Affordable clothing and accessory brand Style Baazar has recently completed its 10-year journey. The brand believes in the idea that being fashionable need not burn a hole in your pocket. Style Baazar Rohit Kedia and Shreyans Surana, executive director and managing director, respectively, of Style Baazar, spoke to t2 in an exclusive interview.
You had worked in the garments industry before. What made you start your own brand?
Rohit: I come from a wholesale background. I felt there was always a gap between a retailer and the products. There was less focus on quality and more focus on price sensitivity. I wanted to bridge that gap. We started out on September 17, 2013, with a warehouse space of 700sq ft in Behrampore. We are a family store that aspires to give quality products at a very reasonable price. The design team works day in and day out. We attend a lot of road shows. If we are selling an item for Rs 299, every year we do research on how to improve the same product without hiking the price. We opened our first store with a false ceiling, ACs and LED lights. We gave aspiration to the tier-III and tier-IV cities. We scaled up by 20 to 30 stores a year. And now we are at 150, with Yash and Nussrat as our brand ambassadors.
What about your aspirations outside Bengal?
Rohit: We are predominantly a Bengal-centric store. We have yet another five districts and more cities to explore here. So, for the next two to three years, we are only focusing on Eastern India.
Shreyans: We follow a cluster-based approach. Wherever we go, we go deep. In Bengal we have 61 stores and we are growing aggressively in UP and Assam.
Ten years back there were some established competitors. How challenging was it to position yourself?
Rohit: We work on a monthly replenishment mode. Our strength lies in the fast mind to market. We got on board some of the best manufacturers from all over India. We get our T-shirts from Ludhiana and Tirupur. Our denims come from Ahmedabad; we get casual and formal shirts from Bangalore. We bank on Delhi for some categories of jeans. A lot of ladies’ tops come from Bombay. We penetrated these tier-III and tier- IV cities where these national players were absent. We gave them a proper store with the right ambiance and a good product range. We are not competing with anyone. We are just creating our niche in the market
What has been the biggest observation in the last 10 years?
Rohit: Things have changed rapidly since Covid. Now the country is switching from a saving culture to a spending culture. With the Make in India initiative by the government, we are going to be bullish in the next five years. Earlier we saw a price-competitive market, but right now people are loosening the purse strings. Now it is more of impulsive buying.
Do you perceive online shopping as a threat?
Rohit: In tier-III and tier-IV cities, people go shopping in groups to get the look and feel of the apparels in a real physical store. Unless one touches a product, one never knows how good or bad the product is. Online is mostly catering to electronics. Despite the rising popularity of online business, we have experienced a higher footfall in our stores than last year. Online and offline will not eat into each other’s space.
Where do you draw your product inspirations from?
Rohit: We keep track of what the celebs are wearing. Fashion is more accessible now than ever. We talk to our manufacturers and get the samples done based on what the big international brands are doing but at a much lower price. If their price point is Rs 899, we do it for Rs 399.
So there is no ego clash?...
Rohit: We have no qualms about drawing inspiration from bigger brands and even our Bollywood and our own Tollywood stars like Yash and Dev. Our objective is to give the same fashion at a lower price point. We cater to buyers who make anywhere between Rs 25k and Rs 50k a month.
What do you think about Bengal’s retail segment?
Rohit: Durga Puja is at par with any world festival. In fact, Nothing compares to Puja, 35-40 per cent of the business comes from Puja in Bengal. The kind of business we do in the 45 days preceding Puja, one won’t do that in the rest of the year. If done in an organised way, the garment business will only go up in the next 10 years.
What are the biggest fashion trends right now?
Rohit: Western outfits have picked up phenomenally, 40 per cent of our business comes from the men’s section, 30 per cent from ladies, 20 per cent kids and 10 per cent in non apparels. Joggers and cargo are ahead of jeans. Parachute pants and palazzos are doing well.