Young and Enthusiastic New Generation of Gadia Family , Mr. Pratik Gadia , Founder and CEO of startup ‘The YARN BAZAAR’ has come up with a Unique Concept of B2B E Commerce in YARN Business, which will support across Yarn Value Chain Contributor ie. Manufacturer, Buyer, Agent, Broker, etc. Mr. Pratik, loves challenge; by mapping vacuum and need, planned his business journey to create world’s first end to end yarn trading platform.
- Brand name: The Yarn Bazaar
- Brand Tagline: It’s time to change
- USP : Holistic Yarn Platform
What inspired you to Start a startup in Textile and what is Purpose behind it? Starting year of business, Mission / Vision
I come from a textiles family and after completing my Masters in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from University of Warwick, I joined my family business of manufacturing & wholesaling of shirting fabrics. I was constantly annoyed by the way we purchased yarns. It was like calling an agent to book your flight tickets back in the days. Time consuming and redundant. This gave birth to the idea of ‘The Yarn Bazaar’. We spent 2 years on research, working on business model and on the tech and started operations in July this year. Our vision is to create an end to end yarn platform serving all needs and pain points of the industry; making it very seamless and efficient.
Idea Generation inspiration of this unique concept?
I have many friends in the Diamond industry and they always spoke about Rapnet which is used across the industry and globally. That made me realize that if diamond, being a non-standardized product can be traded online then why not yarn which is fairly a standardized commodity !
What all Challenges / Hardship you faced during the journey?
MANY!! Being the only son and someone who was already running the business, it was extremely difficult to convince my father that I wanted to quit the family business and run a startup. My decision to adapt the new and untouched field of digital commerce in the textile sector was seen with reservations by my family and many people in the industry too.
Calibrating a sound business model to deciding the tech architecture to creating an intuitive user interface and finally building the tech; everything has been extremely challenging and is an ongoing process.
But there were certain people who encouraged me. Sushilji Patwari (chaiman, Nagreeka group) was the first person in the industry I discussed this with. Then I met Anilji Biyani (Damodar group) last year in an exhibition and he said ‘Beta, come to my office. Let’s sit and work this out’. This would not have been possible without their support. Also, our advisor, Sharadji Tandon.
What all Achievement your brand received till date?
We are only 3 months old and are still in our pilot stage. But we have already processed over 1100 tons of yarn inquiries. Recently we are seeing good traction. Twice this week we sold over 40 tons of yarn amounting to 1 crore in a single day, all on 100% advance payment basis. Also, we are discussing with a leading yarn manufacturer to whitelabel our solution for them.
What are the current issues being faced by user industry ie. Fiber, Yarn, fabric and garment segment?
With increasing competition and changing dynamics, industry is facing many issues. Declining sales and margins have been one of the biggest problems. Other problems being capacity utilization, receivables management, bad debts. We are trying to address all of these 1 by 1.
What pain points / problems you are solving of industry by your services ?
The main benefit for a yarn supplier on our platform is increased reach/sales, margins and lower credit receivables. While that of a buyer is lower yarn cost. In addition to these, there are several other pain points we are addressing like future trend forecasting, managing customer inquiries, price benchmarking, order fulfillment etc.
What will be the next technology in your segment?
We are working on building an Ola/Uber like model for transport solutions for yarn which will enable a supplier to discover and book a lorry at the best price while allowing for online documentation and tracking. This will make order fulfillment very seamless and reduce inefficiency. We have noticed in our interaction with most users that this is one of the most pressing issues.
What is your take on the future scenario of your segment ( IT + TEXTILES) in the domestic as well as global market?
Every industry today is inclined towards tech. Diamond industry has had rapnet for decades now. Textiles also has an inclination but implementation has always been a challenge. Once this is done carefully, it has the potential to change the landscape globally and make Indian Textiles competitive again. Manufacturing has already gone through it. Today we have airjets for better productivity. But marketing, sales, distribution & procurement processes are still the same. Very soon, we feel, most companies whether big or small will be using technology to become more efficient.
Where do you see your company in next 5 and 10 years?
We want to become an industry standard enabling everything from yarn discovery to trading to fulfillment to financing. Basically, creating an industry ecosystem bringing every stakeholder closer for the benefit of the trade.
Branding Strategies in Indian and International Market?
Deliver great value to your users/customers. Apple has been able to charge a premium for their mobile phones or laptops only because of this.
How important is digital marketing for you?
- Digital enables you to reach a large audience at a low cost.
- Digital is a two-way communication compared to traditional forms like newspaper ads or hoardings which is only 1 way.
- Digital can give you accurate numbers on reach and customer insights. Hence, nobody can ignore it.
Contact us :
The Yarn Bazaar
www.theyarnbazaar.com
+91.9326961542
partner@theyarnbazaar.com
