Texlynx, a multinational sourcing company which is buying home textiles and décor for the US and European market has already sourced products worth almost US $ 10 million in its two years of operations in India. Manoj Pande, Country Head-India, who is also a partner to the India venture, is gearing up for bigger business, looking to move into the vibrant South American market. The company has also recently acquired a local buying agency working in garments to spread its area of influence. In a candid conversation with Team Apparel Online, Manoj shared his strategy for growth and future plans.
With its headoffice in UAE, one of the most outstanding features of this two-decade buying office is the collaborative way of working on a global platform. Having offices in Bangladesh, Turkey, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, besides India, Texlynx runs each office as a separate independent unit with local partner, but working in collaboration with its other offices. If a customer wants coordinated products then the order, irrespective of which of the offices receives the same, is distributed among the offices based on product strengths, technical specialization and cost-effectiveness to serve the customer better, rather than retaining the order by the office which gets the order and giving higher prices to the customer. All offices have good synergy which is normally missing in the liaison offices of big buyers. “We don’t compete with each other, in fact each office is self-sustainable and for the customers Texlynx is one company,” says Manoj.
The comparatively new India office has already added top customers like Revman International, Inc., Mindsinsync and Croscill in the US and in UK, Character World while in France it has added Fremaux. “We are expanding with a new office and staff hiring is in process, but are going slow on developing more buyers, as we want good customers rather than more customers. It is important to get customers through our credibility and references. We want to go slow and to develop long-term relations,” says Manoj. The office is sourcing a variety of products like towels, sheets, rugs, curtain, blankets from across the country and has versatile of doing for very high-end customers like Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss, fine jacquard bedding to basic product and little hard goods also.
Working with 40 active vendors, the mix of capabilities is interesting; also the reason for working with each is different. “We need to have a variety of vendors, some vendors we inherited from our customers because Revmen was working with 10 vendors before closing its Indian office last year, so we have to work with them. I personally believe that one should have very limited vendor base so that you prove meaningful to them and can create more and more value for them,” reasons Manoj. Yet he admits that the decision is dependent on buyers’ needs. “Buyers like Croscill believe in new ideas, so they always wants to add new vendors, so as to utilize their different techniques, innovations to make more sales, but few other buyers are very reserved in this regard,” adds Manoj. The consumer-oriented way of working inspires the company to think from end customers’ point of view, from design to testing and how each process will give gain to a consumer. “We recommend and offer more than what a buyer asks to us, based on our experience and knowledge. We are the product people not the market people,” reasons Manoj.
Individual capability of the vendors also plays a vital role in deciding the vendor mix. “Our supplier Kapoor Industries, Panipat has a factory each for bath rug and towels, and they are equally good in both the items. They can cater the mass as well as class, there are many other vendors producing multi products with the help of specialized and distinct teams which makes sourcing comfortable without having a specific niche in a particular product,” shares Manoj. He also believes that easy coordination, communication and less operational expenditure are also important reasons to work with least possible vendor base.
With quality buyers and quality suppliers, the company is now diversifying its market as well as product offerings by entering South America and adding apparel division. Manoj views the move as de-risking the business. “Rather than being dependent on a few top customers, we want to make it more versatile and have customers from all across the world. South America is a relatively unexplored market and we are comfortable with the same as we are also fluent in their language. On the other hand, we have taken over a small buying house for apparel section, keeping in mind that Texlynx should be one-point solution for its various clients,” he adds. In apparels, the buying office will focus on high value garments in knits as well as woven for men’s and women’s wear.
The company is in touch with few buyers for apparels that are brands, licensee companies and catalogue buyers. By the end of this year it is expecting 20 to 30 per cent growth, and with the current team of 10 people the company is also associated with some NGOs working for street children and for their night shelter.
