PROCUREMENT INSIGHTS
BLACKBERRYS ( NOT TO be confused with the mobile phone manufacturer ) is among the top three domestic menswear brands in India ( and the first to introduce off-the-peg suits ) dealing with all departments of retail across pan-Indian multibrand outlets , ecommerce and large format branded stores carrying its three ranges of menswear – Mainline , Urban and Casual . Blackberrys apparel was founded in 1991 in the bylanes of Chandni Chowk , New Delhi . Starting out in wholesale , before moving to retail , under the leadership of the Mohan brothers , Blackberrys offers a one stop shop for every man ’ s wardrobe needs with 217 exclusive stores across 115 cities .
Hemant Gupta
Blackberrys CFO Hemant Gupta explains to Supply Chain Digital that the company was eager to avoid resting on its laurels while exploring new ways of improving its procurement strategy . “ We were keen to build on our offline activity , where we still value interpersonal skills , and develop our ability to do procurement negotiations online . We had a new structure and procurement team in place but we needed help with planning so we decided to get support from Ivalua ,” he recalls .
“ By taking this process online we were able to achieve the centralisation of data , further develop our supplier database and receive reports from the system to help us properly monitor spend . For procurement it offers a fair and transparent process when selecting a particular vendor because everything is now online with e-sourcing . Before that , our offline model didn ’ t give a 360-degree view when we were awarding contracts because costing is not the only factor – we are also looking at service agreements and quality control , as retail is a tricky business .”
38 June 2018