INDIAN RAILWAYS · LOCAL CRAFTS

ONE STATION ONE PRODUCT

Turning Gujarat’s craft diversity into a station-ready product strategy

172

Products mapped

50+

Passengers + vendors

EXAMPLES OF GUJARAT CRAFTS

Pottery

Textiles

Woodcraft

Embroidery

Metalwork

Jewellery

Leather

Basketry

Ahmedabad Station

Field study lead

9-person NID team

4 weeks

For Indian Railways’ OSOP initiative, our team mapped 172 products and studied passenger and vendor behaviour at Ahmedabad Station to understand what could realistically work in this retail context.

02. THE MANDATE

Promote regional products

Products rooted in the station’s region

Create market access

For local artisans and producers

Represent regional craft

Showcase local craft and cultural identity

Use passenger footfall

Improve product visibility

From regional crafts to national opportunities

One Station One Product (OSOP) is an Indian Railways initiative that creates market access for regional products through railway stations, supporting local artisans and small producers while showcasing local craft traditions.

Field research with passengers at Ahmedabad Railway Station

For Ahmedabad Station, the challenge was to determine which Gujarat crafts could realistically succeed in this environment, considering passenger needs, commercial viability and station context.

The mandate set the ambition; the research had to decide which crafts could earn a place on the platform.

03. THE RESEARCH QUESTION

The brief defined the opportunity, but not which crafts were right for Ahmedabad Station

Gujarat offered a vast and diverse craft landscape. To recommend a viable product mix, we needed to understand both what could work as a product and what passengers would actually notice, value and consider buying within the realities of railway travel.

Craft + Product Fit

IS IT THE RIGHT PRODUCT FROM A CRAFT PERSPECTIVE?

Utility

Product type

Price band

Durability / Fragility

Craft capability

Regional relevance

Sustainability

Everyday use, not just decorative

Standardised, consistent quality

Viable for artisans and passengers

Skills and production capacity

Authentic to Gujarat’s craft heritage

Responsible, long-lasting materials

Can it withstand handling and travel?

Passenger + Station Fit

DOES IT WORK FOR THE PASSENGER AND STATION CONTEXT?

Passenger preferences

Perceived value

Price sensitivity

Luggage compatibility

Time pressure

Visibility

Travel context

Appeals to varied ages and travellers

Meaningful, authentic, worth buying

Fits impulse and planned budgets

Works well in station retail

Suits personal use or gifting

Easy to carry, pack and transport

Quick to browse, easy to choose

The right product mix had to work for both the craft and the journey.

04. RESEARCH APPROACH

We studied the decision from three connected perspectives

We combined craft research, passenger behaviour and station observations so the final direction would reflect product realities, human behaviour and the constraints of the environment.

01. CRAFT LANDSCAPE

What is available?

Mapping Gujarat’s craft breadth, categories, materials, price points and product characteristics.

02. PASSENGER BEHAVIOUR

What do travellers consider buying?

Studying preferences, perceived value, purchase purpose and what passengers considered in context.

03. STATION CONTEXT

What changes in a railway environment?

Observing movement, luggage, time pressure, visibility and platform conditions.

METHODS

Survey

Interviews

Contextual inquiry

Observation

4

methods across one station over four weeks of field research

No single lens chose the products: each perspective tested what the other two could miss.

EVIDENCE-LED DIRECTION

Insights from all three perspectives informed the product selection logic.

05. THE CRAFT LANDSCAPE

172 products created a selection problem, not a shortage of options

We mapped craft products across five categories to understand the available landscape. The range showed Gujarat’s breadth, but cultural relevance alone could not determine what belonged in a railway-station retail environment.

FROM LANDSCAPE TO SELECTION

Which products could work for both the craft and the journey?

12

CRAFT TOYS

Wooden, textile and traditional play objects rooted in local craft traditions.

36

DÉCOR

Artisan objects for display, home and gifting.

77

ACCESSORIES

Jewellery, bags and smaller personal items with regional character.

32

GARMENTS + TEXTILES

Apparel, stoles, dupattas and fabric-based products showcasing local weave and print traditions.

15

UTILITY

Everyday objects such as serveware, organizers and other functional craft products.

The 172 products were a starting pool, not a proposed station assortment.

06. FROM RELEVANCE TO SUITABILITY

A culturally relevant craft was not automatically suitable for railway-station retail

Clustering craft items by packaging size and price.

Craft Toys

12 items

Accessories

77 items

Décor

36 items

Garments + Textiles

32 items

Utility

15 items

We compared the mapped items on practical factors: packaging size, price band, portability, product category, suitability for travel, and how quickly a passenger could consider and buy them.

This separated products that simply represented Gujarat from products that could also work within the physical and behavioural constraints of railway travel.

HOW TO READ THIS CHART

Each block is one mapped product, stacked in the column for its category.

Colour shows the price band: light blush for ₹0–500, dusty rose for ₹501–2,000 and brick for ₹2,001–5,000.

Block size shows packaging size: small up to 6″, medium up to 12″ and large above 12″.

Legend

Price

₹ 0-500

₹ 501-2000

₹ 2001-5000

Size

Small

Medium

6"X6"X6"

12"X12"X12"

>12"x12"x12"

Size and price exposed the trade-off: many culturally rich products were poorly suited to how passengers actually move through a station.

Large

07. PASSENGER REALITY

On the platform, craft purchases had to compete with luggage, intent and visibility.

Station interviews and observations showed where the broad product opportunity met the practical limits of a railway journey.

Field interviews and platform observations · Ahmedabad Railway Station

platform frictions that reshaped the product brief

Three frictions that changed the product brief

01

02

03

Movement + luggage

Time + purchase intent

Visibility + platform access

• Passengers carrying several bags rarely stopped to explore.

• Some passing-through passengers were more open to a station purchase.

• Platforms near the entry saw more footfall.

• Those with multiple trolleys hesitated over large or heavy craft items.

• Arriving visitors expected wider craft choice in city markets.

• Few craft or utility carts were visible across platforms.

Decision

Prioritise compact, lightweight products.

Decision

Make the offer quick to understand and buy.

Decision

Treat placement as part of the product strategy.

PASSENGER VOICE

“I would opt to buy craft from a railway station only if I am just passing by this station, but if I am visiting, market would have better variety of products to select from.”

— Passenger interview

On the platform, a suitable product still needed the right moment: in sight, within reach and quick to decide on.

08. WHAT SHAPED VALUE

Passengers valued craft when it felt useful, fairly priced and distinctive

Preference alone was not enough to drive a purchase. Passengers weighed practical usefulness, price and perceived quality alongside uniqueness, authenticity and regional meaning.

Functional value

Usefulness · portability · durability

Economic value

Price · perceived quality

Emotional + cultural value

Uniqueness · authenticity · regional story

What travellers said they would buy

Famous food items

Local textiles, sarees and shawls

Local craft items

61%

52%

47%

64%

wanted souvenirs or gifts for family and loved ones

Gift preference

36%

Accessories

35%

Textiles

32%

Traditional embroidery

In the 50+ participant sample, men aged 20–40 leaned more toward food, sarees and embroidery, while women aged 20–40 showed stronger interest in craft accessories.

Gifting was the strongest motive, so the offer had to feel worth giving, not just worth owning.

09. RESEARCH SYNTHESIS

Five insights turned passenger behaviour into product and communication decisions

Across preference, travel behaviour and station observations, five signals consistently changed what we would select, how we would package it and how its value should be communicated.

THE FIVE SIGNALS

Research narrowed the opportunity from “what people liked” to “what could realistically work.”

10. SELECTION LOGIC

Research became a practical framework for deciding what to introduce first

We assessed candidate crafts across product fit, passenger fit and station context, rather than popularity alone.

Balanced,

context-aware

selection

Research-informed selection criteria

Selection logic

How the criteria were applied

STEP 01

Shape the initial product mix

Use all three lenses together.

STEP 02

Prioritise what to introduce first

Balance appeal, portability and fit.

STEP 03

Test high-preference crafts early

Treat preference as one signal.

STEP 04

Include multiple price points

Entry and higher-value price points.

STEP 05

Refine through passenger response

Validate and evolve the initial mix.

Preference signals that informed prioritisation

Survey responses highlighted several crafts that attracted strong interest. These were key candidates for the initial product mix, evaluated alongside product fit and station context.

MOST PREFERRED IN SURVEY

PREFERRED

Chakla

Ari embroidery · Decorative wall piece

Toran

Ari embroidery · Door hanging

Thigda Dhingla

Traditional craft toy

Mata Ni Pachhedi

Temple cloth painting

White metal / Meenakari

Decorative sculpture

Melodic bells / Bell making

Copper bells

KEY TAKEAWAY

The product direction became a testable starting hypothesis — shaped by passenger preference, product fit and railway context.

These were preference signals, not a final ranked assortment. The initial mix was intended to be refined through real passenger response.

Product fit

Could it work as a station product?

Quality perception · Packaging size · Portability · Utility

Passenger fit

Would passengers consider buying it?

Preferences · Price band · Gifting · Uniqueness

Context fit

Did it belong here?

Regional relevance · Station suitability

11. THE Strategic REFRAME

Selecting the right products solved only half the problem

Research showed that even a suitable product could fail if passengers could not quickly recognise its relevance, understand its value or trust its authenticity.

PRODUCT DECISION

Which crafts should the station actually offer?

Preference · Portability · Price · Regional relevance · Station suitability

Build a compact, travel-ready assortment grounded in passenger preference and station realities.

COMMUNICATION DECISION

How would passengers recognise, understand and value them?

Visibility · Origin · Artisan story · Authenticity

Make cultural value easy to recognise, understand and trust at a glance.

AND

The strategy had to solve both product fit and perceived value.

12. STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

01

02

03

04

From selection to experience

The strategy moved beyond deciding which products to offer. It also addressed how products should be surfaced, understood, valued and evolved within the railway-station environment.

ARTISAN & PRODUCT STORYTELLING

Make the human story behind the craft visible

Use short artisan, origin and process stories to build authenticity, cultural meaning and perceived value without slowing down browsing.

Research signal

Cultural context was often not self-evident from the product.

Strategic direction

Use concise artisan, origin and process stories at the point of sale to make cultural value visible.

Future opportunity

BRANDING & COMMUNICATION

Make the craft easy to recognise and understand

Use a unified identity, concise product information and clear origin cues so passengers can quickly understand what a product is and why it is distinctive.

Research signal

Visibility and authenticity shaped whether products were noticed and trusted.

Strategic direction

Create a consistent visual identity across carts, signage and product information.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT & INITIAL RANGE

Launch with a focused, travel-ready assortment

Prioritise compact, portable and accessible products across preferred categories and price points, then refine the range through passenger response.

Research signal

Passengers preferred products that were easy to carry, visibly distinctive and affordably priced.

Strategic direction

Start with a curated mix across preferred categories and price points, designed for quick browsing, carrying and gifting.

ARTISAN–DESIGNER COLLABORATION

Explore contemporary interpretations of traditional craft

Develop new applications of familiar craft techniques with designers, while preserving each craft’s identity.

Research signal

Usefulness and distinctiveness shaped preference, creating an opportunity to explore contemporary applications of traditional craft.

Strategic direction

Explore artisan–designer collaborations for contemporary, travel-relevant pieces that keep the craft’s identity.

Conceptual visualisation of a station retail display.

Each direction answered a research signal, turning findings into actions a station team could run.

01

02

03

HANDED OFF

Research was translated into a product and communication direction for OSOP.

Craft landscape + categorisation

Passenger + station synthesis

Product-selection logic

Product + communication strategy

Cart design + fabrication

Signage + communication

Placement + merchandising

Operational rollout

Documented presentation of the strategic direction to Ministry stakeholders.

CONTRIBUTION BOUNDARY

The direction was developed collaboratively with the team.

I led the field study and contributed to research synthesis, craft categorisation, selection logic and the final strategic direction.

MY CONTRIBUTION

LATER EXECUTION — NOT MY WORK

Cart design, signage, merchandising and implementation were developed in a subsequent NID phase.

STRATEGY DEVELOPED

13. PRESENTATION AND HANDOFF

The strategic direction moved from research to presentation and handoff

The proposed OSOP direction was presented to the Ministry of Railways, and later taken forward by NID for execution.

MINISTRY PRESENTATION

The proposed direction was presented to the Ministry of Railways.

The direction informed the subsequent NID execution phase.

Presenting to the Ministry turned a research recommendation into a brief for the next phase of work.

14. REFLECTION

What this project taught me about turning research into product strategy

01

02

03

Cultural relevance is necessary, not sufficient

A product can belong to a region and still be wrong for the context in which it is sold.

Passenger behaviour, portability, price and operational realities ultimately determine whether cultural relevance can translate into a viable offer.

Stated preference needs behavioural context

What people say they like is only one signal.

The stronger decisions came from reading preference alongside luggage, time pressure, purchase intent and how passengers actually moved through the station.

Research becomes strategic when it changes decisions

The value of the research was not the number of insights produced.

It was turning those insights into criteria for product selection, placement, communication and storytelling.

OVERALL REFLECTION

The project strengthened my ability to connect cultural context, user behaviour, product characteristics and system constraints into a coherent strategic direction.

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY

I would test the initial product mix earlier through a live station pilot, so pricing, placement and communication could be validated in context rather than inferred mainly from research.

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Bengaluru, India

2026