Apparel Online India Magazine April 1st Issue 2019 | Page 24

AR EVENT
Day-1, Panel Discussion 3: Experts aptly dealt with all the pain points of e-commerce in a seminar themed ‘Winning
at E-commerce’
everyday,” explained Neetu, stating
the relevance to help the vendors/
manufacturers grasp the emerging
concepts in retail, and fine-tune and
upgrade their capabilities accordingly
to make a successful foray into the
Indian fashion retail sector.
The next panel discussion revolved
around products, quantities, sourcing
strategies and delivery expectations of
both Indian and international brands
sourcing for Indian stores with focus
on new challenges and also growth
areas. Titled RE-ENGINEERING –
SOURCING-SOURCING STRATEGY
FOR INDIAN & INTERNATIONAL
RETAILERS AND BRANDS IN INDIA,
eminent names from the Indian
fashion retail sector including Mohit
Dhanjal (Director Retail-Raymond
Limited); Wicrant Gambhir, (Head
Sourcing, Jockey India); Mohit
Mathur (Senior VP Sourcing
– Landmark Group); Yogesh
Choudhary (VP – Production/
Sourcing, Gini and Jony Ltd.);
Purvi Joshi (VP – Being Human
Clothing/Mandhana Industries,
India); and Ramesh Ramalingam
(AVP, Sourcing Operations – Arvind
Lifestyle Brands), took part in the
dialogue. “In today’s market, it is
important for us to relook at our
manufacturing practices to seed the
potential that India has,” said Mohit
Mathur, adding, “Making sure that
the transformations are done within
the length, breadth and depth of
an organisation is what is going to
bring in changes for the retailers.”
Added Ramesh, “We work very close
to our vendors to make sure that the
products outsourced are consistent
according to our need.” Moderating
the session, Mohit Dhanjal stressed
“This was the
first time that
WGSN held a
quiz in India.
We generally do
trend forecasting
presentations,
but being a great
way to engage
the audience,
we took up this
quiz at Apparel
Sourcing Week
as it had the
correct audience
for an industry-
oriented theme
like fashion and
retail. We are
happy with the
response.”
– Puneet Dudeja,
Sales Director, WGSN (India)
Day-2, Panel Discussion 1: Titled ‘Re-engineering Sourcing – Sourcing Strategy for Indian & International
Retailers’, the seminar focused on challenges that exist in buying in India as well as the growth
opportunities within the market
that since retail formats and the
way of working is changing fast, the
back-end support in terms of sourcing
also needs to keep pace by using new
technologies to reduce time to market.
Second session of Day 2 – EASE
OF FASHION IMPORTS - STEER
YOUR WAY THROUGH LOGISTICS,
BANKING AND CUSTOMS,
moderated by Neeraj Nagpal
(Customer Care Associate and
President – Brands, Shoppers
Stop) saw speakers like Naagendra
Srinivasa (Head Supply Chain &
Sourcing, Raymonds Limited); E. S
Shankar (MD, Synergy Logistics);
Md. Nasir (VP – Finance, BGMEA
& MD Evergreen Sweaters)
and Sandeep Golam, (Director
Operations, Armana Group) run
through many important issues
related to the concerns of importing
garments from Bangladesh.
“Document plays an important role
and it’s important to understand the
import and export documentation
process on both the sides,” stressed
Naagendra Srinivasa, Head Supply
Chain and Sourcing, Raymond
Apparel Limited. From a Bangladesh
perspective, Md. Nasir emphasised,
“Non-payment or delay in payments for
small reasons is an issue that needs to
be addressed in the process of export
and import to increase trade.”
Last session of the show, DRIVING
SMART RETAIL AND SOURCING
WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY in 2019,
was an attempt to understand how
technology can support the change.
The panel included eminent names
like Robert Lobo-Consultant, AI,
Applications, Venture Partner at
Z Nation Lab; Vikas C. Raykar
– Senior Researcher, IBM
24 Apparel Online India | APRIL 1-15, 2019 | www.apparelresources.com
Research; Ankur Dinesh Garg,
President & CEO, Hotify& Co;
Gunish Jain – CEO, Blue Kaktus;
and Urvashi Gupta – Head of
Account Management, WGSN,
South Asia underlining the role and
importance of technology in today’s
retail perspective. The session
was moderated by Prabir Jana,
Professor, NIFT, Delhi. “We need to
start having AI Conversation as it’s
going to disrupt the whole apparel
industry,” said Ankur which found
approval from all the panellists.
The Open House session by Winkl on
Day-2 garnered similar attention just
as it had on Day-1 with Divya Maben,
Deena Pinto and Farah Magi from
Winkl continuing forward with the
discussion on the growing significance
of the new concept of ‘influencer
marketing’ in retail segment.
The fun highlight of the final day of
ASW was hands-down the interactive
and highly-engaging WGSN Fashion
& Retail Quiz. As stated by Puneet
Dudeja, “This was the first time
that WGSN held a quiz in India.
We generally do trend forecasting
presentations, but being a great way
to engage the audience, we took up
this quiz at Apparel Sourcing Week
as it had the correct audience for an
industry-oriented theme like fashion
and retail. We are happy with the
response.” The winners of the quiz
competition were proud recipients
of Amazon Alexa as well as a
presentation by WGSN.
Considering the huge success and
acclamation that the inaugural
edition of ASW has received, the
organisers are soon to declare the
dates for the next edition… So, be
ready to be a part of the next ASW!