Mr. Nitin Jaywant
Vice President (Buying & Merchandizing)

Alok H&A Ltd.

Alok H&A Ltd. was incorporated in 2007 for the domestic retail business under the 'H&A' banner by the parent company Alok Industries Ltd. H&A stores are value retail outlets, positioned as complete family stores for apparel, home textiles and accessories, offering quality textile products at affordable prices. With less than 5 stores in the 1st year of operation in 2007, ‘H&A’ has grown to 197 EBO’s and 75 Shop in Shops within a span of 4 years. ‘H&A’ as a brand and its quality value apparels have been very well received and accepted by the Indian consumers.

Mr. Nitin Jaywant is the Vice President (Buying & Merchandizing) of Alok H&A ltd. An Astute leader with 27 Years experience in Operations Management, Sourcing & Coordination, Product Development, Merchandizing and Quality Assurance in Apparel Industry.

He has proved resourceful in determining the pulse of the market, analyzing trends and requirements, devising Business Strategies at H&A and in his prior engagements with Rene Derhy, Kikomo Sportswear (as Director Operations) and Onyx Services.

In a tête à tête with Sourcing Business Unit of fibre2fashion, he illustrates the Sourcing & Allied functions of H & A


Fibre2fashion : Please elaborate on the positioning strategy of H&A & any new collections being launched at POS (Point of Sale)?

Mr. Nitin Jaywant : H&A is a value retail outlet, positioned as a complete family store. We aim to offer fashion at an affordable price for the entire family. H&A had recently launched perfumes and sunglasses. Besides these we have launched purses, handbags and clutches for ladies. In addition, we have also launched casual and formal footwear for ladies and men's.


Fibre2fashion : H&A has expanded its product offerings from apparels and home textiles, to sunglasses and perfumes. What is the contribution of each category to bottom line & how is the merchandise planning done at retail level?

Mr. Nitin Jaywant : Though apparel remains the primary category, our aim has been to provide a complete shopping experience at all our stores. Sunglasses and perfumes compliment the apparel category and results so far, are better than expected. Merchandise planning is a combination of top down and bottom up approach. We take extensive feedback from our retail outlets and also tap into trends and fashion forecasts for Europe and USA. This is combined with back end sales data to create a retail strategy for each state and zone.


Fibre2fashion : H & A has at present 154 EBOs and various shop-in-shop formats. What are your further expansion plans and which cities are you proposing to increase your retail space?

Mr. Nitin Jaywant : Actually H&A is present in 272 EBOs and other SIS formats. We intend to close FY'11 with 400 POS across all formats. Our thrust area for expansion has been Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and towns Pan India.


Fibre2fashion : What is the ratio of in-house production to outsourced merchandise in H & A stores pan India? How is the check on quality maintained at present across all assortments?

Mr. Nitin Jaywant : H&A's strength has always been the production base of our parent company. We have utilized this strength to shorten lead time from design to shop floor and maintain quality levels across the manufacturing chain. For merchandise from out sourced vendors, all fabrics and garments go through mandatory lab testing and finished merchandise is inspected by our in house Quality Assurance team, as per international standards, using the AQL method.


Fibre2fashion : "Efficient inventory management and supply chain management are critical factors in low-margin businesses" The above statement is w.r.t your price range across categories, which is low as per market rends, How does H&A incorporate the correct merchandise mix to ensure profitable sales?

Mr. Nitin Jaywant : We have over 70% franchisees across all stores. We use this local experience of the franchisee as far as fashion, color and size requirement is concerned in the area, to get our product mix just right. Efficient and timely replenishment is another key to managing product mix on the floor.

To Know more about Sourcing at fibre2fashion... click here Interview Published On : Feb 24, 2011