Enhance street vendors’ sales and livelihood through technology

Abstract

This capstone project involves developing a digital application to improve the livelihoods of street vendors in urban India, in particular the city of Ahmedabad. Street vendors make up a substantial portion of India’s informal workforce and there is an urgent need for scalable interventions that address their needs, challenges and existing regulation. This project evaluates the possibility of incorporating technology within the business model of street vendors in order to help link vendors directly with consumers. Primary data was collected through in-person surveys targeting vendors across diverse neighborhoods. The responses were analyzed to identify patterns in challenges, digital literacy, and interest in technology-driven solutions. In today’s world smartphones are being used as tools for communication, information access, entertainment, e-commerce and even work. Hence this gives opportunity to leverage this technology to enhance business visibility and customer engagement for street vendors. The prototype application is designed to prioritise ease of use, language accessibility and vendor autonomy. Features such as map-based discovery, product cataloging and customer feedback loops are integrated into the prototype to address core challenges. By making sure that the technological design is aligned to meet on-the-ground realities, this project presents a practical solution to bridge the gap between customers and vendors and increases vendor visibility and improves upon the existing business model of street vendors. It thus can offer a roadmap for inclusive development that recognizes and uplifts the current livelihood of street vendors through targeted digital empowerment.