The splendour of fashion

The intricate embroideries on lehangas, the grandeur of rich fabric and astounding craftsmanship well define the fashion world of Chhabra 555. And the man whose razor-sharp business sense has successfully built up this brand image is Jagdish Chhabra. Sitting at his desk corner in the old shop, he speaks about the beginning, present and future of this organisation in his plain talk with Suranjana Basu.

Starting small, growing big

The rich tradition of textile is in the blood of Jagdish Chhabra, the proprietor of Chhabra 555. He is the scion of a family that is originally from Peshawar in Pakistan and third generation entrepreneur who saw his father and grandfather to deal with the same business. It was only after partition that the family moved to Delhi and started the small shop of women’s wear in Chandni Chowk. From that small shop, Chhabra 555 has expanded its territory and today under Mr Chhabra’s able leadership the company has successfully achieved the present size of 30 outlets across India.

Why it stands apart

The USP of Chhabra 555 is its premium quality women’s ethnic wears which include both, the daily wears and bridal wears. The legacy of high quality control has ensured a very loyal customer base. Chhabra 555 follows ecology-friendly method of extracting silk from the cocoon without killing the insect, informs Mr Chhabra. The company has production centres all over India and has tied up with weavers stationed there who work in coordination with the in-house design team headed by his designer daughter Heena Malhotra. The fame of Chhabra 555 has reached the international market too and their ethnic wears are in great demand amongst NRIs.

Expansion through franchising

With the passing time the company has realised that expansion is possible only through bigger network of efficient team and the convenient way to achieve this is to follow franchising route which enables a business house to partner with an able entrepreneur who has respect for the brand as well as in-depth knowledge of the local market. Today, except the original shop at Chandni Chowk, all of Chhabra 555 outlets are franchised. While speaking about the criteria for selecting a prospective franchisee, Mr Chhabra says, “We prefer our outlet to be located at an area with high footfall. There should be one member of the franchisee’s family who should work full time in the shop. Apart from this, we make sure that the franchisee follows fixed pricing policy and under no circumstance compromises on price.” As far as the franchise support is concerned, the company provides four to six trained employees to manage the store operations; the company ensures prompt stock replenishment; their promotional support through advertisements on print and electronic media by an efficient media team; it provides banking system and specially designed software for business operation; and lastly, the company conducts audit regularly for these franchised outlets.

Bonding with licensing

Licensing is also another channel that Chhabra 555 is exploring to enrich its collection by infusing enhanced aesthetics and new design style by partnering with the renowned designer Samant Chauhan through licensing agreement. The company is thinking of partnering with other leading designers through this route.

Adapting to time

The time is changing, and so is the modus operandi of retail business. With its robust growth, the business strategy of Chhabra 555 is dynamic enough to adapt to the new requirements of modern retail. “Till date high street markets give better profit than malls, but in another five to six years this scene will change”, admits Mr Chhabra. “Though the ambience is more or less the same across all the outlets, we change the product mix depending on the location. In a mall we keep more dresses for daily wear, whereas in high streets, bridal wears constitute the majority of the stock,” he confirms. 

The torchbearers

Then whom he wants to pass the baton? “All my three children are willing to join the business”, reveals Mr Chhabra. The elder daughter Heena, a passout from Pearl Academy, is already making a pivotal contribution to the business with her designing expertise. Younger to her, the second daughter is studying Business Management at the well-known management institute, XLRI, and like her eldest daughter, the youngest daughter too cherishes the dream of becoming a successful designer. Girish Chhabra, younger brother to Mr Chhabra, heads the production division and his son too will be the part of this business soon. “Our family itself is a self-contained team and I’ll be happy to bequeath the entire business to the next generation”, confesses Mr. Chhabra. Is he open to their suggestions? “Oh yes! They are intelligent, efficient and more exposed to the modern trends. I’ll gladly consider their suggestions if I feel they are truly going to add value to our business.” But time has come when family business alone cannot sustain a business empire since people are staying in a nuclear family, he admits. His advice to the new entrepreneurs is, “For years I’ve built a very loyal team of skilled employees. With their support, the business has attained this size. This is the success mantra. Build a team for expansion, otherwise time will have no mercy.”