Thanks to liberalisation and the subsequent brand bonanza, the retail scene in India has never been hotter than now.  There is a sure boom in the retail market and all brands, global and local, want to be a part of the blast. When these organised players enter the Indian market, they are sure to look for store furnishings that would be a signature of their distinct brand images, a standardised fixture for all their outlets, which is customer-friendly  while at the same time being classy and subtle. Sadly, there are not many players in the market who have looked at this option. ze'lante (pronounced tse-LAHN-te, Italian for zeal and passion) (www.zelante.net) is different. This Bangalore-based furniture design and manufacturing company stepped in at a time when retailers were forced to look at sources abroad for their needs and came up with some thinking furniture.

indiamarkets spoke to Rajnish Radhakrishnan (rajnish@zelante.net), head, ze'lante about his futuristic furnishings. Rajnish, who holds a masters degree in Manufacturing from Cornell University, USA and a PGDM from IIM, Bangalore, speaks about this nascent firm, with the same zeal and passion that characterises its name.

indiamarkets: Which is the niche that ze'lante is trying to fill?
Rajnish: Currently, the store furniture and fixtures market has no organised players in the market. It's only the general fabricators who abound, but then they have no particular focus on the retail industry. Besides, a typical fabricator would have no idea of certain basic retail principles like the circulation pattern, the brand image and the merchandising concepts, besides of course, the finish. This is where we step in.

indiamarkets: What exactly do you mean by the circulation pattern?
Rajnish: In the context of the apparel segment, an evolved retailer knows that there are three-four turns of clothing patterns that go by the change in season/festival. For instance, the autumn months would see an entirely different set, something which would be classified as winter wear and which would require a different mode of display. So the furnishing of the store should be adaptable to all ranges. We give our clients the flexibility to come up their own ideas to embellish their store.

indiamarkets: What are the criteria you normally go by, while doing up a retail outlet?
Rajnish: First of all, the shop decor should instantly put the customer in comfort; it should not intimidate him. Today's customer is well travelled, better educated and more discerning.  The store ambience should allow him/her to indulge in self-selection, instead of being intrusive.

indiamarkets: How do you go about achieving this end? What are the materials you work with?
Rajnish: We normally work backwards, keeping in mind the client's scale of economy, his needs and thereby working out his budget share for the fittings. We are perhaps the only one in this segment to work in tandem with an ad agency/ design agency, so that we may grasp the concept, the product application and the brand image of the company and also know who ultimately the end-user is. Depending on these factors, we conceptualise their designs, either with the help of the inhouse design team that we have, or a network of designers. We also have part-time designers,  even those from the NID, who send across their doodles and whom we pay royalty if their designs are approved. The materials we ultimately use would be those which adapt best to these designs. We never limit ourselves to any particular material and keep trying various innovative combinations of  wood/metal/glass to achieve that right finish of the designed product.

indiamarkets: Is your outsourcing limited only to design?
Rajnish: No, at times we also outsource other things such as metal processing or certain glass components. There is a very wrong notion in India that outsourcing certain services would render you a middleman making margins on the ultimate product. This needs to be dispelled. Outsourcing is just a convenient aspect in the business, wherein a specialist may take care of a certain process/service for which he is  well-equipped, leaving the manufacturer to concentrate on his end product.

indiamarkets: Where is it that you score over others? What's your USP?
Rajnish: Right from the concept to product engineering to installation, Ze'lante delivers quality by innovative practices that blend design and engineering. Our focus is on `store fitting' rather than `store building'. Let me enumerate our plusses one by one. First of all, we have the edge of parallel  processing, which would cut down the store opening time for a retailer. Typically, store building involves shutting down the store and on-site construction, which takes 10 to 14 weeks. But since our focus is on `store fitting',  we engineer and manufacture all the required furniture and fixtures off site and then fit them on to the store. This way, the store is up and running in less than 4 weeks, reducing the time and hence cutting costs. Since retail outlets need a standardised format, we can have a parallel 3-4 store inventory and work on them together. This also helps a retailer open his outlets simultaneously. In these days of aggressive brand marketing, the time to market is a very vital concept and this arrangement would work best towards that end.
Besides, there is no concept of  design protection here; designs are very easily copied by the unorganised segment. But we come up with designs that are hard to copy.

indiamarkets: Do you think an SME has the going easy for him as far as the retail sector is concerned? What are the hurdles he is likely to face?
Rajnish:  An SME would find it slightly tough to get access to an international retailer. There are various channels that need to be followed before one can actually get to bag a contract there. Normally, retailers abroad consult their design agencies for their fittings/fixtures and it would be really difficult to get those agencies to recommend you. But this apart, I find there is a whole wide market out in the Middle East which presently imports its needs from USA/Europe. Besides, we are physically closer to them (the Middle East) and this is surely an option that may be considered.

indiamarkets:  From your sojourn abroad, what have you found are the differences a retailer _ and in effect his store fitter _ in India has to contend with?
Rajnish: For one thing, there are the regional differences, cultural and geographical, which need different ways of handling. For instance, a store that may suit Delhiites' temperament well may not exactly go down well with a shopper in Bangalore/Chennai; in fact, the same store ambience may even seem intimidating here. And then, there are the climatic differences. A winterwear collection in the North would make great marketing sense, while being totally redundant in Chennai. To summarise, the shopper profile in India is very complex. A furnisher would have to incorporate all these factors into his fixtures, while retaining the class and subtlety.

indiamarkets: Finally, how do you think the internet can help you in your business?
Rajnish: At a mere click, I can scan many websites and find which retailer is coming to India and then approach them. I can also use the net for product sourcing for my ventures, besides keeping abreast with the latest happenings in my sector.