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A fruitful alliance for success @ retail

By Fairy Dharawat | Vjmedia Works | February 02, 2013

Here is an inside story of one such successful collaboration between Fruit of the Loom (FOTL)- the international innerwear brand- and DMS Retail Works (DMS) the executing agency.

A good relationship between a brand and the retail solution provider is critical for the success of any merchandising programme. Here is an inside story of one such successful collaboration between Fruit of the Loom (FOTL)- the international innerwear brand- and DMS Retail Works (DMS) the executing agency, as they share with us their thoughts on this "fruitful" association.


An American inner and casual wear brand, Fruit of the Loom, was launched in India in 2009. And with many brands entering India, the brand had to keep a hawk's eye on the right people and the right company in order to work together. "When Mumbai-based DMS approached us, we were willing to try them out, given their earlier experience and outputs provided to other clients. Good output, satisfactory services, timely support and newer ideas and concepts have kept this association going good," says Gaurav Doshi, Brand Manager, Fruit Of The Loom, India.

Speaking along the same lines, Mahesh Shinde, Director, DMS says, "A vendor-client relationship works best when the client and the vendor are more transparent and work together towards achieving an output. FOTL has supported us through all our designs and production assignments and give us a fair chance and space to work out new solutions. The support is especially in terms of fair timelines for design and production and a free hand to innovate and proactively design new POS."

While delivering the above, DMS had to prove themselves rising up to the challenges faced. Says Sandeep Hotwani, Director, DMS, "The challenges faced during implementation are similar to the ones an agency faces for any modern trade project. Implementation happens only during pre and post customer hours and hence the challenge is to finish the job in that given time. But the designs and production methods of the units kept the assembly time within an hour, making it achievable." According to him, the association with the brand has now reached a new phase where the kind of challenges that come up have also evolved. "The new challenge is to make more economical units as the retail points for FOTL increase. So the thrust is on giving new designs at the same or better price," he says.
Fulfilling expectation is one of the key points for any successful collaboration and as Gaurav Doshi from FOTL explains, "the expectations from the agency are, fair price, good quality, timely deliveries and service."

Today FOTL has presence across small hosiery shops, MBOs and large format stores and are expanding across all retail formats in the country. "Retaining the brand identity while adapting it to different looks, sizes and shapes is what we have bought to the table as an agency through our design kit," says Mahesh Shinde of DMS.

In addition to the work DMS has also done an EBO (executed store) for FOTL which again reiterates the fact that sharing a good relationship with brand and retail solution provider is critical for any business to succeed.
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