Shoemaker chalks out major growth plans for South market

According to a recent Indian footwear industry report, the market is now dominated by men’s footwear which contributes close to 58% of the total retail business and is expected grow at a CAGR of 10% by 2020. The outdoor category of footwear has been growing consistently at about 15 to 20 per cent annually.

Harkirat Singh, MD, Aero Club said, “Technology has been the key driver for all products we have launched. Over the last 25 years, our retail footprint in India has grown over 600-stores strong; 30% of them are represented in South India, which is one of our strongest zonal bases. There are more than 30 Woodland stores in Chennai. We intend to grow our national retail base by another 30-40 stores by next year.”

Interestingly, the women’s footwear segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 20%. Casual footwear is the largest product segment in India’s footwear market that contributes about 67% of the total footwear retail market.

Singh added, “While Woodland has been our flagship brand, there has been a strong demand for the formal-cum-fashion category of products offered under our brand Woods. While the brand was available across our network of over 600 exclusive stores for almost a decade now, we plan to open standalone stores for it now. Delhi has 2 stores; South India has 4 stores planned in parallel – one in Chennai, Bengaluru, Kerala and the fourth one is upcoming in Hyderabad. We intend to grow this to at-least 20-store network of Woods exclusive stores by next year-end.”

Talking about the pain points faced by the footwear industry in India, Singh said, “One of the biggest challenges we face is that of tackling counterfeiters, who are flooding the market with knock-offs. There aren’t any mechanisms in place to nip in the bud even before they appear.” The other major issue that industry is facing is that the footwear components sector in India is not geared up to meet the domestic demand. As of now, a big chunk of the components for leather goods is imported from leather hotspots like Italy. We need to build competencies around the component segment, Singh explained.