Woodland plans retail expansion within and outside India

Footwear and apparel firm Woodland is aiming to spread out retail within and beyond Indian shores. The company is all set to open up to 120 EBOs across India by 2018 and is planning to reach newer markets such as Japan and South Korea.

Earlier, the brand had a completely different strategy for expansion. It had relied more on MBOs rather than EBOs. Perhaps it is because of this strategy the brand is present at a large number of MBOs, 5,000 to be perfect. Most of these MBOs are in the Tier I, II, III towns. High rentals in metros forced the brand to be present through MBOs rather than opening own outlets.

Harkirat Singh, MD, Woodlands says they are planning to increase the number of EBOs in India and at the same time planning to enter Japan and South Korea. Woodlands is already present in many South East Asian countries and by including these two in their kitty, they will be able to strengthen their footprint in the Asian region. At the same time, they are planning increase their workforce as expansion will demand more products.

They have clocked in revenue of Rs 1,200 crores in the last fiscal year and are looking for 15 to 20 per cent growth going forward.