US$517.68m; handprinted textiles and scarves at US
$154.96m; imitation jewellery at US$94.08m and art metal wares at US$250.52m) (IBEF,
2021).
Guthali: a timeless seed
The first task which Aayushi embarked on was to coin a brand name for her venture.
Deciding a brand name turned out to be tricky and was not as easy as it seemed in the
beginning. Aayushi always wanted to contemporize the art and craft of India and wanted
such a brand name for her venture, which could resonate a very strong image of Indian art
form. Various suggestions like Black Soil, Summer Salt, Still foam, Chhapa, etc., kept
pouring in from family and friends, but none actually resonated with what Aayushi desired
for her brand. After multiple rejections of various brand name options, the name Guthali: A
Timeless Seed was finalized in April 2019. Guthali which means seed in Hindi and has the
capability of growing into a big tree, bearing fruits for many generations, resonated with
what Aayushi wanted her brand to resonate. The logo design was inspired by Warli and
Mandana art form (refer to Exhibit 5).
Commencement
In December 2019, Aayushi participated in a high-end apparel and accessories exhibition –
Laavanya organized at a four-star hotel in Indore to test the acceptance of her product
range by the customers. She had to invest approximately $805 for booking of the stall for
the three days of exhibition. During this event which involved exhibition cum sale, she built
network with few business houses and individuals who had come from different cities of
India to participate in the exhibition. She was happy with the revenues during this exhibition
which were more than double the investment, but more valuable was her learning of
consumer behaviour. Much to her surprise, the ladies were less keen to buy sarees and
were more interested to buy designer suits and accessories. During this exhibition, Aayushi
had more stock of sarees and less variety of suits and accessories like dupattas and stoles.
Further, it was difficult to make customers understand the difference between original
artwork versus machine work with digital prints and justify the high price tag for the artisan
handmade work.
Post the exhibition, encouraged by initial customer queries, Aayushi started posting the
creations of Guthali on Instagram to increase the awareness about her venture. Although
she got a lot of appreciation for her work, but the business enquiries were limited and did
not pick up after a particular time interval. She later realized that her target segment
comprising of ladies who desired and who could afford her designer work were more used
to Facebook as compared to Instagram. With this insight, the Facebook page of Guthali was
also created.
Guthali started with hand-painted and block printed sarees and dress material on Kota
Doria, Maheshwari, Khadi and Tussar fabrics. These fabrics were easily available in and
around Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Aayushi used to frequently visit Jaipur (capital of
the state of Rajasthan) and Maheshwar (city famous in Madhya Pradesh for handwoven
Maheshwari fabric) to source her fabric, colours, blocks for block printing and also to build
network with the artisans.
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j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 3
The low awareness about Guthali always made Aayushi ponder on how to go about getting
the customers to know her brand. Although many customers returned back for repeat
purchase, many of them did not purchase again, and Aayushi used to often ponder on how
to reach out to those customers and get them attracted to Guthali. Many customers who
preferred products made by using traditional techniques, skills and hand-made processes
were regular customers of Fabindia, which is an Indian chain store established in 1960 and
is into retailing garments, furnishings, fabrics and ethnic products handmade by
craftspeople across rural India. As on July 2020, Fabindia operated 327 stores across India
and had 14 international stores (Bailay, 2020). The products of Fabindia are mainly sourced
from villages, thereby helping to provide and sustain rural employment in India. They are
produced by over 40,000 artisans and craftspeople across India (Sethi, 2020). Placing
Guthali products in Fabindia stores was not possible as these products were not directly
sourced from artisans, and it was not the policy of Fabindia to entertain other brands. There
used to be regular trade fairs organized by the government where artisans participated to
reach out to the urban market. Since such participation was only for the registered artisans
with the government, Guthali could not participate here also. However, Aayushi could build
her network with the artisans while visiting these trade fairs.
Experimenting and teething problems
Aayushi’s friends suggested her to start her own designer studio by taking a shop space on
rent at a posh locality so that she had access to elite clientele. Aayushi thought about the
proposal, but even on a rental basis, she had to incur the cost of hiring salespeople at the
store and have working capital for paying up the rental, electricity and other day to day
expenses. Further, she would be restricted to one locality and there were always
apprehensions of having less footfalls at the store. Rejecting the idea of setting up her own
Guthali studio, Aayushi experimented by keeping her collection at Saanch, a multi-designer
store which charged 40% commission on accomplishment of sale over and above a
minimal rental amount for displaying the products at the store. Saanch required a minimum
inventory of 25 units to be kept at the store for three categories of Guthali products (sarees,
suits and accessories). The sale of Guthali products from Saanch studio was very slow, and
it also locked up her inventory at the store.
The digital shift
Parallel to placing Guthali inventory at the multi-designer store, Aayushi also experimented
with Etsy, an e-commerce platform having 34.7 million buyers across the world and revenue
of $3.24bn in 2017 and had commenced its Indian operations in 2018 (Dey, 2018). Etsy
primarily focused on three categories of sellers: creative professionals, boutique owners
and entrepreneurs who sold on e-commerce platforms and through social media;
homemakers, art students and others who were passionate about their craft and were
interested in supplementing their income; and digitally enabled newer generation
craftsperson. For craftsmen who were not digitally enabled, Etsy engaged in offline
acquisitions and seller enablement. Besides enabling craftsmen to come on-board, Etsy
helped them optimize their e-shops with quality listings and the content specialists guided
on how to put together great stories for their profiles and products (Dey, 2018). Besides
Etsy, Aayushi made Guthali products available on WorldArtCommunity.com (popularly
known as WAC), which is an online art and craft marketplace having more than 7,000 artists
and craftsmen and NGOs displaying over 2,50,000 merchandise (Rao, 2018). At WAC
consumers could buy artistic products directly from their creators which otherwise were
difficult to access. From 2021, Guthali merchandise was also made available at Zwende
which is an online platform for “Guided Customization” of designer home products and
fashion accessories (Your Story, 2020). Zwende helped Aayushi in setting up of the
storefront for Guthali and following its “Guided Customization” principle, carried out the
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j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
cataloguing, marketing, customer interactions and order fulfilment. A commission amount
on the MRP was 40% at Zwende, 30% at Etsy and 25%–35% at WAC (depending on
product category). Since association of Guthali with Zwende was very recent, so
the response of customers was still awaited. While Etsy connected Aayushi to some
international customers, she received better customer response from WAC in terms of
the orders which required customisation. Aayushi researched about having her merchandise
available at other online stores such as amazon.in, faballey.com, hometown.in, etc., but was
not very convinced and happy with the terms and conditions related to commission charged
and the stock keeping units which had to be readily available.
Tasting success: Business leads
Although the response in terms of orders for Guthali products was slow on Instagram and
Facebook, Aayushi was happy to get few business enquiries from Gujarat, Chennai,
Kanchipuram, Jaipur and Indore. These were primarily boutiques and designer fabric
stores who desired Guthali to do job work for them. Based on the demand of the clients, the
fabric and the creative design were suggested, which upon approval were worked upon for
the desired finished products (sarees, suits, accessories, furnishings, etc.) and were hand
delivered to local clients or sent via courier to outstation clients. Many times, the fabric was
sent by the boutique owners to add value by carrying out hand painting, block printing, etc.
Slowly but steadily over a period of two years, Guthali earned the trust of the clients and
started getting bulk orders to be completed in a specified time span. A store in
Kanchipuram ordered for 50 sarees to be hand-painted and delivered within a month. A
store named Punah in Mumbai got a denim jacket hand-painted which when showcased at
the store received customer appreciation and enquiries. Nyara, an online portal for
apparels, home décor, furnishings and accessories too approached Guthali with a job order
for hand-painted cushion covers on jute fabric. From one or two stores in a city, Aayushi
increased her network to 4–5 stores per city and this brought in lot of job work for the brand.
This was the time when Aayushi had no other choice but to get more hands for
accomplishing the creative designing work through hand painting and block printing.
More hands for more work
With increasing orders for Guthali creations, Aayushi was struggling to complete the job
work within the desired time frame. Hiring professionals for hand painting and block printing
meant increasing expenses without a guarantee of the future job work which might flow in.
The other option was to hire people for a short time duration as and when required.
However, there was no guarantee that individuals with required talent would be readily
available at the time when the workload was high. Usually, students enrolled in design
institutes were required to get industry exposure through internships which could range for
a time period of two to four months. Some interns continued working part-time beyond their
educational hours till the time they were finally placed, started their own venture or moved
out of city to return back to their hometown. Hiring interns who would be happy to work for
Guthali at a small monthly stipend and an experience certificate towards the end of the
internship was the best alternative which Aayushi went ahead with.
Neglected dimensions
While Aayushi juggled with various responsibilities, she felt unsettled as things were not
progressing simultaneously. When she got busy in completing orders of clients, she could
not travel to places to build network and when she was travelling, the progress of the work
suffered. The posting on social media platforms was also sporadic, and it was handled by
her as and when she had time or felt the need for the same. The purchasing of fabric,
paints, brushes, etc., too required frequent visits to the market. Further, Aayushi was not
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j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 5
able to regularly maintain and update her accounts related records and was looking out for
a helping hand. However, hiring a professional for this work did not seem as a good idea to
her since the volume of business was not to that level which would require dedicated
accounts personnel. Digital marketing was the buzz word and Aayushi felt that she had not
been able to use the potential of digital marketing for taking her brand to the next level. After
multiple discussions with family and friends and an extensive search for digital marketing
company, Aayushi thought of trying out the services of Digi Solutions, a digital marketing
company having various business houses, schools, independent fashion designers,
coaching institutes, real estates, hotels, management institutes, etc., listed as clients.
Established in 2011, Digi Solutions, founded by Mr Rohan claimed at providing highly
skilled professional services such as social media marketing, search engine marketing,
mobile marketing, content marketing, google display network and website development, all
with a creative touch. Digi Solutions client testimonials spoke highly of the attention to detail
and excellent services provided by a team of 27 professionals handling different aspects of
digital marketing in the organization. Aayushi had sought a proposal for Guthali from
Mr Rohan and was anxiously waiting for the meeting.
Meeting: a volley of questions
Aayushi had expected the meeting with Mr Rohan to go just like her any other meeting with
her vendors where she would state her requirements and the vendor would deliver the
desired items at the negotiated rates. However, unlike her other business meetings, Rohan
from Digi Solutions had a volley of questions for Aayushi. He started by asking about the
competitors of Guthali, to which her reply was FabIndia and Kilol. Upon further probing, she
came up with names of Saanch, Punah, Nyara and some local designer stores, to which
Rohan had remarked that she should research more and let him know the names of prominent
designers in her city and if possible in the country as well. Rohan told Aayushi that he needed
time to research on the presence of her competitors on the digital platform. Aayushi briefed
Rohan about her clients and also how she was doing online sales through WAC, Zwende and
Etsy. Rohan enquired about the price range for the product mix of Guthali and the
competencies which Aayushi felt could be highlighted about the brand on digital platform.
Aayushi had stated that she was getting orders because of the finesse in hand painting and
block printing on fabric and that her colour combination and designs were customized to the
liking of the client, which added an element of personal touch in every delivery she completed.
Aayushi shared category wise average prices and percentage contribution to sales for her
product mix (refer to Exhibit 2). She expressed how she had not been able to realize good
sales for her handicrafts in the current financial year. Aayushi also shared the product and
price mix of Guthali versus its two competitors- Kilol and Fab India (refer to Exhibit 3).
Rohan also enquired about the digital presence of Guthali, and Aayushi shared the Facebook
and Instagram posts of her brand. Rohan had remarked that the usage of digital platform was
very amateurish with approximately 300 followers of Guthali on Facebook page, and it
required a lot of focused approach to get customers attracted. Rohan had also enquired
about the reasons for not having a website for Guthali. Upon being asked about the customer
profile who had purchased Guthali products, Aayushi did not have exact details but had given
an indication that her customers were either the boutiques who gave her job orders or were
ladies who through personal contacts had done some purchases from Guthali. She had got
some orders from WAC, Zwende and Etsy, but the customer profiling and the details about
purchases were not readily available with her. She was also asked to indicate about the profile
of the customer who she desired to reach out to through digital marketing. Rohan also asked
about her preferences, if any, for the digital platforms which she wanted to be present on, the
geographies which she wished to reach, etc., to which Aayushi had asked for suggestions
stating that she did not have much idea about the various options available and how she could
make customers across geographies aware of her brand.
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j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
Rohan appraised Aayushi that at Digi Solutions, they worked on the RACE framework, which
was the acronym for Reach, Act, Convert and Engage. Rohan explained how they worked
for their existing customers and clients, wherein following the Reach protocol, they build
awareness for their clients using online marketing techniques. While deploying the Act the
part of the framework, they work on building the interactions with customers on the website
and/or social media so that they could generate leads for future interactions. They
continuously deploy re-targeting and nurturing techniques to remind and persuade the
audience for purchases. Rohan also showcased how Digi Solutions continuously engages
with the customers through personalized communications using Web, email, mobile and
social media marketing.
The meeting concluded on a note that Rohan would develop the digital communication
strategy and then have a second round of discussion with Aayushi. Once Rohan left her
office, Aayushi started thinking again: Will a dedicated website of Guthali do the trick? What
all can be done in digital marketing sphere to attract and retain customers? Aayushi was
anxiously waited for her next meeting with Rohan.
The roadmap
Two weeks later, during the next meeting, Rohan presented the roadmap for digital
marketing based on his understanding of the business of Guthali. He started with explaining
various paid and owned digital marketing tools. He proposed the development of a website
for Guthali which would come under owned media for carrying out digital marketing. He
explained that he had minutely studied the digital presence of the competitors, and most of
them had a well maintained website and were doing aggressive social media marketing.
Further, the competitors like Fab India and Kilol had multiple stores besides having an
online presence (having a website, social media marketing and availability on e-commerce
sites), while stores like Saanch had a brick and mortar store besides having a strong social
media presence. Since Guthali did not have any standalone store, Rohan felt that the first
step needed was to establish a very engaging and an attractive website of Guthali and
thereafter go for email marketing.
Rohan also explained about various paid digital marketing tools such as digital advertising,
affiliate marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and influencer
marketing which Guthali should do for reaching out to customers, increasing brand
awareness and its digital presence. He explained in detail what, why, when and how of
each of these digital marketing techniques and shared the price associated with each of
these tasks (refer to Exhibit 4).
Rohan assured Aayushi that his organization Digi Solutions can extend routine services of
closely monitoring the website traffic and share valuable insights. Having shared all the
details related to carrying out digital marketing related tasks, Rohan asked Aayushi about
the package she was interested in investing for digital marketing of Guthali. At this point,
Aayushi asked for suggestion from Rohan about how much she should invest in digital
marketing, according to him, to which he responded that in his opinion, Aayushi should opt
for the Premium package. Loaded with so much of information and options for digital
marketing, Aayushi was confused in taking a decision and responded that she needed time
to look into the proposal and would get back to Rohan soon.
Keywords:
Digital marketing,
Handicraft,
Handloom,
Entrepreneurship,
ASCOR framework
References
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from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ : economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/
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Exhibit 1. Guthali: Product wise sales figures
Table E1
S.No. Product type
1
2
3
4
Dress material
Variety
Suits
Sarees
Accessories
Scarves
Stoles
Hand bags
Home furnishing Bed sheets
Pillow covers
Cushion covers
Table mats (six pieces)
Bed runner
Handicrafts
Fridge magnets
Tea coasters
Diaries
Serving trays
Total sales ( in US$)
Average price Sales quantity
Sale value in FY
Sales quantity
Sale value in FY
(in US$)
FY 2019–2020 2019–2020 (in US$) FY 2020–2021 2020-2021 (in US$)
25
55
7
9
11
27
7
7
17
20
8
11
16
9
200
20
12
25
2
5
12
8
1
2
25
25
5
5
5,000
1,100
84
225
22
135
84
56
17
40
200
275
80
45
7,363
160
25
0
10
0
2
2
2
0
0
20
30
50
0
4,000
1,375
0
90
0
54
14
14
0
0
160
330
800
0
6,837
Source: Prepared by authors based on information collected from the organization
VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 9
Exhibit 2. Guthali: Product wise contribution to sales
Table E2
S.No
Product type
Variety
1
Dress material
2
Accessories
3
Home furnishing
4
Handicrafts
Suits
Sarees
Scarves
Stoles
Hand bags
Bed sheets
Pillow covers
Cushion covers
Table mats (six pieces)
Bed runner
Fridge magnets
Tea coasters
Diaries
Serving trays
Average price
(in US$)
% Contribution to sales
FY 2019–2020
% Contribution to sales
FY 2020-2021
25
55
7
9
11
27
7
7
17
20
8
11
16
9
67.9
14.9
1.1
3.1
0.3
1.8
1.1
0.8
0.2
0.5
2.7
3.7
1.1
0.6
58.5
20.1
0.0
1.3
0.0
0.8
0.2
0.2
0.0
0.0
2.3
4.8
11.7
0.0
Source: Prepared by authors based on information collected from the organization
PAGE 10
j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
Exhibit 3. Product and price mix: Guthali versus competitors
Table E3
S. no Product type
1
2
3
4
Dress material
Variety
Suits
Sarees
Accessories
Scarves
Stoles
Hand bags
Home furnishing Bed sheets
Pillow covers
Cushion covers
Table mats (six pieces)
Bed runner
Handicrafts
Fridge magnets
Tea coasters
Diaries
Serving trays
Guthali price range (in US$) Kilol price range (in US$) Fab India price range (in US$)
15–25
35–75
5–15
7–20
5–15
17–35
5–12
5–15
12–30
17–32
5–12
8–15
12–25
8–20
17–30
45–90
Product category not sold
29
7–20
7–20
15–35
15–35
Product category not sold
45–130
55–200
7–20
15–35
15–40
20–60
10–25
12–25
25–35
20–45
7–15
15–25
10–30
15–25
Source: Prepared by authors based on information collected from the organization
VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 11
Exhibit 4. Digital marketing proposal from Digi Solutions
Table E4
Digital marketing
Dimensions covered
CLASSIC (US$500/monthly)
Search Engine
Keyword Research, Content Duplicity Check, On Page
Optimization (SEO)
Analysis, Local SEO, Off Page SEO (Link Building)
Search Engine
Search Ads, Display Ads, Video Ads, Email Ads,
Marketing/PPC/
Creative ad copies, Call only ad campaigns
Google Ads
Facebook marketing, Instagram marketing, YouTube
Social Media
Marketing (Select any Marketing
two Platforms)
Content Marketing
PPT Creation, Infographics Content Creation (Only Text
Based)
Online Reputation
Management
Set Up and Tracking
Reporting
Promote Positive Information
Google Analytics Setup, Google Search Console Setup,
Google Ad Conversion Setup
Monthly
PREMIUM (US $600/monthly)
Search Engine
Keyword Research, Content Duplicity Check, On Page
optimization (SEO)
Analysis, Local SEO, Off Page SEO (Link Building)
Search Engine
Search Ads, Display Ads, Video Ads, Email Ads,
Marketing/PPC/
Creative ad copies, Call only ad campaigns,
Google Ads
Remarketing Ads, A/B Testing
Facebook marketing, Instagram marketing, YouTube
Social Media
Marketing (Select any Marketing, LinkedIn Marketing
three Platforms)
Content Marketing
PPT Creation, Infographics Content Creation (Only Text
Based), Video Content writing
Online Reputation
Promote Positive Information, Boost Visibility
Management
Set Up and Tracking
Google Analytics Setup, Google Search Console Setup,
Google Ad Conversion Setup, Call Tracking Setup,
Events and Goal Setup
Reporting
Monthly
Dimensions not covered
Schema Implementation
Remarketing Ads, Shopping Ads, App Install Ads,
Landing Page Design, A/B Testing, Dynamic Ad
Campaign
Linkedin Marketing, Twitter Marketing, Pinterest
Marketing
Blog Writing (500–700 words), Press Release Writing
(300–700 words), Article writing (300–700 words),
Video Content writing
Defend brand Defamation, Diminish negative
reviews, Boost visibility, Prevent negative PR
Google Tag Manager setup, Call Tracking Setup,
Form Submission Setup, Events and Goal Setup
Weekly
Schema Implementation
Shopping Ads, App Install Ads, Landing Page
Design, Dynamic Ad Campaign
Twitter Marketing, Pinterest Marketing
Blog Writing (500–700 words), Press Release Writing
(300–700 words), Article writing (300–700 words)
Defend brand Defamation, Diminish negative
reviews, Prevent negative PR
Google Tag Manager Setup, Form Submission Setup
Weekly
ELITE (US $750/monthly)
Search Engine
Keyword Research, Content Duplicity Check, On Page Analysis, Local SEO, Off Page SEO (Link Building)
optimization (SEO)
Search Engine
Search Ads, Display Ads, Video Ads, Email Ads, Creative ad copies, Call only ad campaigns, Remarketing Ads,
Marketing/PPC/
Shopping Ads, App Install Ads, Landing Page Design, A/B Testing, Dynamic Ad Campaign
Google Ads
Social Media
Facebook Marketing, Instagram Marketing, YouTube Marketing, Linkedin Marketing, Twitter Marketing,
Marketing (Select any Pinterest Marketing
three Platforms)
Content Marketing
PPT Creation, Infographics Content Creation (Only Text Based), Video Content writing, Blog Writing (500–700
words), Press Release Writing (300–700 words), Article writing (300–700 words)
Online Reputation
Promote Positive Information, Influencer Marketing, Boost Visibility, Defend brand Defamation, Diminish
Management
negative reviews, Prevent negative PR
Set Up and Tracking
Google Analytics Setup, Google Search Console Setup, Google Ad Conversion Setup, Call Tracking Setup,
Events and Goal Setup, Google Tag Manager Setup, Form Submission Setup
Reporting
Weekly and Monthly
(continued)
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j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
Table E4
Digital marketing
Dimensions covered
Dimensions not covered
Charges for standalone tasks
Website
Development + Designing + 1 Year Management
Development
Search Engine
Keyword Management + Keyword Proposal + FastOptimization (SEO)
Finding over Google + Keyword Maintenance + Manage
over Search Engines (5–6 Keywords) + Rank on Google
Pay per click
Google Adwords, Facebook and LinkedIn marketing,
Advertising (PPC)
develop PPC campaign
Google Adwords
5–6 Keywords Management + Bid Management +
Display Ads
Location Targeting
Search Ads
Instagram and
Instagram and Facebook Page Management
Facebook
Story Ads
Reels Ads
Influencer Marketing
Sourcing of Influencer + Development and posting of
content
US$300
US$165 (monthly)
US$150 (monthly)
US$150 (monthly)
US$100 (monthly)
US $165 (monthly) in addition to the influencer fee
Source: Prepared by authors based on information collected from the organization
VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022
j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 13
Exhibit 5. Guthali Logo
Figure E1
Corresponding author
Rekha Attri can be contacted at: rekha.attri@jaipuria.ac.in
PAGE 14
j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 12 NO. 1 2022