Apparel Online India Magazine November 1st Issue 2018 | Page 57

EYES & EARS
Major challenges for Indian buying agents...
F
ederation of Buying Agents
(FBA), Delhi, a platform created
for the buying agents, invites its
fraternity members regularly to
socialise and know more about
the goals and objectives of the
Federation and to inculcate the
feeling ‘Together is better always’.
In a similar event organised
recently, many buying agents
discussed the challenges faced by
them in their operations. Some of
them are as follows:
1. Lack of sincerity and integrity in
the Supply Chain
The buying agents’ fraternity
realised that the most common
challenge is the lack of sincerity
and integrity in the supply chain.
The need to find committed and
dedicated players as long-term
partners is indeed an industry-wide
pain. It was also highlighted that
finding compliant factories is also
an issue.
2. Finding Trained Merchants,
Designers and QAs
The opinion was largely towards
having young professionals
committed to their work and
wishing to learn the intricacies
of manufacturing and the lack
of it. According to the fraternity,
only a fewer professionals are
able to explain the products well to
the buyers and be a firm support in
the growth strategy of a company.
3. Competition from China and
Vietnam
The buying agents shared their
common view that competition from
China and Vietnam is indeed a
challenge with regard to production
capacity, quality and price. Besides
these, another challenge that
seemed to be increasingly becoming
a concern was ‘finding the right
buyer and keeping him engaged’.
Regarding possible solutions
for the above mentioned and
Various buying agents during the event of Federation of Buying Agents
similar other challenges, every
one agreed that seniors in the
trade should mentor the new
generation as there is a need to
engage them in imparting hands-
on learning and to brief them
about the work processes to make
life easier for the buyers and the
suppliers. Various FBA members
addressed the event. Lokesh
Parashar explained the principles
of 3G that is Growth, Grievances
(addressing), Generating Forex
for the country, with regard to
FBA. Raman Dutta shared his
experience and knowledge about
how FBA is growing and how it is
further exploring opportunities
at international level so that
more and more buying agents
can achieve growth in their
business. Shankar and Harsh
of OnnSynex Ventures and
Sandhya Samuel, Ajay Abrol
also highlighted various allied
issues at the event.
www.apparelresources.com | NOVEMBER 1-15, 2018 | Apparel Online India
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