New Delhi: Footwear retailer Liberty Shoes expects 30% year-on-year business growth this financial year, said Anupam Bansal, director (retail) of the company. Its growth this year was 8.28%.
The company’s revenue from operations in the previous fiscal year was Rs 487.82 crore and it expects to earn a total revenue of Rs 675 crore during the fiscal year. 23.
Bansal said Liberty will continue to focus on product development, youthful designs, manufacturing, marketing strategies and store openings to expand. He said competition comes mainly from the local market, which accounts for around 80-85%, and cheap imports.
According to him, due to revenge purchases and the reduction of cheap imports, the level of consumption has increased. This exercise, consumers are optimistic about products and focus on branded shoes, durable products and quality, consumer awareness of good products has greatly increased consumption in tier two and tier three cities.
To maintain its growth trajectory, the company is implementing impactful commercial strategies across all of its distribution channels.
Currently, Liberty has 450 outlets in India, mostly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. It has approximately 200 company-owned and operated (COCO) stores and 250 franchise-operated stores. It plans to open around 100 stores in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in 2023 and strengthen distribution for wider reach in multi-brand stores.
Several major global fashion and lifestyle brands have started betting big on India’s small towns. Almost a third of future footwear consumption is expected to come from aspirational consumers in these markets.
The company plans to focus on the athleisure segment with the introduction of the athleisure-centric line Leap7x and it has also recently teamed up with Bollywood celebrities Ayushmann Khurrana and Rakul Preet Singh. “As the statistics prove, athleisure as a category is growing rapidly in the Indian market. In the coming years, we envision becoming the most trusted sports/athleisure brand in India,” Bansal said.
Regarding the impact of inflation, Bansal said, “Inflation has worked as a double-edged sword as it takes a big chunk out of the wallet in the essentials.” He added that shoe prices have also increased by around 10-15%, but the consumer is willing to pay for this as they are looking for good quality and branded products.
He said the price of shoes was well below world standards in India. Commenting on the expansion of the international market, he said, “Once we are able to meet the consumer demands in the Indian market, we will also start focusing on international markets.” He also expects to see an increase in exports.
Abundant raw material and skilled and cost-effective labor provide a distinct competitive advantage to Indian footwear manufacturers over their international counterparts, enabling them to tap into the huge domestic market. Given the good market access and incentives, the industry is well positioned to even target global markets and turn India into a footwear export hub, Bansal said.
Talking about the omnichannel approach, Bansal said the company has a strong network of franchises, so its profit centers are different. And he thinks it’s a journey that will take time but the business is constantly evolving. In some key markets, where rents are very high, franchise options do not work. There are only COCO stores, which work in favor, but for remote and developing markets where investment is limited and return on investment (ROI) is better, the company goes the franchise route to his activity.
The footwear retailer has its manufacturing units in Haryana and Uttarakhand and plans to develop auxiliaries in the former state.
