The once-ailing ‘Tantuja’ that is now raking in the moolah on Flipkart and Amazon has received the prestigious images retail award in Mumbai. Mamata Banerjee’s pet venture, marketed under her game-changer concept ‘Biswa Bangla’, has thus been acknowledged as the ‘best turnaround story’ by the country’s biggest retail forum.
The state government initiative under West Bengal State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society has received the accolade given out by Indian Retail Forum (IRF) for all the innovative marketing and retailing strategies that helped Tantuja see profits for three years in a row, after being perpetually a loss-making company for the last 25 years.
IRF focuses on navigating fastest growing major market in the world, Krish Iyer, CEO of Walmart India, who chaired the 13 the dition of India’s largest retail intelligence event, “The Bengal government’s efforts in turning Tantuja into a success story,” he said.
“We at the West Bengal Handloom Weavers Society have been constantly evolving ways to make Tantuja, not only get over its loss-making tag, but also establish it as a major brand in the national and international markets. It’s good that our efforts have been acknowledged,” Rabindranath Roy, MD of Tantuja said.
Tantuja’s tant sarees, synonymous with Bengal, have been available on the multinational online shopping store Amazon for the last two months. Tantuja had earlier tied up with Flipkart and sold products worth Rs.30 lakhs a year.
The state government only agreed to provide capital expenditure – operational costs were to be generated from sales. The sale was tagged with Biswa Bangla, Mamata Banerjee’s brainchild for promoting Bengal’s art and craft at a global level, and aggressively retailed in upscale showrooms under its aegis. The clincher was tie-ups with Flipkart and Amazon.
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