Global shoe brands eye India

India’s footwear market is growing at the rate of 12 per cent annually. Apart from the top four

international brands Reebok, Adidas, Nike and Puma, smaller global players like Lotto Sports Italia, Vans, Sketchers, Crocs, Clarks et al are looking to increase their footprint. Several foreign brands are relying on channel partners that have a successful presence in several shop-in-shops, utilizing large multi-brand outlets such as Shoppers Stop, Pantaloons and Ebony.

Sports Lifestyle has already established a successful presence in more than 150 shop-in-shops and is utilizing large multi-brand outlets such as Shoppers Stop, Reliance Footprints, Ritu Wears, CnM, Standards Max, Ebony, Delco, Central, Pantaloons and Planet Sports. Lotto Sports Italia, which markets products in India through Delhi-based Sports Lifestyle, will be opening around 300 stores in the next two years in a phased manner.

Vans which is a US footwear brand has set up stores in top malls of India like Ambience Mall in Delhi and Forum Mall in Bangalore. Vans is looking at setting up more stores in top cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Chennai. Similarly, Clarks too is looking at scaling up its retail presence across India. It may be noted that the footwear industry in India is expected to reach Rs 47,000 crores by 2025 and global brands are vying with each other to get a bigger share of the market.