India’s one of the notable shoe brands, Liberty, has set a striving aim to push ahead its presence all across the circle. The assumed target is to open 100 stores every year for next few years, depending on location and requirement. Currently, the brand is holding 400 outlets, out of which 325 are franchise owned and 75 outlets are company-owned. The company has also been making conscious effort to upgrade standard and format of our retail outlets, as per the company reports.
The retail sector in India is going through a consolidation phase and the Rs 17,000-Rs 20,000 crore Indian footwear industry is growing at 10 per cent annually. The industry is also attracting huge investments from national and international players. Liberty’s retail expansion plans aims at tapping this huge potential, Bansal said. Liberty spends Rs 15 to 20 crore per year on its marketing activities, which happens at two levels — from a mass communication ATL (above the line) point and from the retail point which is like BTL (below the line, to back up this retail expansion plans.
Liberty Shoes is the only Indian company, which is among the top five manufacturers of leather footwear in the world. The company is producing more than 60,000 pairs of footwear a day. The products are marketed across the globe through 150 distributors, 400 exclusive showrooms and over 6,000 multibrand outlets, and sold in more than 25 countries. The major geographies that the company is looking at with the maximum thrust include France, Italy, and Germany, Anupam Bansal, executive director of Liberty said.