On the 2nd of February, exhibitors at ASW Marketplace enthusiastically attended the first vendor meet session, held by Ramesh Gunasekaran, Head Sourcing at Easybuy - Max Retail Division, Landmark Group. Under the unique initiative – B2B Matchmaking, Ramesh a seasoned apparel professional, shared his views about the growing value retail segment, the strategy of Easybuy and what constitutes a preferred supplier. After Ramesh a seasoned apparel professional, shared his views about the growing value retail segment, the strategy of Easybuy and what constitutes a preferred supplier. The ASW team arranged 6 - on request, one-on-one meetings between the exhibitors and EasyBuy, after the session.

‘Value for money’ is one of the most successful approaches to retail adopted by the Indian apparel retail sector and now in post-Covid scenario, value retail/value segment is one of the most focused areas for growth. As per KSA market size report, middle and economy value segment is worth around Rs. 1,60,000 crore in Indian domestic apparel market (overall market size is around Rs. 2,50,000 crore) which is highest compared to all other categories including higher middle/value fast fashion, premium segment and super premium or luxury segment.

Not surprisingly, few of the apparel retailers are dedicated to this segment and they are quite confident about awesome growth. One of them is Easybuy, an affordable, family retailer of the Landmark Group. Completing seven years in India, Easybuy already has 100 stores across India with an impressive turnover of around Rs. 500 crore.

Around 88 per cent population of India lives in 6,40,000 villages and 7,834 small or medium level towns. These people constitute around 75 per cent of India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Production). There is huge potential in this segment as aspirations of the people in villages or towns, shifting towards metro cities are on the rise and they have an inclination to buy more. However recently after pandemic, in villages or small towns, and even in metro cities, purchasing power is under pressure and a big chunk of the customers are looking for value for money. This customer segment is not much dedicated to branding but need value for their penny. Keeping this in mind, the products of Easybuy are fairly priced and even the most expensive product costs the customer only around Rs.1699.

Sharing these facts, Ramesh says, “At Easybuy, our focus is now also on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, and by 2025, we are expecting to touch a turnover of around Rs. 3000 crore and the store count will be 200 to 250 across India. As our market share is growing massively, we are adding new vendors also. We are exploring vendors from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also. Large vendors can add to the benefit of large business volume.” Moving forward, as far as growth of sourcing volume of Easybuy in next two years is concerned, the woven segment is expected to grow by 40 per cent and the knit segment will grow by 28 per cent.

With a retail mantra of 3S - Super style, Super price, Super product, the retailer follows a four seasons sourcing cycle and it requires goods at the distribution centre 45 days ahead of the season’s starting. So, its vendors normally get overall lead time of 120 to 130 days and for specifically manufacturing, they get 6 weeks to 9 weeks, depending on orders’ complexity.

Easybuy’s expectations are reasonable and its vendors need not have certifications like Sedex, Wrap etc. Rather it is very much focused on basic compliances and there is no compromise on the same. So, no matter if a supplier is an SME or giant, if they are costeffective, confident of giving quality and ethical in their approach, nobody can stop them from growing with this value segment retailer that is increasing its footprints in the Indian apparel retail scenario.

The buzz created with the first Vendor session and the positive response of the exhibitors, is a big thumbs up for more such meets in the coming weeks. Summing up the sentiments of the attendees, Imran Sattar, Executive Director, Utah Group concludes, “Thank you to the ASW organisers for organising this wonderful vendor session. It is understandable in a pandemic situation to have these meets. Really appreciate the effort.” The next session is to be held on 11th February by Jockey India.