Bestsellers and a Better Inventory
Learnings from the lantana stall at BIC Hubba 2022
Sandeep Hanchanale
Artisans from the Lantana Craft Centre in MM hills were at the annual BIC Hubba this year, held at Bangalore International Centre on 26 and 27 February. The event, titled B.Cause, had 72 NGOs from Bengaluru exhibit their work.
These artisans belong to forest-dependent communities adversely affected by the spread of the lantana, a highly invasive weed taking over Indian forests. They turn lantana stems into beautiful handicrafts, including baskets, plant holders and garden furniture.
The Lantana Crafts Centre was set up in 2003 by ATREE to remove lantana, while generating livelihoods for tribal communities and restoring native forest species. Read more about connecting lantana crafts to the furniture market.
Being at this event was a great experience for rural artisans, as they could directly interact with customers and understand their needs. Our stall was on the ground floor right by the elevator. As people waited for the elevator, they read through our growth story presented on a standee. This drew many of them in, curious to learn more about lantana. They asked us questions, interacted with us and shared their support and encouragement.
The event brought together 72 nonprofits and gave us an opportunity to appreciate what the other nonprofits do. We used this event to size up the competition and also learn from them.
This gig helped us learn a lot of new things:
- The need for a better inventory at the exhibition was apparent. While we brought with us some of our smaller items, the larger pieces had to be ordered. This adds 10–15 days to the customer journey, which did not sit well with the exhibition audience who were looking to buy products off the shelf.
- We learnt which our bestselling items are the garden furniture set and lantana flowers.
- By visiting other stalls we learnt about how others were branding and presenting their goods. For instance, we discovered that our honey was drastically underpriced!
- We also got many new product ideas from this outing. We found postcards to be a quick sell. We also found a catalog stand at the venue that we plan to make out of lantana. One of our sales ideas was to have a tasting counter for our honey!
To buy lantana products, visit www.thelantanacollective.org.
We would love to hear from you. To collaborate with us, write to csei.collab@atree.org.
