Kolkata is home to many growing brands and retailers particularly those having niche focus on fashion apparel and catering to certain specific audiences. Brands like Dollar, Rupa, Amul and Lux are dedicated to categories like knitted undergarments and activewear, Vedant Fashions is focused on ethnicwear while a few are known for their expertise in value retail. All these retailers and brands have major thrust on specific states like West Bengal and Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. Only a few have ventured out to metro cities. Amongst the top retailers, Baazar Retail, a large format value retail, is on the growth track. It is known for its entire range of clothing including shirts, T-shirts, trousers, sports and activewear, winterwear, nightwear, westernwear etc.
Offering products under private labels like ‘GENE’, ‘NOW’ and ‘Prakriti’, the retailer adds a unique touch, giving its customers exclusive options they can’t find elsewhere.
Having distinct store names such as ‘Baazar Kolkata’ and ‘Fashion City’ for different demographic locations suggests the uniqueness of Baazar Retail and its tagline ‘The Family Store’ clearly indicates its target of addressing a wide range of customers.
Why Baazar Kolkata?
Emerging as a strong player, Baazar Retail now has an impressive store count of 180 across nine states.
The retailer is strategically aiming to add 100 new stores in next few years and this ambitious expansion initiative reflects its commitment to meeting the growing demands of valued customers while extending its reach to new markets.
Within apparel volume, menswear has a maximum contribution of 42 per cent, kidswear has around 38 per cent of the volume and the rest 20 per cent belongs to womenswear.
| “Proven consistency, quality, cost advantage and commitment to deliver on time are a few of the aspects motivating the company to source from Bangladesh.” |
Sourcing scenario and strategy
To cater to its customers, primarily those who are mainly looking for value for money and are spread across various demographics, the retailer sources apparel from different manufacturing units across India. “We have eight different regions, where different specialised products are being manufactured by world-class manufacturing facilities under the supervision of product specialists. There are approximately 300 garment manufacturing partners who are producing garments for Baazar Retail. 20 per cent of manufacturers are dedicated vendors with 700-1000 number of machines. Our vendors have an average size of 300-500 machines,” shared Neeraj Nagpal, COO of the company.
The retailer buys around 50 million pieces per annum with a 15 per cent – 20 per cent increase in volume every year. The dedicated and strategic vendors are given an order quantity of 2 million pieces every year. Considering men’s casual shirts and denim with a focused roadmap on increasing the volume, last year the retail giant started sourcing major products from Bangladesh. Being strategically located, Bangladesh has huge potential to be explored as a major sourcing hub for Baazar Retail considering the benefits of product capabilities with cost calibration, the benefit of being located near to the border and the possibilities of exploring fabrics imported from Far East countries and manufactured in Bangladesh.
