Sourcing is now becoming more digital and some companies are aggressively working in this direction. Foursource India (B2B apparel sourcing platform), an off-shoot of Foursource Group with its offices in Mumbai and Tirupur, is headquartered in Berlin. Having 300 global brands and more than 680 manufacturers from world (nearly 350 from India) on its digital platform, the company is targeting brands and suppliers more aggressively across the globe. Ashish Ranjan, MD – India Operations shared that their website is making sourcing easy and quick. “We are a technology company to connect buyers and suppliers and don’t take any commission from manufacturers or brands. We have tools to address the collaboration needs of both sides. There are many collaboration tools, like we have a digital showroom, updates about available capacities and stocks so that the buyer can place order immediately.”
The company charges membership fees from buyers and manufacturers. Manufacturers can use this as a sales machine rather than using traditional ways to approach buyers. This digital initiative is able to cross-check the information or credentials provided by manufacturers so that buyers don’t require any validation regarding this information. It saves his time. Though this project is two years old, the website is live since May 2017. By the end of 2018, the company is targeting to have nearly 3,000 members (buyers as well as manufacturers). Ashish claims that since there are more and more seasons, this venture will help the industry a lot. The company is adding new features on its platform also to ease the apparel and textile sourcing.
“Currently we are focusing more on manufacturers. Turkey did an agreement with us; Turkish Govt. will pay 80 per cent of our membership fees, so that Turkish manufacturers can get subsidized access to our platform.” – Ashish Ranjan, MD, Foursource India
“Our purpose is to connect manufacturing world with the brands directly, and not through any middle-man. Reach of Indian manufacturers to the global markets is still not as much as it can be. We are giving support to the garment manufacturers by providing them global export opportunities. As the smaller players are having issues to increase their reach, they can get benefit through our initiative,” he concluded.
