With the experience of over a decade in clothing retail, Shailesh Jalan, a Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, a multi-unit franchisee of Arvind Limited is quite bullish about his growth and expansion plans.
In a tête-à-tête with Yamini S Verma, he shares his entrepreneurial journey so far with Arvind Limited and future roll out.
Discuss in brief your entrepreneurial journey? How has been your voyage with Arvind Ltd?
Business was started by my father in 1982 in the name of Sunil Enterprises, followed by J K Silks in 1989 which is a leading store in the district of Vizianagaram, Srikakulam And Vizag. I joined my family business in 2002, and started Arvind Limited franchisee store in 2009. We have been with Arvind Limited from really long as we were the first franchisee in India for the company. It was a wonderful journey, and learned a lot from the company in terms of professional retail. I have learned retail from my father and professional working a part from company.
What inspired you to take the franchise of Arvind Ltd?
Trust in the brand and their past record of taking care of their trade partners. Believe in Roti, Kapda aur Makan (Bread, Clothing and Shelter). These three things will never have a downfall.
How has been the growth so far?
We believe in "Slow and steady wins the race". So, we were slow in the race and did not want to run. Today we have six stores of Arvind Limited and have total one lakh square feet of area under retail in MBO and EBO combined.
What is the most important element to be a successful franchisee?
Trust in the brand and also a very careful working of the economies. Golden word "Patience". Lot of times we feel that store is in profit or loss but in the end of the year we find it vice versa due to no control over EOSS and other pilferage areas.
What is the importance of training and support in a franchise model?
Training and support plays a very important role for a new franchisee or a person who is new for retail. In our case it was a win win situation for both of us. The most important training that company offered was for staff training in my point of view.
Best thing about your franchise brand and the franchisor. Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
Back-end home work and involvement of the management is the best thing about our franchise brand. Five years down the line we view ourself bigger in terms of MBO stores and will be interested to have tie up with new brands for their trade relations. We are also planning to launch our own brand in a span of six months.
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