Development of an E-Commerce Platform for Artisans in Enugu Urban Area

Artisans and skilled tradespeople in Enugu Urban Area, including tailors, shoemakers, welders, and furniture makers, largely depend on walk-in customers and word-of-mouth referrals for business, limiting their market reach and income potential. The rapid growth of e-commerce adoption in Nigeria, driven by increased smartphone usage and mobile payment penetration, presents an opportunity to connect local artisans with a broader urban and peri-urban customer base. This study developed a web-based e-commerce platform designed to aggregate and showcase artisan services and products from Enugu Urban Area, enabling customers to browse offerings, request services, and make payments online. The platform was built using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP with MySQL database support, integrating the Paystack payment gateway for seamless local transactions. Artisan profiles featured service descriptions, product listings with images, pricing, location, and customer review sections. A lightweight onboarding process was designed to accommodate artisans with low digital literacy, with optional assistance from registered agents. Pilot testing with a sample of artisans from Enugu Urban confirmed successful service listing, order receipt, and payment processing. Customer usability trials indicated strong willingness to patronise artisans through the platform, citing convenience and access to verified reviews. The study concluded that a locally focused artisan e-commerce platform has strong commercial viability in Enugu and can serve as a digital economic inclusion tool for informal sector workers.

Keywords: e-commerce, artisans, Enugu Urban, digital marketplace, mobile payment