Blue Spire places Ethiopian craftsmen in the Online Market
Point of Contact's new ecommerce website designed by Blue Spire
Blue Spire Design are proud to receive a full page article in this months Lincolnshire Echo Business Supplement.
The article outlines Blue Spire’s work with Lincolnshire based charity Point of Contact in creating a full ecommerce website to sell the traditional crafts of Ethiopian artisans to an international market.
Point of Contact, which has its headquarters in Market Rasen, has been working for more than a decade to give disadvantaged small-scale producers of handicraft products in Ethiopia a means to sell their products in the UK. Until now the charity has not sold products online. Goods have been sold the traditional way: mainly face-to-face at weekly markets or occasionally in schools in the region.
Point of Contact approached Blue Spire Design with a brief to redesign their website, including the development of an online shop. The new site, www.pointofcontact.org.uk, launched at the end of July 2011. It now means the charity – and the artisans whose products it sells – can reach a much wider customer base.
Technical Director of Blue Spire, Kyle Lane, said “The new website means Point of Contact can now reach potential customers not just here in the UK, but also internationally, and it’s open 24/7. Ultimately, this means their partners in Ethiopia can sell more of their products and generate more income.”
David Young, Point of Contact’s Manager, said “Perhaps the hardest challenge… is for the poor to gain access to the global market. This is where the web can revolutionise the situation.”