Bangladesh based buying house Synergies Sourcing is a global apparel sourcing agent and supply chain management company dealing in apparel, home textiles, fashion accessories, footwear and decorative accessories. With an annual turnover of US $ 500 million from its four supply base offices – Bangladesh, India, China and Pakistan, the company has its office in the US as well. The buying office claims to be the second biggest buyer from Bangladesh after Li & Fung. The India operations of Synergies named Synergies Development & Sourcing Pvt. Ltd., based in Mumbai was opened in 2007. Ramit Aggarwal, CEO, in conversation with Team Apparel Online shares about the products, which is being sourced from India and the future plans for growth…
“We are very bullish about our growth. Considering our plans of acquisitions and an aggressive market approach, we feel we should be over US $ 50 million by the end of next FY,” claims Ramit, according to whom Synergies India operations are growing at a very rapid pace and by the end of this FY the anticipations are to be over US $ 30 million.
The main category for Synergies in India is home furnishings (textile) which comprises almost 40% of its business and artefacts, which is another 35%, including home décor, candles and dry flowers. In textiles, the main category is bed sets, towels and bath mats. In hard goods the buying office is sourcing stainless steel utensils, plastic houseware, and glass houseware, artefacts in metal, glass and wood. The buying office also sources apparels, scarves, leather bags, wallets, belts, gloves, etc. “Textile products is still the biggest product category for us in India since it is the backbone of our global operations. We have many reputed customers all over the world where we have established a relationship of trust and confidence over a period of 25 years,” shares Ramit.
Although the global markets, especially the European market, was substantially sluggish, the buying house didn’t get affected as much especially in the home business as it has scattered its reach in markets like Germany, France, Canada and USA. “We have had a very mixed impact from the slowdown since our customer base is so versatile; we serve from high-end brands to mass retailers. While there has been a negative impact on the high-end business, but at the same time we have seen our business surge on the mass retail side. There has been a shift of customers buying patterns from high-end stores to hyper stores in home furnishings with customers searching for new and cheaper products to brighten up their homes,” says Ramit.
To give products as per buyer’s choice both in terms of quality and pricing, a lot of permutation and combinations go into R&D. For Synergies, product development and innovation is of paramount importance. With a fully staffed R&D division in each of its sourcing offices along with a global design office headquartered in Madrid (Spain), Synergies offers its clients the latest innovations in fabric weaving and blending, dyeing and finishing techniques. “We as a buying office cannot afford to be just the post office where the buyer places an order and we pick the product. Our design team constantly does its R&D to create such a fabric which gives maximum value to the buyers in terms of quality and pricing,” avers Ramit.
Directly dealing with retailers has always prompted Synergies to explore newer product categories. Currently the India office is exploring opportunities for exporting paper bags and boxes from India. In the home décor segment Ramit is very upbeat about growth prospect in candles as this category has started moving to India in a very big way from China and other countries. “We foresee tremendous demand and opportunity in this sector, as this is a low cost product and creativity is something which India is very good at,” he concludes.
