The Kudumbashree launched in 1999 in Kerala is a women-oriented antipoverty programme. Non-availability of assured markets, competition form branded items, non-availability of raw material, lack of working capital and infrastructure have been identified as the major problems faced by Kudumbashree micro-enterprises. An innovative community marketing network has been started by Kudumbashree under the name of ‘Home Shop’ aimed at strengthening and sustaining the production- marketing chain. The main actors in the home shop supply chain are: Producer SHGs, Home Shop agents (HSA), Block level coordinator (BLC), District level coordinator (DLC) and Customers. The products of producer SHGs are procured and marketed under common brand names and with attractive packaging, so that they could compete with the branded products in the market. A survey conducted across HSAs and consumers has revealed that Home Shops have better acceptance among the customers and could be considered as a unique case of supply chain management mooted for augmenting the income of rural women and thereby ensuring their livelihood security. The major shortcoming of these outlets is the ‘small size of their basket’.
