IndiaRetailBiz

“We are looking at sales of Rs 3,000 crore from footwear business by 2010, when we open 150 stores. We are aiming at a market share of 15 per cent in the Rs 15,000 crore footwear market in the next three years, which is growing at around 20 per cent annually.” — Gopalakrishnan Shankar, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Retail (Footprints).

“We are excited to be in India and have aggressive plans for this vibrant market as we look at investing in design and development within India to customise our European footwear in the Indian market.” — Stuart Paver, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pavers England Footprints Ltd

Reliance Retail Limited, the retail arm of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries Limited, which so far has unveiled 11 retail formats, including eight speciality formats, has tied up, on a non-exclusive basis, with the UK-based Pavers England Footprints Limited, to introduce Pavers England and Flyflot brands of footwear in India through its speciality format ‘Footprint’ stores. Paver has plans to add a few more international footwear brands to its brand portfolio in India, soon.

The tie-up is expected to help Reliance take forward its plan of making the Reliance stores a ‘destination’ concept for shoppers.

This was announced at a media conference in Bangalore on Wednesday by Stuart Paver, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pavers England Footprints Ltd and G Shankar, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Retail (Footprint).

Reliance Footprint, which so far has launched three stores in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi, plans to extend its footprint to 150 stores in tier-I and tier-II cities across the country. While, 30 of these stores will be set up within a year, the balance 120 stores will be set up in three years by 2010. Ahmedabad, Mumbai (Thane), Noida (NCR), Ludhiana, and Mangalore are among the cities that are expected to see Reliance Footprints stores coming up in the next six months.

Reliance Footprint offers a wide range of footwear for men, women, kids and sports persons, under nearly 2,000 styles from 40 national and international footwear brands like Geox, Ecco, Josef Seibel, Rockpot, Florsheim, Lee Cooper, Levis, Piccadilly, Clarks, Woodlands, Liberty and Gaitonde, in every conceivable footwear category from casuals to formals, and sports to party-wear.

Pavers England Footprints, which has set up a footwear design studio at an investment of around $ Three million in Chennai, is looking at exporting $20 million worth of its footwear products made in India by 2010. These products based on its designs, besides its $10 million worth plant in Chennai, will be sourced from Agra and Kanpur. Pavers England plant has the capacity to produce 10,000 pairs of footwear in India every day.