H2F
US buyers seem positive …!
Indicate increase in sourcing of home furnishing from India
The 45th edition of India Handicrafts and Gifts Fair ( IHGF ) – Delhi Fair Spring 2018 – organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts ( EPCH ), as usual witnessed visitation from large number of overseas and domestic buyers , top retailers and buying agents . Many of them were keen to explore home furnishing products ( soft goods ) put on display by nearly 480 Indian home furnishing exporters . Apparel Online met some of the interesting buyers at the fair and discussed the business scenario , their strategy , future plans and allied aspects of sourcing home fashion products from India . It is a good sign for India that US-based wholesalers / importers seem positive about their business and they are looking to increase home furnishing sourcing from India .
With regard to US-based buyers , the good thing is that new companies are now exploring India and many of them were happy with the overall offerings that they found at the fair . Established importers too are adding new product categories . Some of the product categories are coming back to Indian market and few others are doing well . For example , medium and high-end market segment is coming back to India for more luxury items , organicbased products . Buyers are very optimistic about India , and specially in comparison to China . Few buyers also say that Indian exporters ’ ways of approaching customers is definitely much better than that of the Chinese , and this is a positive way to get more business .
It has been widely reported in recent times that Chinese companies have increased their focus on product development , designs which is another issue for Indians . However , many buyers do not agree to the same , though experts feel that in some product categories like table tops , China has grabbed a big share of India .
Dealing with a large variety of different kinds of soft and hard goods , Boston International , Massachusetts , a distribution company started sourcing home furnishing product , from India just a year and half ago . The company also explored China for the same as it has strong know-how of China and has been sourcing from there . But a top official ( names have not been shared on buyers ’ request ) of the company found India more interesting in few aspects . “ Our customers expect a lot of variety from us which is a challenge . Chinese are not good in Americanised art , so in China we were not getting variety of artwork and detailing that could keep our customers interested , so we explored India for textiles and right from the start , Indian designs did very well for us . Printing and overall quality in Indian products is very good and consistent ,” she informed , adding that in shade variation also , India is better than China , as they do not find this problem in India . For a year , her team keenly observed customers ’ response to Indian products and finally they decided to visit India and work more deeply with Indian companies .
Senior team of Boston International
Deven Saxena ( L ) MD , Charu Merchandising with Lokesh Parashar of Buying Agents Association
Growth : Boston International , Massachusetts which grew by 12 per cent last year , is expecting similar growth ( 10 to 12 per cent ) this year too . India ’ s Heritage is also doing well and the current year also looks good for them . The company ’ s business has grown consistently year-on-year .
Top representative from Retail Strategy
Currently the company is sourcing kitchen and table linen from India and in a year , it has sourced more than US $ 1,00,000 worth of products and is expecting 40 to 50 per cent growth in the same . She is of the view that delivery timing is the only issue where Indian exporters need to improve a little .
There are some other buyers who are still banking on India ’ s differential strength , yet are spreading their sourcing into other countries to add more value in their offering . However , their first priority is still India and they too are looking at increasing their sourcing from India . India ’ s Heritage , New Jersey working for almost 20 years in India , is properly utilizing the strengths of most Indian hubs and is trying to expose these strengths to various international clients of the US market . “ We do products that are traditional , transitional , contemporary , and
28 Apparel Online India | MARCH 1-15 , 2018 | www . apparelresources . com