Stop Blaming the Artisan: Technology Doesn't Fail Them, It Betrays Them.

A dominant discourse in the development sector surrounding digital inclusion is the poor adoption of technology. The problem is often framed as a failure to adopt, shifting the blame onto micro and nano-enterprises themselves. The common recommendation that follows this framing is to provide digital skills training or digital literacy programs. The argument suggests that, armed with these new skills, entrepreneurs can easily navigate the digital landscape to prosperity. But even with this promise, artisan entrepreneurs are persistently reluctant. Why?

The Returns Trap

When I asked artisan entrepreneurs why they aren't on online marketplaces like Amazon or Flipkart, the answer was never, "I don't know how to use it." The problem they invariably cited was dealing with returns. For artisan entrepreneurs with wafer-thin profit margins, the logistical and financial costs associated with processing customer returns are often greater than the profit earned on the initial sale. This risk alone is enough to deter adoption.

The 'Death by a Thousand Cuts' Fee Structure

The original promise of the internet was the elimination of middlemen, offering direct access to the consumer. However, over the last quarter of a century, the internet has done the opposite: it has added a whole stack of digital intermediaries and mediators, who act as rent-collecting middlemen.

The intermediary stack collects rent in the form of subscriptions and commissions at every stage: the e-commerce platform, the payment gateway, the logistics provider. It creates a 'death by a thousand cuts' fee structure that systematically eliminates the razor-thin margins of the micro-enterprise.

• The Global Pattern of Extraction

This is not just a local problem. My findings within this craft cluster are similar to those of CGAP in their research in sub-Saharan Africa. Their research on digital payments found that merchants rationally choose cash because the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) often eliminates their razor-thin profit margins. This demonstrates a global pattern: whether it’s the 3% MDR or the cumulative fees of an e-commerce platform, the system is designed to extract value and not enable micro-enterprise growth.

Walled Gardens and Non-Human Actors

Adding to this systemic challenge are the Non-Human Actors—the algorithms—that act as mediators, deciding what gets seen by a potential customer. Computer vision, classification intelligence, and recommendation algorithms are not built to serve micro-enterprises. They are inherently built for scale. This means the existing technology architecture is structurally stacked against the artisan's success.

The apps artisan entrepreneurs do use—payment apps, social media, or social networking sites—are "Walled Gardens." These gardens are already crowded, with large swathes of digital real estate claimed by early adopters. Artisan entrepreneurs must struggle and compete for small slivers at great expense. Claiming even a sliver of real estate requires significant investment in time (content creation) and money (advertising dollars).

Even a cursory analysis tells us that the costs greatly outweigh the benefits. The ROI on going digital is simply not great.

A Calculated Strategic Move

The decision to not adopt established technology platforms is not ignorance; it is a calculated strategic move. These entrepreneurs recognize, as Everett Rogers argued in Diffusion of Innovations, that as late adopters, they have little to gain from these established 'walled gardens.'

We need to move the conversation from providing digital literacy to redesigning the platform. We need new ethical digital platforms with transparent fee structures, transparent algorithms, shared risk models for returns, and a focus on reducing the intermediary tech-stack. The next generation tech-stack must serve both makers and users and not simply be a vehicle for profit extraction.