What to Study for GD/ PI for MFM

I have been asked this question several times. It is important that there should be certain background or orientation in order to perform well. Here are my top readings that you can do for GD/PI for MFM.

1. Images Retail: It is a monthly magazine, you would do well to go through it. It is also important that you know the meanings of the terms such as footfalls (No. of people entering in a store), Ticket Size ( Average bill value of a store), Visual Merchandising ( The display of merchandise in the store) Markup ( Cost + Profit) and Margin ( Sales Price- Profit).

2. Economic Times or Financial Express or Mint: Look for the news related to apparel retail, textile or apparel exports.

3. Business of Fashion: A must read  magazine. Please  go through it atleast to have the idea of how brands are doing.

4. Vogue: To get a hang of what fashion is all about.

5. Visit to a Mall: Go to apparel stores and note down:

a. Best store in terms of visual merchandising
b. Best store in terms of variety.
c. Best store in terms of service
and so on... you will get to know so many things about stores.

6. A textile Book: Get to know the meanings of Voile, Silk, Chiffon, Georgette, dyeing, Batik and so on. Should know the difference between weaving and knitting, dyeing and printing etc.

7. Your own wardrobe: Study your cloths. How many formals, casuals etc do you have. What are your wearing and spending patterns.

This is just a small list where you can get enough material that will see you through the conversation during GDs and PI.

Louis Philippe- Ventures into Mens Footwear

Overall Market of Footwear in India: 30,000 cr.

Branded Footwear Market: 2000 cr.

Expects the new category to contribute at least 15% of the turnover.

COO of Louis Philippe: Vishak Kumar

No. Of Stores where footwear range is available: 130

Price: 2999 to 4999

Global and Local sourcing: 1 lakh pairs a year

Growth of Louis Philippe Brand: 20% per year

Discussion Topic: Pepsi Launching Fashion Merchandise in India

Discussion Topic

Pepsi Launching Fashion Merchandise in India

A report by Financial Chronicle had reported in September that Pepsi would enter into exclusive fashion and apparel stores in India to sell its new brand of merchandise. It would be in mid price segment with Tier II and Tier III cities would be the core markets.

1. Why Pepsi is thinking about entering into the apparel and fashion business in India.

2. Can it Tap the opportunities in the Indian Retail Industry with its apparel and Fashion Business.

3. How it will fare in the hotly competitive Indian Retail Industry.

How to Approach GD in MFM- The Production Paradigm

How to Approach GD in MFM-  The Production Approach

This approach is more applicable for the students preparing for the M.F.Tech Course. However, the cases can be asked in MFM too. Again let me first discuss a brief theory:

Any production situation is characterized and judged by broadly four parameters:

1. Quantity

2. Quality

3. Cost

4. Delivery

Which means that these four ( Double Q, C,D) can become levers for you to initiate, contribute and conclude any discussion based on these. Let me tell you a typical situation:

You are the CEO of an apparel manufacturing company. How will you beat manufacturer from say, Bangladesh.

Here the parameters for you to evaluate are Quantity, Quality Cost and Delivery. Thus can we give the right quantity with the quality delivered at the right cost and within the time asked by the client. The whole discussion can revolve around the levers. 

Hope this will take care of at least 20% of the discussion topics asked in MFM.

Cheers !!!

How to Approach GD in MFM- The Marketing Approach

How to Approach GD in MFM

There can be many approaches towards contributing to a GD for MFM. I like the marketing approach best, because most of the topics/ case studies asked in MFM are related to marketing or retailing. For other approaches I will talk about them in my subsequent posts. Here I would like to deal with this approach:

The approach uses some theory of marketing. Let me discuss that first. This is simple and easy to understand.

Marketing is the satisfaction of a customer's need profitably. That is it. Thus if a customer craves for social recognition, then clothing can satisfy that need. And if you can offer that solution to him where both you and him are satisfied, your job is done.

Having said that however, it is not so simple. There can be four cases:

1. The clothing that you offer is not attractive enough so the social need is not satisfied. In that case the customer would not buy it. The solution to this is called "Product Design"

2. The clothing is not right priced: either it is very high priced so that it deter customer to buy or it is very low priced- which customer find beneath their dignity to buy. This problem lies in the domain of "pricing".

3. The clothing is not available at all. Or if available, then the shop is too far and too unattractive a place to to. This problem lies in domain of "Placement"

4. The clothing is right, very genuinely priced and available but it is not known to people. In that cases advertisement and other support is needed so that people know about it. The problem lies in the domain of "Promotion".

Now any  problem related to marketing and retailing can be fitted in the domain of solving one or more of these 4 Ps of marketing ( Product, Price, Place and Promotion). This will be a structure where you can initiate a discussion and give valuable suggestions or even can close the discussion.

Here are some of the examples where a case can be presented and where the problem can be structured as that of one of these 4Ps.

You are a local apparel retail and Reliance Mart has come in the neighborhood. What tactics would you adopt to counter this.

So your thought would be changing either the product offer, or pricing or becoming more closer to the customer or promoting yourself in a different way.

I hope you are able to understand what I am trying to explain to you. In fact, 70% of the GD topics in MFM revolves around marketing theme. Apply it in different situations and enjoy ?

And yes, you can always pose your doubts in comments or Cbox provided at the side.

Cheers !!!

Foreign Direct Investment in Multi Brand Retail

The government is thinking of granting 51% FDI in multi-brand retail.

Under the existing rules, upto 51% foreign investment is permitted in single brand product.

FDI upto 100% is allowed in wholesale cash-and-carry trade.

However, the permission will come with stiff riders such as the retail store should be located in cities with a min. population of one million. There are also rules for minimum capitalisation and minimum built up area. Also there are rules to encourage procurement from local manufacturers.

India has 15 million retail outlets. Only 4% of the outlets are bigger than 500 sq feet and the remaining 96 per cent are in unorganised sector.

Weekender- Primus Retail

Weekender

1. Casual Brand Retailer.

2. Average Selling Price: 800 Rs.

3. Repositioned from "Wear Your Attitude" -centring young people to a Family store.

4. Parent Company: Primus Retail

5. CEO: Balaji Bhat.

6. History: The brand was taken over from Jagdish Hinduja's family owned Gokaldas Images in 2007 by Primus Retail.

7. Operates through Franchisee Model.

8.Average Store Size: 600-800 sq. ft store

9. Primus Retail has a licensee agreement with Disney Kids clothing.

10. It is also a franchisee for International apparel brands like Levis, Adidas, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger and Puma.

11. Total Number of outlets: 240 stores

12. Total retail space: 400,000 sqft.

13. Number of Indian cities having retail presence: 150

Tatas to Foray into Footwear Retailing

Tata Group:

1. $70.8 Billion group

2. Alreay has two retail ventures: Chroma and Trent ( Which has Westside, Star Bazaar and Landmark)

3. Tata International: Planning to set up a retail chain for footwear. with their first Store in Delhi

5. The company is already supplying shoes and leather products to Marks and Spenser, Zara, Betty Barclay, Mango, Hush Puppies and Escada.



6. In India it is supplying to Westside, Shoppers Stop and Raymond.

7. It has one of the largest Tanneries in the world in Dewas, MP. It also has a manufacturing unit in Chennai.

8. Chroma : under infinity Retail : Hope to grow into a 100 store brand.

9. Star Bazaar: Hyper market format: Technical expertise from Tesco of UK: Plan to scale up to 18 storres by 2011.



10. Westside: A department store. Signed up with Inditex and promotes stores that will exclusively sell the Zara brand in India.

11. Trent: Headed by Noel Tata

12. Chroma: Headed by R.K. Krishna Kumar.


13. Tata International: Chairman: B. Muthuraman, Executive Director: K. Kaul

Madura Garments- Time for Head Shuffling

Aditya Birla Nuvo's Textile and Apparel Business

Revenue: 1115 crore

It is India's largest player in branded Clothing

Alok Malik: President of Peter England Fashions & Retail Ltd is moving to Idea Cellular. Previously he was associated with Reliance Retail.

The current president of Madura Garments LIfestyle & Retail Ltd, Ashish Dikshit, will be looking after Peter England Fasions & Retail as well.

The erstwhile monolith Madura Garments was split  into Madura Garments Lifestyle & Retail, Peter England Fashions & Retail and Madura Garments Exports Ltd in three years ago.

Birla's planned to invest 400-crore into Peter England Fashions & Retail which was identified as a growth vehicle. Alongside 'More' Peter England was planned into a chain of family stores called "people".

Thus Madura Garments Lifestyle & Retail was planned to play in premium segment and Peter England Fashions & Retail in mid-price segment.

The recession period forced the group to axe the family store concept.

Pranab Barua is asked to spearhead the garments and apparel business. Dikshit will report to Barua.

Madura Garments Exports Ltd, a contract garment producer catering to export markets will have a new business head by the name of ES Shankar.

Aditya Birla acquired Madura Garments from Coats Plc for Rs. 236 crore in 1999.

You can have more information on Madura Brands here. To meet the management team, click here.

Arvind Brands Shakes Hands with Sixty Group

The Deal is to bring menswear label Energie into the country


Sixty Group 

Origin: Italy

Product: Denim

Age: 20 years old brand

Brands under Sixty Group: Miss Sixty, Killah and Murthy&Nye, Energie, Richlue and Baracuta

Arvind Brands

1. Headed by Sanjay Lalbhai

2. Joint Venture with VF Group: Controls the rights of Lee and Wrangler in Indian Market.

3. Other Licensing Agreements: Gantt, Izod, Arrow and US Polo, VF Corporation and Tommy Hilfiger

4. Other Brands: Flying Machine, Excalibur and Newport.

5. Arvind Brand: 230 crore Subsidiary of Arvind Mills.

6. COO of Arvind Brand: J Suresh


Strategy

1. Energie Jeans would be priced on par with Diesel, which is having a 49:51 Joint venture with Reliance Group. Diesel carries a price tag of Rs. 8000 to 10000.

2. Energie will play in the super premium segment, Lee and Wrangler will be in the premium market.

3. Price of Energie will start at around 3500 for a pair of jeans

Apparel Brands in News- Lilliput

Brand Information

Lilliput 
Category: Children's Apparel and Accessories
Founder and MD: Sanjeev Narula
Established : 1991
Number of Stores: 260
Base: Delhi
Presence: India and 9 other countries
Turnover in March 2010: 415 crore
EBOs and MBOs

News:

1. Lilliput looking to open "Lilliput World" stores, where it will retail soft toys, baby walker, footwear, feeders and other accessories, besides clothing.

2. Private Equity Firm TPG has picked up minority stake (35%) in the company for 120 crores from domestic investment firm Everstone.

3. PE firm Bain Capital has picked up an undisclosed stake in Lilliput for Rs. 270 crore.

Current Topics for GD/PI- MFM- NIFT-2010

These, according to me, are the hot topics that can be discussed during group discussion and personal interviews:

1. You are brand manager of a casual apparel brand. How you can use social networking sites such as Facebook or Linkedin for the benefit of your brand.

2.Indian apparel retail post recession. Challenges and Opportunities. 

3.  If your brand is doing well in Metro cities, would it make sense to venture into the Tier-2 cities. How would the marketing mix ( product, price, place, promotion) be different there. 

4. Should apparel brands go on discounts at all ? Why ? Why not ?

5. Should there be any return policy for an apparel brand ? Why ? Why not 

6. Malls are not the same post recession. 

7. Rising Prices of Cotton Yarn- Boon or bane for Indian Exports. 

8. India should stick to manufacturing and selling traditional textiles and leave the manufacturing of other textiles to China and other countries.

9.Organic Textiles. Does it have a future or it is a mere eyewash .

10.India Advantage- Apparel and Textiles

11. Indian customer knows only one language- the language of discounts- every other strategy is useless.

You can read My Retail Notes to prepare for some of these topics.

Does it help in MFM if you are a Textile or Fashion Graduate

This is a question asked by one of the readers:

Hi Priyank ! I have got a call for Group Discussion and Personnel Interview for Masters in Fashion Management( MFM)  at NIFT.I am doing graduation in Agriculture and so I am quite worried as this could prove to be a drawback in my selection. Please help. 


Here is one more question:


Hi ! I am a graduate in English literature. Would it be relevent subject to me to answer in Interview session to secure a seat in NIFT or they require any technical or experience background to become a part of their management program?

It helps to have a background in Fashion or Textiles if you are venturing into the realm of MFM.This sounds logical but looking at business of Fashion in totality, this statement loses ground.

It hinders. Because it blocks one's mind that MFM is only about Textiles or Fashion, so having a  product oriented attitude will lead to an air of arrogance or at best what Theodore Levitt has called as "Marketing Myopia".

MFM is all about Business of Fashion. Product is only a part of the Business. The product has certain characteristics, but those characteristics can be learnt while you are an MFM student and at job and for that a background in Fashion or Textiles is not needed, as per me. 

There are a lot of people who do not agree with me. But when I take a look around and see my seniors and persons occupying the position of country heads, almost all of them are of non-textile-fashion background. 

If you are new to the field, you can understand the big picture better than a textile engineer or a textile designer. It is obvious, because it helps if you are an outsider and all the functions e.g. product, markets, human-resource and finance have an equal importance. And yes, you lack that air of superiority that comes naturally in the people having product or process knowledge.

In fact, fashion is an image based product determined by the customer. Product knowledge helps, but only to the extent that it should be dropped in the background as soon as possible and broader concept needs to be grasped. 

The people in the selection process understand that and that is why there is no such criteria that only people from Textile or Fashion field can apply in MFM.

I have seen people coming from as diverse backgrounds as Biology to study for MFM and doing successfully in the industry.

I hope this helps in answering your query.