The prospect of selling more shoes in an emerging market of India’s size is driving international footwear retailers to this part of the globe. Some of them are inking joint venture agreements with leading retailers, such as Clark’s of the UK with the Future Group. Others, such as Crocs of the US, have already had a headstart by launching operations in the country a few years ago.
Some others are finetuning their presence here in anticipation of the competition. Such as Pavers, a leading British footwear retailer. It has over 100 stores in England and Ireland. In India, where it has been present since 2008 via a joint venture with a UK-based shipping and oil drilling firm called Foresight, its footprint has been restricted to five franchisee stores and 90 department stores and multi-brand outlets.
This, says, Pavers’ managing director Stuart Paver, is hardly enough in a steadily growing market. The branded footwear market is estimated to be Rs 4,500 crore in size. It is growing at a steady 20 per cent yearly. This is tempting enough for both national and international majors to make a beeline. Existing domestic footwear firms such as Bata, Liberty, Relaxo and Metro, for instance, are expanding their network to take advantage of the boom.
Pavers, then, will have to act fast, says its MD, if it has to go anywhere in terms of matching the size and scale of operations of these companies.
“We will be adding another six franchisee stores in the next two months,” says Paver. “And, are contemplating to grow this model further. At the moment, we have tie-ups with three companies for franchisee operations - Triton Retail, RG Enterprises and Bansal Supermarket in Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi, respectively. These companies are willing to take their franchisee operations to allied parts of the country. That should help in our expansion drive in the future.”
