Two experts from Women on Wings collaborated with the FabricPlus team to advise on the start-up of a pilot store and a retail formula. FabricPlus is growing explosively and, in addition to the fast growing production of silk yarn, the sales opportunities also appear to be attractive both in domestic as well as export market. The business to business sales are important, but the retail channel in the local market are as well very profitable.
Ellen Oord and Tanveen Ratti from Women on Wings interviewed the FabricPlus staff in Assam at the office and in the shops, visited the competition, analyzed the figures and followed the operation in the shop at the office. All this information was used to prepare a rough guideline for a retail formula. The FabricPlus team and the Women on Wings team turned the shop at the office into a pilot store. After optimizing this store it can be copied to other locations in the province of Assam & in rest of the country.
The main advantage of the local market is that Indian people actually use silk a lot. For every occasion, such as weddings and festivals, women need to wear a different sari made from 100% pure silk. Government stores & emporiums sell these top quality silk saris and other products like silk stoles, which they buy from FabricPlus. In addition to the government stores, there are local stores that also sell silk products. These local stores sell products without authentic composition labels, that are often of a lower quality silk, or not even 100% pure silk. FabricPlus, that currently has two of its own shops in Assam, sees huge opportunities in this for beginning a retail chain with full transparency of the product quality.
