Indian feet take to Lloyd

IN CONVERSATION

RAINER LUEERS

It's been about nine months since Tata International brought 118 year old German footwear brand Lloyd to India, but sales have only picked up in the past month. RAINER LUEERS, Lloyd's manager-international sales and marketing, tells Business Standard why.

How is the brand doing in India?

It's been a slow start but sales have picked up in the last one month. This has been partly because of the renewed thrust on advertising, as well as other marketing tactics like sending individual letters to the top guns in the city who are our target customers. This has paid off. About 70-80 per cent of our sales are repeat sales.

What are the other initiatives on the marketing front?

We have brought the Mezcal Jazz unit to India and are planning other similar initiatives around theatre and music, perhaps something with Prithvi Theatre (in Mumbai).

Or something related to golf. Lloyd is targetting the discerning consumer, and this sort of an association fits perfectly with our brand.

What about your plans for expanding points of presence?

We are now looking at the multi-brand outlet route to expand our presence. We have also tied up with Gabbana, and apart from Ferragammo, we will be the only footwear brand they retail.

We are looking at 25-30 multi-brand outlets in the next 18-24 months. Apart from this, we are also looking at cities like Chandigarh and Ludhiana.