4 MYTHS OF VALUE FASHION

 

 

 

There are 4 common myths about value fashion. Which got busted for me, as I got the chance to look at this incredible world  of value fashion closely in last 2 years. Let's put the context upfront.

Context of Market ?

We all know that Value fashion market is very big. 

Yes, of the total Lifestyle market in India of about 90b$ ( 7 lac crore), 25% comes from Metros, 12% sales comes from Tier -1 and 65% comes from Tier-2,3,4. For our conversation today, we would focus on the Tier – 2,3,4.

Bharat : The Rural India, Tier 2+  accounts for about 5 lac crore worth of lifestyle sales. That’s massive. It's more than National GDP of 60% of 216 countries in the world.

Also, It’s very large and complicated supply chain system, which sells about 2 crore garments and shoes every day !! If we put all the fabric use together in straight line it would go over the boundary of India 10 times. Every day ! Yes !

Lifestyle system is an age old, mature system. It has attained high level of efficiency over it’s evolution through 500+ centuries in India.

These garments are sold in very small stores. Which can accommodate only 2-3 customers at any point in time. These 8+ lac stores, does average business of 2.5 lac a month.

What is the average selling price ? 

A Men’s garment is sold at about 500 rs, women at 200 Rs and Kids at 100 rs. MRP could be anything, nobody cares. What matters is selling price.

I have never imagined that we would end up selling a garment as low as 39 Rs a piece… ( Kids Garment)…with profits, logistics cost etc built into it…

Men shirt takes up 30% of the men’s world. But nothing can beat Sarees, which accounts for half of the women wear sales.

Shall we talk about the Myths now ?    

 

Myth 1 : Value is Low price and low quality.

Indian apparel customer perhaps is the most knowledgeable customer on this planet. For ages, they have lived in the community of weavers, spinners, dyers, sellers in their families. They have very good eye for quality & Value for Money. While they are oblivious of the technology, but they have good sense of how much to pay for a garment.

It’s easier to sell a value induced garment, which is higher priced, rather than a cheap garment. Indian customer would be willing to pay a little higher for the value addition in the garment, but not go after poor quality.

Hence the route to enter this market is to find out ways of fabric techniques and garmenting styles which looks value induced but are not expensive.

 

Myth 2 : Latest fashion is available in Italy.

Upcountry customers does not have degrees and visiting card to display their identity. However, they have Garments ! And hence their willingness to experiment. 

Look at the colors and weaves in sarees, colors and motifs in the kalamkaris and bandhanis, cut and sew techniques in Men's shirts, Appliques in kids garments… An Italian designer may drown in awe of how this value segment leans on garish yet fast changing fashion.

Fashion originates in this segment from blatant copying the international fashion shows. And lots of the times, the garment presented in the fashion show hits the stores of Milan later than the village in Punjab. India is possibly quickest in interpreting the international fashion. Couple of weeks and its there for you to pick up at 5$.

We know ladies need to buy a saree which nobody has worn / seen earlier in the history of mankind! And Indian weavers, printers have capability to deliver on this audacious ask. It can happen only in India! Surat's ability to mix the differing concepts into a new one is just amazing and ever evolving.

The only way for organized players to win this race is to partner with the system and create scaling capability.

 

Myth 3: Small retail stores does not use the visual merchandising techniques.

Such a small store…. It hardly has any space to keep merchandise and for people to stand…. Retailer has no option but to be creative to do visual merchandising to push sales. 

They use hollow plastic mannequins tops for displays of best sellers, posters on the walls and in front of the counter, danglers hanging from the roof, folding beds with garments outside of store, 9” shelves on top to display of left feet shoe.. endless.…Low cost! But certainly innovative!

However because of lack of exposure, they are not best in aesthetic. Hence prevents them to match organized retail experience. Hence a player who can help small retailer display better would become a preferred partner for them.

 

Myth 4 : Value fashion system does not use Data.

Is data only numerical? Small manufacturers establish their own way of knowing what sells in domestic market. What they see moving out, what they hear from distributors, what they see others producing, helps them develop an unexplained, non-replicable intuition. Data is less numerical, more intuitional. For small business, it works well !

If a demand / sales partner like a B2B portal , generates and offers more insights to these manufacturers, he would be loved beyond comprehension.

There are more myths to be busted. I have just scratched the surface. It would probably need lifetimes to know it all. My respect for the small retailers and cottage manufacturers and the existing supply chain increased multifold, as I explored ways to enable and partner with them.

Bharat is large, complex, efficient and magnificent. Wonders can happen through technology advancement which would help Bharat to win in these turbulent times. I am fortunate to be the part of the digital revolution of Value Fashion of Bharat.