Vijay Bansal , Cantabil retail - A Success Story

At a time when the world’s top brands have stormed the fashion markets of India, Vijay Bansal, who comes from the small town of Jind in Haryana, created Cantabil – a brand that rose to a presence of 400 plus showrooms across India in about 8 years. Bansal speaks to DARE about his entrepreneurial journey, the challenges that he faced in building a brand from the scratch, and much more.

What inspired you to start this business?

After completing my B.Com in 1979, I got involved in our family business of FMCG distribution in Haryana. In 1989, I got into the business of garment accessories, which again I ran successfully for another 10 years. In 2000, I launched Cantabil.

Initially, I had to struggle a lot in the starting phase because fashion clothing was altogether a new line for me, considering my past entrepreneurial ventures. Initially, it took me three years just to understand this business. In fact at one stage I had even a thought whether I had chosen the right business because it was not going as planned. However, I did not give up and slowly things started shaping up in the direction I had wanted.

Vijay Bansal, Cantabil Retail

I decided to enter this business because I saw a lot of scope and margin in the garments business. My second business had helped me establish contacts with several local Indian manufacturers. I wanted to start my own manufacturing unit, and garment manufacturing was a line in which a big investment was not required. I had tasted success with my earlier businesses be it the FMCG distribution business or the garment accessories business. Though initially I had my doubts about this business, but now I think we will leave a mark in this business as well. Though my distribution business did very well, I had always wanted to start a business in which I could do the planning, I could do the distribution, etc, myself. And this business helped me do exactly what I wanted.

When I had entered this business, Nirma, T-Series and Pan Parag were the three big businesses which inspired me because they had risen from scratch and that too in a very short time. I had read about them in many magazines and I was enamored by their growth. I used to think if they can make it big then why cannot I?

Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?

I come from a business family, so I had never thought about the service sector. Moreover, I got a lot of valuable experience from my FMCG distribution business. I learnt how to distribute products, how to do the marketing and so on. The key things I learnt from this business were accounting and marketing. That experience came into use later. A consumer is clever enough to understand his needs and desires. If you sell him a bad product, he will never buy from you again. The consumer has to be convinced of your product. Having said that, yes, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

What is the most important thing in creating a brand?

In a business, a consumer always looks for quality at a reasonable price. These are the two main things. Another important thing is maintaining the quality. The product has to be value for money. Moreover, since this line deals with fashion, you have to be updated about fashion. One needs to know how is the international market, what does the Indian consumer want and so on. Another important thing is innovation. You have to keep on creating new products.

How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

We have our own in-house designer team/studio and have employed qualified people in it. It is their responsibility to collect international samples, study the market, and then create a product based on that. In the garment line, leaving a few retailer, other do not have this facility. On the other hand, we do proper planning before creating and marketing a product. Our main focus is on our quality. And in Cantabil, we make sure that the quality of the product is in accordance with the price. It is not that we earn a huge profits on products. The profit is limited and we play on the price point. Ultimately, price, quality and fashion – are the three main things that differentiate your product.

How important is it to have an in-house designer team?

An in-house team is very important. There is a taste, and all the designers work towards maintaining it. If the team is outsourced then the company would no longer have any control on them. They may not understand the company values or its consumer needs very well. It is definitely costlier to have an in-house team but in the long run there are several benefits of it as well.

My daughter, Swati Gupta, is the Director, Creative of the team. Besides, there are some freshers as well as some are experienced people. This is how we have mixed and matched the team.

Is your manufacturing outsourced?

Nearly 50% of our products are manufactured in-house and the rest 50% is outsourced. One of the main reason behind this is, by doing it in-house we get an idea about the costing. So when we outsource it we know about the costs involved and negotiate on that accordingly. Another issue in India is labour problem. It is not easy to handle labor in India. Moreover, outsourcing means we are not dependent on any one source. That is why we have kept this 50:50 breakup.

How do you bring new products to the market?

Innovation is dependent on seasons, colors, the international market, etc. After some point of time, a it is natural for a customer to get bored of a particular color, pattern and design. The products in the international market come to India after some time, so we update ourselves on what is happening in Europe and innovate and prepare in advance accordingly. We look forward to trends in both UK and European markets, especially Italy.

What strategy is followed to maintain as well as increase your market share?

Quality, price and brand acceptance are the key things. Earlier, since there were only a few showrooms, our marketing budget was not big. As we expanded, we started to advertise as well. Since the number of showrooms increased, my advertising budget also increased. Actually, as the quality, price, brand image and advertising budget improves it gives a further boost to the business. Earlier when we had fewer number of stores we used to fear taking risks while opening more stores. We used to be cautious. Now the situation is very different and I have 200 stores running in profits so even if one decision is wrong it does not worry me as much now.

How did you tackle the economic slowdown?

Though we did not witness any major impact of slowdown in our business, we became cautious about the situation because of various media reports on the world situation. So we negotiated rents on our showrooms, non-profit making showrooms were shut down, we kept only the staff that we required, internal planning was further strengthened, we thought of ways to make our balance sheet, monthly reports more accurate, we reviewed individual store sales on a monthly basis – in all we made ourselves strong from within. The decisions that we took were after serious deliberation and we rectified our mistakes. The measures that we took then are now giving results. So I would say in a way the recession was a good thing for us!

What was the strategy for expansion?

I always used to dream big. I believe only when we think big that we reach anywhere near it. When I was in the FMCG business, I was at the top in Haryana. When I was in the garment accessories business, I was working at the national level. The same was the case with this business. I had always wanted to grow this business to the national level and then to the international level. I have a pan-India presence now but still want to grow it further to have an international presence.

Which sector can a budding businessman enter?

It frankly depends on the interest of a person. You should only enter those lines in which you have interest, prior experience, knowledge or education. If one follows it dedicatedly, then nothing can stop him. No line or business is good or bad, and if you follow your dreams dedicatedly then one is sure to find success.

What should a budding businessman be careful about?

In retail, there are some points that we need to keep in mind. The location has to be in the heart of the market. Then comes the ambiance of the store – the ambiance has to be modern and good looking. Then there is the product. As I mentioned earlier, it has to be of the best quality and fashionable. Then good staff is also vital. The last is logistics. You supply chain has to be very good. All these things are vary important for retail sector. If even one of this is problematic then it can have a serious impact on your business.

Of these, which is the one in which entrepreneurs should be most careful?

Sometimes it happens that, even if the product is good if the supply chain is faulty then it can have an adverse affect on your business. What happens is that even if you product is good but if you are not able to take it to the stores in time, then there is a problem. For rectifying this, one needs to have a good systematic warehouse, best technology, good Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, prior planning of seasons, control over manufacturing, the merchandiser in the store should maintain all the details, if the product is not selling well in one store it should be transferred in time and so on. These are some of the things that he can keep in mind.

Which the most learning point in your business?

In the beginning, I started to sell my products through multi-brand outlets, which was not very successful. In those store, sometimes they did not display our products properly or they did not purchase the required quantity and there were many such problems. It was then that I decided to start my own exclusive stores and started tasting success.

What is your day-to-day involvement in your business?

Earlier, there was direct involvement in each and every issue but now we have established a professional system. There are several departments and department heads who look after their teams. And my time mainly goes into formulating polices and reporting. Earlier, I used to be involved in work below this level also. However, we have refined the process over the time.

Article was earlier published in reputed business magazine