Kolhapurbachatgat.com: A Student-led Initiative for Rural Empowerment

Abstract

This research explores the Kolhapurbachatgat.com e-commerce website designed to develop into a successful vehicle for increasing rural women entrepreneur’s potential in Kolhapur, India. Through fieldwork with over 50 rural producers, we found that there were major barriers to adopting e-commerce, such as limited digital literacy and poor internet connectivity. We enabled rural entrepreneurs to sell handmade goods, home-cooked meals, and artisanal products to broader audiences through the design of an intuitive, culturally relevant platform using WordPress and WooCommerce. The results have shown a 30% increase in monthly incomes, improved digital inclusion, and further empowered communities. This project shows how tailored technological solutions can bridge the urban-rural divide and promote inclusive entrepreneurship.

Introduction

E-commerce has revolutionized buying and selling globally but has largely excluded rural populations and women entrepreneurs due to barriers like limited internet access, low digital literacy, and lack of training. In Kolhapur, India—a region rich in cultural heritage with many skilled women artisans and home-based producers—these barriers restrict rural women from expanding their businesses beyond local markets.

To address this, Kolhapurbachatgat.com, a culturally relevant and easy-to-use e-commerce platform, was developed specifically for rural women entrepreneurs in Kolhapur. The platform was designed after extensive fieldwork, involving over 40 trained data analysts interviewing women producers, documenting products, and identifying key challenges.

Using WordPress and WooCommerce, the platform is affordable, mobile-friendly, and localized with Marathi language support, making it accessible for non-technical users. Vendor management, secure payment gateways, and multi-vendor features were integrated to ensure smooth operation. User testing and training sessions ensured usability and continuous improvement based on feedback.

Results show promising impacts: a 30% increase in average monthly income among vendors, expanded market reach beyond local areas to other districts and states, and high vendor and customer satisfaction. Over 200 products from various categories are listed, supporting economic empowerment, gender equality, and sustainable rural development through digital inclusion.

Conclusion

Kolhapurbachatgat.com has successfully demonstrated the transformative potential of tailored technological solutions in empowering rural women entrepreneurs in Kolhapur. Addressing all critical barriers, such as digital literacy, internet connectivity, and being out of reach for broader markets, the platform enables rural producers to showcase their handmade goods, artisanal products, and home-cooked meals to a larger audience. This initiative has helped in increasing monthly incomes of the participants by 30%, digital inclusion, and livelihoods improvement. The design is culturally relevant, affordable, and usability-centered; thus, the platform bridged the urban-rural divide and promoted inclusive entrepreneurship. It focuses on showing that localized e-commerce solutions drive sustainable development and provide opportunities to promote gender equality for marginalized communities while proving how grassroots empowerment could work through the usage of technology.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Pruthviraj Chavan, Akash Sakhare, Shreya Devale, Divya Patil, Sejal Patil. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.