Amit Chand: Dominating The Retail Space With Profound Knowledge And Expertise
Amit Chand
Founder
Share with us the inception story of Marca Disati. What inspired you to get into the startup retail Business?
India is a vast nation with a diverse population and the emergence of tier 2 and 3 cities only broadens this horizon, providing a wealth of opportunity and a wide range of possibilities for a startup. When you explore deeper into fashion retail today, you will notice a large gap in pricing for Value and Premium brand. And it’s not easy for a value segment aspirational customer to become loyal to premium brand. On Mid-Price segment we don’t have a national brand which caters to and provides and entire ensemble for men and women under one brand name. This resulted in the development of Marca Disati, which translates as ‘To Breathe’ in Croatian. Marca Disati is establishing itself as a fast-fashion national brand with millenniums as its target customer, placed between Value and Premium brands. Marca Disati's offering includes great designs, great quality, and a great price, as well as a great brand experience across offline and online verticals.
Tell us about the journey so far. What are the challenges that you encountered and how did you overcome them?
Our path to develop ourselves in the market and gain acceptance for our design and product has been
challenging from the start. We began with B2B distribution to make our product available for touch and feel. Creating brand visibility was another significant obstacle. Presence in Large Format stores aided us in gaining customer interest. Opening EBOs was the next logical step in refining our brand experience.
With an experience of 18 years in Apparel Retail, What different roles & responsibilities have you been undertaking at Marca Disati?
I am involved in every aspect of our business, from design to operations, finance, and marketing strategy. My previous experiences has provided me with expertise and insight into manufacturing, product planning, and customer behaviour. As a start-up with a small team, I must familiarize myself with the inner workings of each aspect.
The e-commerce industry is facing a very tough challenge from the retail segment currently. How do you strategize to make your company effectively compete in this scenario?
All forms of the business, in my view, must coexist; how we synergize both is the current biggest challenge. Technology can be a great enabler of incredible opportunities. By linking our EBOs to our E-commerce website, of incredible opportunities to link all we were able to successfully execute an omnichannel strategy. We are also working to expand omni scalability to our distribution channel.
Tell us about your personal achievements at Marca Disati and the business transformation you have led via those achievements?
Every single accomplishment or failure of a person at the organization or the brand is my accomplishment or failure. Having said that, I consider the retention of our Core team across all of our ups and downs to be a personal achievement. I believe in empowering people rather than restricting them to their positions, this enables them to develop and see bigger opportunities for themselves, along with a sense of ownership. People must be empowered in order for businesses to Grow.
With an experience of 18 years in Apparel Retail, What different roles & responsibilities have you been undertaking at Marca Disati?
I am involved in every aspect of our business, from design to operations, finance, and marketing strategy. My previous experiences has provided me with expertise and insight into manufacturing, product planning, and customer behaviour. As a start-up with a small team, I must familiarize myself with the inner workings of each aspect.
Marca Disati's offering includes great designs, great quality, and a great price, as well as a great brand experience across offline and online verticals
The e-commerce industry is facing a very tough challenge from the retail segment currently. How do you strategize to make your company effectively compete in this scenario?
All forms of the business, in my view, must coexist; how we synergize both is the current biggest challenge. Technology can be a great enabler of incredible opportunities. By linking our EBOs to our E-commerce website, of incredible opportunities to link all we were able to successfully execute an omnichannel strategy. We are also working to expand omni scalability to our distribution channel.
Tell us about your personal achievements at Marca Disati and the business transformation you have led via those achievements?
Every single accomplishment or failure of a person at the organization or the brand is my accomplishment or failure. Having said that, I consider the retention of our Core team across all of our ups and downs to be a personal achievement. I believe in empowering people rather than restricting them to their positions, this enables them to develop and see bigger opportunities for themselves, along with a sense of ownership. People must be empowered in order for businesses to Grow.
What unseen opportunities do you see that may result in making your startup a huge success and what are your strategies to add for the next year's role as the Founder since things are changing dramatically?
We may divide the current period into two parts: pre-pandemic and post-pandemic, and no one could have expected the changes this pandemic would bring to our way of life and consumer behaviour. With an increase in WFH and Hybrid models of working, casual and loungewear is seeing unprecedented demand. Furthermore, as an apparel brand, we want to fix certain white spaces; Marca Bold, our plus size women's wear, is one such endeavour. We see a great demand and scope of growth in coming times in these categories.
How did your professional journey lead you into the realm of becoming a startup leader in the Retail industry?
After completing Garment Manufacturing Technology with Retail specialization from IIM Kolkata, I started career in exports and moved to test waters in retail and later joined Max Retail (Landmark Group part) and became one of its first few employees. This helped me grade up my entrepreneurial skills and led to the entrepreneurial journey. I contributed to Max in becoming one of the biggest brands in value segment.
The tremendous experience helped me in acquiring 100 percent CAGR growth in Marca Disati with four percent customer return on D2C platform which is striking-low compared to apparel industry averages. There is 26 percent revenue coming from returning customers on the D2C platform and we emphasize strongly on Omni/Hyperlocal channels to offer a seamless Brand experience across all verticals as startup leader in retail industry.
Amit Chand, Founder
Amit completed his degree from NIFT with specialization in Garment Manufacturing Technology and retail specialization from IIM Kolkata. He has an overall experience of 18 years working in fashion & retail, ranging from one of the biggest exports house like Ambattur Clothing Limited where he had the privilege to work and understand nitty gritty of some of the best global brands i.e. Banana Republic, Levi’s, Gap, A&F, Diesel, Ann Taylor, Liz Claiborne to name a few. Later, he moved from exports to retail segment and in the year 2016, he established his venture Marca Disati.
We may divide the current period into two parts: pre-pandemic and post-pandemic, and no one could have expected the changes this pandemic would bring to our way of life and consumer behaviour. With an increase in WFH and Hybrid models of working, casual and loungewear is seeing unprecedented demand. Furthermore, as an apparel brand, we want to fix certain white spaces; Marca Bold, our plus size women's wear, is one such endeavour. We see a great demand and scope of growth in coming times in these categories.
How did your professional journey lead you into the realm of becoming a startup leader in the Retail industry?
After completing Garment Manufacturing Technology with Retail specialization from IIM Kolkata, I started career in exports and moved to test waters in retail and later joined Max Retail (Landmark Group part) and became one of its first few employees. This helped me grade up my entrepreneurial skills and led to the entrepreneurial journey. I contributed to Max in becoming one of the biggest brands in value segment.
The tremendous experience helped me in acquiring 100 percent CAGR growth in Marca Disati with four percent customer return on D2C platform which is striking-low compared to apparel industry averages. There is 26 percent revenue coming from returning customers on the D2C platform and we emphasize strongly on Omni/Hyperlocal channels to offer a seamless Brand experience across all verticals as startup leader in retail industry.
Amit Chand, Founder
Amit completed his degree from NIFT with specialization in Garment Manufacturing Technology and retail specialization from IIM Kolkata. He has an overall experience of 18 years working in fashion & retail, ranging from one of the biggest exports house like Ambattur Clothing Limited where he had the privilege to work and understand nitty gritty of some of the best global brands i.e. Banana Republic, Levi’s, Gap, A&F, Diesel, Ann Taylor, Liz Claiborne to name a few. Later, he moved from exports to retail segment and in the year 2016, he established his venture Marca Disati.