Lacoste plans expansion through airport stores in India

French sportswear major Lacoste is looking at increasing presence across India by opening more outlets at major airports. Out of eight new retail outlets that the company plans to open this year, three will be at Hyderabad and Mumbai airports.

Lacoste expects new airport stores to bring seven percent revenue of the total sales from next financial year. The company already has one outlet at Bangalore airport, where fast selling products from the brand’s portfolio like T-shirts and other accessories are retailed.

In India, Lacoste offers seven out of eight categories, including apparels, footwear and fragrance. Apparels’ share to the total sales is about 89 percent, six to seven percent is driven by footwear and two percent contribution comes from leather goods such as bags and the rest is shared by wrist watches and belts. The company operates 46 stores in 18 cities across the country.

Opposed to the idea of selling its range online earlier, Lacoste is also considering retailing online due to a decline in sales growth across its stores last year. The company is planning to launch its own web platform by next year to sell and deliver products across the country.