CEO Insights India

The baby products sector has always been a delicate and sensitive domain as it indulges babies and toddlers as their first hand consumers. A vertical which witnesses ample challenges being taken by the existing brands to evolve as better parent preferences, the baby products industry is still believed to be an untapped segment with lots of promising opportunities. With a belief to modify the purchasing behavior and implement a bigger drive for consumers to buy from brands having sustainable products along with a clear brand vision and mission, Mohit Mall commenced his voyage across this segment via his brand Cot &Candy Baby. Priorly engaged as the sales & marketing professional of apparel and home textile products with the Times Fibrefill, which is the parent brand of Cot & Candy Baby, Mohit is trained under the specific sectors to understand the different manufacturing processes in the textile industry and have successfully represented the company in various fairs in Europe and Australia. Through these fairs, he identified an interesting and major market gap in the industry for highquality baby & infant wear products across the Indian & Export Market, which compelled him to take this exciting journey as the CEO of Cot & Candy Baby.

CEO Insights magazine engages in an exclusive interaction with Mohit to know more about his journey as a pioneering leader across the baby products segment.

Share us the inception story of Times Fibrefill. What are the challenges that you encountered and how did you overcome them?
Times Fibrefill was incorporated in the year 2001 by Sanjay Kumar Mall. With over three decades of experience in textile & apparel manufacturing, Times Fibrefill was conceived with the vision and aim to bring sustainable and innovative products in the manufacturing sector.

Initially, one of the biggest challenges for us was to keep our work in tune with international standards while constantly innovating and creating something

new. This pushed us to consistently upgrade our vision while not compromising on our quality. A major shift for us was to move from being an out and out B2B business to molding ourselves into a B2C one. We tackled this with our years of knowledge of the industry coupled with our drive to be the first global baby wear business, following international practices and standards while creating specifically for the Indian local consumer.

What different roles have you been under taking at Cotand Candy Baby an initiative of Times Fibrefill?How does your experience help you chalk out business operation for the company?
As with any new division and vertical, there's a lot of hard work and hours involved to get the best output. I have always been a hands on entrepreneur and have dabbled in all avenues from ideation to production to marketing donning different hats as and when required.

At Cot and Candy, we have always believed that every day is new learning. Our years of working in different sectors all over the globe have made us appreciative of how dynamic the industry is, and this has had a huge impact on how we work. We keenly follow the best practices in all our operations while keeping space for innovative thinking. We also make it a point to always be open to feedback, from both our customers as well as our competitors and improve ourselves based on it.

The global baby products market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.09% during the forecast period to reach revenue of $25.82 billion by 2027. To compete effectively in this scenario, what are the marketing and distribution strategies you have adopted to dominate the market?
Product Innovation, Quality Sourcing and ontime delivery are the three pillars on which our Company is builtand it continues to be our motto. Our strategy is to keenly study and forecast customer trends and responses, create and scale the product categories and blend the local needs with international standards.

Cot & Candy Baby as a brand is primarily focused on direct-to-

consumer selling with online marketing and social media being the biggest mode of reaching out to the consumer. As we believe in sustainability as a key to the future of this market, we are also interested in partnering with various E-Retailers who share our vision of selling green, high quality baby products to the Indian Market.

What major precautions do you undertake to ensure that the products are good to use by babies since this is a sensitive industry?
Cot & Candy was born with the desire to offer modern parents a collection of stylish, minimalist essentials made from the softest certified organic cotton fabrics. The products of Cot & Candy Baby are produced using 100 percent Organic GOTS Certified Cotton ensuring that same from the fields to the final production. Each stage of the supply chain is keenly monitored to ensure the garment is free of chemicals, ecologically viable and safe for the baby.

How have the preferences of the parents changed in the past few years? Operating in India, where birth rates are high how are you planning to put your brand at the forefront?
We believe parents have become much more conscious of what products they want to use for their babies. They have also become more environment conscious at present and have strong opinions about the products they are using for their babies. Keeping in view the ever growing Indian market, we have stepped up our production over the last year while continuing to be environment conscious of our modes of production. We aim to grow our styles exponentially in the next two years such that Cot and Candy become the go-to brand for any new parent all over the country.

Mohit Mall, CEO, Times Fibrefill
Proud to be a thorough bred Calcuttan, both at heart and in upbringing, Mohit is an alumnus of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan and St. Xavier's College, Calcutta where he graduated in B. Com (Honours) with a specialization in marketing. Post his graduation, he joined Times Fibrefill Pvt Ltd in 2014 as a management trainee. He is the major force behind the creation and establishment of a pristine vertical of conceptualizing and producing high quality baby products, which led to the launch of Cot & Candy Baby brand. Onboarding as the CEO of Cot & CandyBaby,he is pragmatically engaged to lead the brand towards a new horizon.

Hobby: Water Sports, travelling and trying new cuisines
Favourite Cuisine: Asian
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Travel Destination: Barcelona