Yogyakarta to market handicrafts online
Tarko sudiarno The Jakarta Post Yogyakarta
Experiencing difficulty in marketing traditional handicraft products, the Yogyakarta Craft Council decided it was about time they promoted the industry online.
"I think the time has come for us to use modern technology to market our products, as the main supplier of the country's handicrafts," said the council's chairwoman, GKR Hemas, the wife of Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono.
The council's first step was to set up a website with a digital catalog and provide information in the form of an interactive CD-ROM, VCD profile and multimedia kiosk.
Both the digital information products as well as the website's management have been produced by Thinknolimits, a division of the PT Misty Total Media multimedia company, and will be launched on Sept. 12 this year. The launching will be in concurrence with the Gelar Seni and Budaya Yogyakarta festival, scheduled to run Sept. 12-14.
"But people can already access the website," said Thinknolimits' Nenden Novianti Fatiastuti.
The website (www.jogjacraftcouncil.com) will be updated every four months. It includes the council's profile and directory as well as scheduled events and handicraft exhibitions. There is also a discussion of the trends in handicrafts, other related news and a catalog of the council's products.
The council intends to make it easier for the public to access the website, it plans to link it with the official website of the World's Craft Council (www.wwcwis.gr).
Hemas said the council's decision to use modern technology to market and promote handicrafts was in line with the government's decision to enter the global market, as part of an agreement with the World Trade Organization.
"Yogyakarta's economy is dominated by middle and lower scale industries. It cannot avoid global development. That's why we have to come up with strategic ways to keep up," Hemas said.
Hopefully, he said, the new method would boost the sale of traditional handicrafts, especially internationally.
"At present, 75,000 workers are employed in the Yogyakarta handicraft industry, which generates an export value of some US$110 million a year. That amount excludes the figures that are not recorded by the provincial administration, since many of them (the products) are also exported through other provinces," she said.
"I do hope the use of modern information technology will truly boost the development of the industry here and at the same time improve the welfare of the people whose life depends on it. I also hope this has a good impact on the tourism industry."
Governor Hamengkubuwono, who is also a Sultan and the King of Yogyakarta, expressed similar hopes, saying that the Bali bombing not only destroyed Bali's economy but Yogyakarta's as well.
"The bombing made us realize that we depended so much on Bali to market our handicraft products," he said. He added that nearly 60 percent of Yogyakarta's handicrafts were sold in Bali.
He said it was about time Yogyakarta accessed the global market. Turning the province's Adisucipto Airport into an international airport, to allow the direct entrance of tourists and prospective investors, was another dream of his.
"We have to start using modern technology to market our products. It's not the time for us to insist on using traditional, conventional ways only," the Governor said.