No other feeling can trump that of shopping from a local market. To be able to choose from a host of products from a number of stalls and haggle over the price while shopping, only to buy things at a nominal rate, provides a sense of exhilaration to many consumers.
After months of shopping for clothes and jewellery via online e-commerce portals, a number of people have wanted to go back to the city’s iconic markets like Sarojini and Janpath to shop for clothes and junk jewellery. Keeping this in mind and with the idea of representing products crafted by artisans who sell in such markets, 30-year-old college friends Deeksha Khanna and Sheetal Munshi created JanpathOnline, an Instagram page and website that curates and sells handcrafted jewellery from smaller markets.
A strong pact
After being acquainted with each other at Hansraj College, Delhi University, Khanna and Munshi bonded over their love for shopping at Delhi’s local markets. “During college days, Janpath was our favourite market to go and shop at,” says Munshi. Realising that they could mirror the idea of the street market online, they created an Instagram page in 2018.
Deriving its name from their favourite market, this venture was launched as a weekend hobby for the two friends, who started curating and selling handcrafted jewellery made by artisans and vendors from Delhi’s Janpath. “At first, we would just go to the market and ask the jewellery vendors if we could list their products on our Instagram page. Then, we’d collect the jewellery from them as and when the orders were placed,” says Khanna. With the artisans and vendors equally encouraged to showcase their products online and gain more traction, the venture took off in no time. Travelling and exploring other markets around the country, the duo now feature street jewellery made by artisans in Bapu Bazar in Jaipur and the Ahmedabad’s Law Garden Market. “Amid COVID, we had to connect with vendors through other online portals but our core suppliers are still from these traditional markets,” says Khanna. As the page gained popularity, Khanna and Munshi decided to work on this venture full-time. This is when they launched their website in July earlier this year.
Traditional and affordable
“We had explored many websites that sell handcrafted jewellery and were shocked at the exorbitant prices,” points out Munshi. In comparison, they buy the jewellery directly from suppliers at an asking cost while reasonably pricing it for their customers—their products are between Rs 450 and Rs 600, keeping in mind the labour and cost charged by the artisans.
Providing a virtual platform to Indian artisans, Khanna mentions that JanpathOnline ships products across India, and internationally at an additional shipping cost. “It is mostly non-resident Indians who are willing to buy and we have shipped to countries such as Singapore, the US, Malta, and the UK,” concludes Khanna.