Punkalasa a system to promote and presave pottery industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Rural industries make a major contribution to the economy in Sri Lanka. Even so, the communities involved encounter numerous obstacles, such as low sales and difficulties in targeting a larger market, retaining buyers, and so on. According to consumer feedback, the key challenges in this field are quality concerns, a limited selection of items to select from, and the lack of a guarantee on the potter or the products on the market. Pottery is well known in the Kurunegala and Kandy districts. A group of potters and pottery material sellers from Kumbukwewa and Thiththawella in Kurunegala District were chosen for this project's requirement elicitation. The information acquired during the problem identification phase revealed that the majority of the pottery community is technologically illiterate, and the disparity between potters and pottery customers has been exacerbated primarily by a lack of technology usage to market themselves. Furthermore, the author found that, while the government has taken initiatives to strengthen this sector, these initiatives have not been able to completely reduce the gap between the potter and the consumer. The younger generation's presence in this field has been significantly reduced as a result of social attitudinal problems toward this sector. Furthermore, the author has discovered that a lack of product variety is a significant factor in customers' preference for other alternatives instead of clay-based materials. The suggested technological approach ‘PunKalasa' will be solving these identified business problems. This includes features that help the potter to create new items as well as make shopping decisions easier by enabling the consumer to display the products on their mobile devices in their desired area. These enhancements are intended to solve issues such as the product range, narrowing the distance between the customer and the potter, and to increase the involvement of younger generations"