Champo Carpets: Improving Business-to-Business Sales Using Machine Learning Algorithms

Champo Carpets is one of the largest carpet manufacturing companies based in India, with customers across the world, including some of the most reputed stores and catalogue companies. Champo Carpets is based out of Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, which is one of the most famous clusters of carpet weaving in India. This cluster is spread over 1,000 sq. km and comprises many villages and districts in and around it. The company is a vertically integrated manufacturer and exporter of carpets and floor coverings, with more than 52 years of existence. At the beginning of 2020, the company employed 1,500 people with a capacity to produce 200,000 pieces of carpets and floor coverings per month. As part of sales and marketing, Champo Carpets shared sample designs with its potential customers, based on which the customer placed an order. The sample design selection was done in various ways and the process itself is costly and elaborate. To capture industry trends, a team of the company visited various trade shows and events and sent samples to the client as per the latest fibre and colour trends. However, their sample-to-order conversion ratio was low compared to the industry average. This had cost repercussions as well as lost opportunities. The company identified the cause as inaccurate targeting of products to their customers. It subsequently implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application and has been capturing data at every point of production as well as sales. They believe this accumulated data can help target their products accurately to the right clients and design an appropriate recommender system.