iTokri grows international revenue by 91% with automated sales

iTokri is an online store for handicrafts, handlooms, fabrics, jewelry, paintings, and other artworks sourced from nearly 10,000 artisans across India. It is the country’s largest curated portal for art and handicraft products, with over 100,000 listings.

Founded in 2012 by Jia Pamnani and Nitin Pamnani, iTokri is not only finding worldwide success, it is supporting artisan families across India, many of whom are underprivileged.

iTokri has grown into a household name, becoming a brand that is loved locally and internationally. When the brand experienced increased demand, it turned to Shopify Plus to organize its team to handle orders and drive sales through automation.

With Shopify Plus, iTokri has seen:

• 42% increase in returning customers
• 91% year-over-year (YoY) international revenue growth
• 50% less time spent on admin and sales setup

The challenge

iTokri started as a small online store on Shopify, selling to a domestic audience. The business grew fast, with artisans attracted to the generous business model that allowed them to be paid for their handicrafts upfront, boosting cash flow for their families.

iTokri quickly became home to an ever-expanding product list with over 500 new SKUs added daily. This selection was popular among customers from an international audience who could access unique pieces that were previously only available in local markets.

However, the resulting growth came with challenges—most notably a lack of clear roles and responsibilities within the growing team, leading to the double handling of sales tasks. iTokri also wanted to extend its use of Shopify to add extra functionality, like sales automation, which would require extra computing resources.

The solution

With iTokri’s existing online store already powered by Shopify, the team had no doubts about upgrading to Shopify Plus. This immediately unlocked extra overhead for API calls, which was crucial given the volume of transactions and interconnected systems iTokri was hosting through Shopify. Implementing organizational admin and permissions made it easy for admins to set up user roles for the 90+ strong team to ensure tasks were easily prioritized.

Using Launchpad, iTokri took advantage of clever automations to drive customers to sales events and power a greater degree of personalization. For example, customers can now add a gift-wrapping option as part of the checkout process and send gifts to different locations from one cart.

The results

Since upgrading to Shopify Plus with support from Seventh Triangle, iTokri has seen a dramatic increase in sales, customer engagement and efficiency. Launchpad has allowed iTokri to automate and personalize marketing messaging and activities, increasing its return customer rate by 42%.

Meanwhile, increased efficiency in order handling, thanks to better back-end administration and interconnected systems, has helped grow international revenue by 91% with increased sales. Spurred by its success, iTokri is now looking to add a B2B channel to its existing operations.

Crucially, Jia Pamnani and Nitin Pamnani are realizing their vision of supporting artisan communities across India and expanding its international audience.