Footwear Market In India to grow at 17% until 2020

Indian footwear market is fragmented segment with more than 75% coming from a un-organized local player. Men’s footwear dominates the market with close to 58% of the total Indian footwear market share. In terms of product type, casual footwear contributes approximately 67% of total sales.

Definition / Scope
Market Overview
Market Risks
Top Market Opportunities
Market Drivers
Market Restraints
Industry Challenges
Technology Trends
Pricing Trends
Regulatory Trends
Other Key Market Trends
Market Size and Forecast
Market Outlook
Technology Roadmap
Distribution Chain Analysis
Competitive Landscape
Competitive Factors
Key Market Players
Strategic Conclusion
References
Appendix

Definition / Scope

Footwear is categorized into Athletic and Non-Athletic types based on the raw materials used and its utilization. Athletic footwear is formerly known as Sneakers made mainly using rubber and positioned as a sports gear for the foot while the Non-Athletic footwear further divided into formal and casual shoes for walking purpose and as a professional footwear and is made up of leather and synthetic as a most used raw material.

But running shoes are no longer confined to courts and playgrounds these days. This generation including all age group prefers to wear an athletic brand of shoes in daily purpose.

On the basis of end-use, kid’s wear, men’s wear, and women’s wear comprise the segments where women’s wear lead the market both in terms of GMV and revenue.

Market Overview

Footwear market is one of the largest and continuously growing sector globally. The driving forces for the rapid expansion of the market are the latest designs in every few months that customers demand, technology and innovation to manage the global supply-chain that needs to be accomplished in less than 3 months to deliver the products in the market and withdraw unsold products from the market. India is the second largest global footwear supplier after China representing 9.57% of global footwear manufacturing.

Globally, the annual production of footwear reaches up to 23 billion pairs of which 2200 million pairs are produced in India. India is even the largest consumer of footwear. It is a fragmented market with more than 75% coming from a un-organized local player. Men’s footwear dominates the market with close to 58% of the total Indian footwear market share. In terms of product type, casual footwear contributes approximately 67% of total sales.

The premium-brand sportswear market in India is estimated to be near USD 1 billion, 75% of which is controlled by Reebok and Adidas. Nike’s market share is closer to 15% to 20%, accounting for only 1% of Nike’s total global sales.

From 2015 to 2016, the Indian sportswear market grew 22 percent, outpacing the segment’s global increase of 7 percent according to Euromonitor. By 2020, it is expected to grow an additional 12 percent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) with sales expected to reach USD 8 billion.

Today, 80 percent of India’s sportswear market is dominated by the “Big Four” international brands (Adidas, Reebok, Nike, and Puma), with others such as Under Armour, Fila and Lotto, domestic multi-brand sportswear retailers like Planet Sports and Royal Sporting House, and emerging local players, collectively compete for the remaining 20 percent.

Adidas AG, the parent company of Adidas and its subsidiary Reebok holds a 45 percent share of the market, operating all of its 760 stores under the franchise model. Nike and Puma also operate through the same model.

Indian footwear industry is dominated by unorganized players who account for 70% of the total industry. Thus on an annual basis, out of 2.1 bn pairs of footwear manufactured, 1.5 billion pairs are manufactured by small unorganized manufacturers and the rest 0.6 bn pairs are made by organized players such as Bata, Relaxo Footwear, Metro Shoes, Liberty, Action, Khadims, Paragon, Nike, Puma etc.

Gender wise, Indian footwear market is dominated by men’s footwear capturing nearly 58% of the total Indian footwear retail market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% by 2020. On the other hand, women’s footwear segment is projected to grow at a dramatical CAGR of 20%.

In term of product type, casual footwear is the largest product segment in India’s footwear market that contributes approximately 67% of the total footwear retail market. Moreover, Non-leather footwear accounts for 56% of the overall footwear market in India.

In terms of product category, casual wear dominates the market with 61% share followed by mass. Sports footwear constitute only 7% in Indian footwear segment.

Market Risks

Increasing competition from international brands leading lower sales for local players.
A higher GST rate for premium footwear could affect the margins negatively for premium brands.
Higher pressure from leather footwear because of the quality and durability of the material and consumers’ favorable perception towards trendy leather wear.

Top Market Opportunities

Indian market, especially the footwear market, has a lot of scope. The Indian footwear industry is gearing up to leverage its strengths towards maximizing benefits. Resource strength of India in the form of materials and skilled manpower is a comparative advantage for the country, among other things.

Market Development The rural market of India is still the untapped market for footwear manufacturers. The increasing significance of footwear is leading to an upsurge in the demand of footwear day by day which is further leading to higher growth prospects of the footwear industry.

The easy availability of varied styles is also increasing brand loyalty amongst the customers. The advent of such huge varieties of footwear is growing the potential of footwear industry even in tier-II and tier-III cities as the people are becoming more and more brand-centric in these cities as well.

Significant scope for diversification into other products, namely, leather garments, goods etc. is another big area to tap into.

Market Drivers

Online retailing Penetration of the e-commerce model has led SMEs to penetrate into Tier II and Tier III cities where there is a huge demand for footwear in the price range of USD 7 to USD 30. Also, e-commerce has provided the platform for many enterprises and premium footwear brands an ease to try to tap the market using the e-commerce. It is expected that around 11% of total revenue in the Indian footwear market will be generated through online sales by 2021. Flipkart, an India online aggregator surpassed brick-and-mortar footwear brands Bata and Reliance Footprint in retail sales in 2017.
Fitness Trend among Millennials The growing health awareness and increasing fitness trend with the millennial generation taking to aerobics, swimming, running, gymnasiums and yoga-like fitness drills have pulled dramatic growth in footwear sales. The proliferation of international brands represented by sports and Bollywood stars have kept sportswear in the public eye fuelling this drive as well.
Growing Sports Competition There is a steady growth trend in sports competitions and events all over India. Both the central level and state level sports ministries are encouraging youths to participate in various athletic activities. Huge funding is invested to represent Indian sports in international level. Hence, so many sports academies are run by renowned sports celebrities like Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar and thousands of passionate youths have been taking part in training sessions.
Sports Boom Running, cycling and team sports are gaining popularity as India’s fastest trending exercises — the number of gyms in the country is projected to rise 7 percent year-on-year till 2020. Further, the rise of social media in the country has shifted consumer perception of what is now considered to be ‘body-beautiful’. A growing number of consumers both female and male are emulating the daily fitness routines and sportswear purchases of Bollywood stars and famous athletes.
Government initiatives Many government-backed campaigns are catalyzing fitness movement that started about three years ago. Making use of subsidies, local councils started focusing on fitness accessibility by making public jogging tracks, gyms and swimming pools. A mainstream interest in yoga has also been reignited, following Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s declaration of June 21 as International Yoga day in 2014. India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy permits 100% FDI through automatic route.
Raw Material Availability India is enriched with 20% of the world’s cattle and buffalo and 11% of the world’s goat and sheep population, producing 2.5 billion sq. feet of leather, accounting for about 13% of global production. Availability of leather and the abundance of essential raw materials are key growth drivers for the sector.

Market Restraints

Anti-dumping Measures Government has imposed anti-dumping duty on raw materials imported specially from China. The anti-dumping duty on ‘narrow woven fabrics hook and loop velcro tapes’ is charged at the rate of USD 1.87 per kilogram. These products are mainly used in garment manufacturing, surgical and orthopedic apparatus, shoes and footwear, luggage/bags, toys, automobile upholstery, and various other industrial segments. Moreover, Make in India campaign is restricting importing of finished goods from outside India by imposing a higher customs duty.
Other constraints Firms in leather and footwear sector are significantly constrained by deficiency and highprices of raw materials, deficiency of power, competition faced from imports and uncertain economic environment.

Industry Challenges

As the market is mostly un-organized and fragmented, fulfilling the demand and delivery is the key challenge for most of the footwear brands especially through e-tailing. Some of the major challenges faced by market players are:

Timely and efficient delivery of products
No stock rotation leading to outdated stock
Higher % of Customer Initiated Returns (CIR)
Increased cost of Reverse Logistics
Managing Multiple Warehouses and Stores
Easy transition to present Taxation policies
Managing Multichannel and Offline
Effective Utilization of stock
Seamless management of returns and cancellations

Product counterfeiting is another big challenge for the organized footwear industry. The products emulated from renowned brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Reebok are being sold in the unorganized market at cheaper cost. Neither such brands nor buyers concern about the IPR infringement.

Technology Trends

Digitization of buying experience The footwear industry is moving into a decisive phase of digital adoption by the mainstream consumer, and online sales of footwear is projected to grow rapidly in emerging markets. On average, consumers in Southeast Asia spend about eight hours a day online; from social media to video streaming and shopping amongst other things.

The modern shopper’s comfort with digital channels and content has changed the consumer purchase journey from a traditional brick-and-mortar model to a complex journey across omni channel touch points. But regardless of touchpoint, consumers expect a consistent brand experience at all times.

E-commerce companies from Amazon to Flipkart, and Myntra to Snapdeal are continuing to raise the bar – not least for fashion companies aspiring to provide an even-more-premium experience. Many consumers today expect perfect functionality and immediate support at all times.

As consumers’ obsession with mobile grows, the end-to-end transaction will also move to mobile. With an overabundance of mobile payment solutions already available globally, consumers will expect fashion companies to cater for increasingly convenient mobile transactions.

3-D Printing Shoes manufacturers are using 3D-printing technology for preliminary production stages of prototyping. Now, more than a dozen companies including Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Under Armour are adopting 3D printing to create an entire shoe to bring a revolutionary footwear experience where customization and personalization meet technology. This also reduces the wastage while prototyping and the residual material in manual manufacturing.

Augmented Reality AR helps capture consumers by revealing how products will look or feel on their bodies before purchase. It’s the ultimate in forward-looking technology where a consumer could actually feel the personalisation before a product is ready.

Pricing Trends

Price Sensitive Consumers: With information and the ease of comparison at their fingertips consumers are becoming less brand loyal: among millennials, two-thirds are willing to switch brands for a discount of 30 percent or more.

The products are categorized into a mass, economy, premium, luxury parts on the basis of pricing. Unorganized sector mostly sells footwear priced below USD 14 while it also sells shoes priced up to USD 42. But the premium and luxury type shoes are sold by organized big brands.

The unorganized segment gains prominence in the Indian context due to its price-competitive products, which are more suitable and attractive to the price-conscious Indian consumer.

But with increased household income, shifting consumer behavior from saving to spending, increasing brand consciousness amongst Indian consumers, an influx of large number of global brands and penetration in the tier – II and III cities by footwear companies, the organized retail in the footwear market is rapidly evolving and expected to grow at a higher rate in the future.

Regulatory Trends

To develop and promote quality education in the field of footwear and leather design, The Footwear Design and Development Institute Act, 2017 has been promulgated.
As more than 75% of the total market is un-organized that doesn’t come under tax regime, newly implemented GST will help to integrate all the sectors within a single tax frame while encouraging local players.
There are two rates of GST, 5% for products below INR 500 and 18% for products priced above INR 500. This huge differential rate surely impacts the sales of branded footwear sellers.
An INR 2,600 crore budget was announced to invest in the leather and footwear industry with the aim to generate more jobs.

Other Key Market Trends

Investments: Lighthouse Funds has invested US$ 35 million in footwear-maker Aqualite Industries Pvt. Ltd.
Labour force There are about 1.10 million workers who are in the footwear manufacturing industry in India. Leather and footwear segment is quite a labor-intensive sector.
Emergence of local brands Popular Indian sportswear brands like Wildcraft India, Future Lifestyle and HRX are finding difficulty penetrating a market that is becoming increasingly crowded. Domestic players have only now started looking at this growing trend in this space.

Market Size and Forecast

India’s export of Leather and Leather products for 2017-2018 touched USD 1420.04 million as against USD 1,438.79 million in the corresponding period of last year, recording a negative growth of -1.30%.

Export of different categories of Footwear holds a major share of about 35% in India’s total Leather & Leather Products exports with an export value of USD 675.07 mn. This is followed by Leather Goods & Accessories with a share of 23%, Finished Leather 17%, Leather Garments 10%, Non Leather Footwear 7%, Footwear component 6% and Saddlery & Harness 2%.

Except Leather Footwear and Finished Leather, the other product categories have shown positive growth. Footwear exports from India have grown at a CAGR of 20 percent during the last five year backed by growing demand from European nations and increasing focus of main importing countries to shift sourcing from China to other low cost producing countries.

Indian footwear industry is currently valued at USD 4.75 million. Global volume of footwear stands at 22 billion pairs per year of which 2.1 billion (approximately 9%) are produced in India. Out of the total production, 90% of the footwear is consumed within the country while the rest 10% is exported primarily to European markets such as the UK, Germany, Italy and France and some shipped to North America.

India is the second-largest manufacturer of footwear after China and third-biggest consumer of footwear globally. India’s share in global exports of footwear is only 2% as compared to China’s 40% market share dominance.

However, provided the changing dynamics of the Indian population and the addition of more working population to the pie there has been an emerging trend of “different shoe pair for every new occasion” which is becoming a strong volume driver. Footwear market in India is expected to grow at a 17% CAGR in the next 4 years to reach 4 billion pairs by 2020.

The kid’s footwear segment contributes the maximum market share of 45% in revenue generation terms and growing steadily at a CAGR of 17% during 2012-2017. This segment generated revenue of USD 1.09 billion in 2017 alone. Kid’s footwear market is mostly unorganized with only 7% of demand met by branded players.

Market Outlook

More than 90% of the footwear manufactured in India is sold in the domestic market. The organized footwear market in India is still dominated by men’s footwear, which contributes to around 58% of the total retail footwear market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 10% by 2020.

The women’s footwear segment, however, is projected to grow at a much faster CAGR of around 20%. In terms of the product type, casual footwear is the largest product segment in the Indian footwear market and contributes to approximately 67% of the total retail footwear market.

The kids’ footwear is expected to grow dramatically at a CAGR of 18.1% during 2017-2022 to reach sales of USD 2.5 billion by 2022. The Indian leather industry accounts for around 12.93% of the world’s leather production of hides/skins.

Currently, India is already among the world’s top 10 footwear exporters, with a rising market share. India is also the second largest exporter of leather garments and the third largest exporter of saddlery & harness in the world. Exports are projected reach USD 9.0 billion by 2020, from the present level of USD 5.85 billion.

India has trade agreements with Japan, Korea, ASEAN, Chile etc., and is negotiating Free Trade Agreement with European Union, Australia etc.

Technology Roadmap

Smart footwear Footwear will go beyond the basic fabrics and materials, style, comfort, and basic functionality in the coming years. And will offer some kind of performance-enhancing aspect to the product. For example, some new materials offer odor-neutralizing properties. Others light up when the wearer’s body temperature reaches a certain point. Now, we’re seeing footwear with embedded sensors that can track distance traveled, calories burned and other biometric data.

Shift Sneakers, for example, are made from a material that can change itself to reflect different wavelengths of light so as to solve the problems of matching sneakers to the outfit consumers want to wear. With an accompanying app, buyers can change the colors of specific areas of the sneaker to help you match whatever you’re wearing.

Material Innovation The bicycle shoe manufacturer, Garneau Carbon Team footwear has woven the chemical xylitol into the strands of its insoles. The chemical xylitol can convert sweat molecules into a refrigerant and cool down the wearer’s feet. This could go a long way to building exceptional comfort into footwear used for the vigorous activity.

But above all, there has to be a tangible, marketable benefit to the consumer for a new product to be a success no matter how impressive the technology is on its own.

Distribution Chain Analysis

Value chain of the footwear market size includes various stakeholders, such as raw material suppliers, footwear manufacturers, distributors, and end users. Each of these players add a specific value to their business operations, in turn, contributing to the competitive value of the product. The R&D activities, innovations and constant efforts for improvement, collectively enhance the values associated with the final product deliverables.

Raw material supplier Various raw materials, such as skin, jute, leather, rubber, plastics, synthetics, and PVC soles among others are used for manufacturing footwear products. The footwear manufacturing companies including PUMA, Adidas, Crocs, and Timberland procure all these materials from different vendors to manufacture different footwear. India is among the largest supplier of leather and rubber supplier in the world. Top rubber companies in India are Apcotex Ind, Indag Rubber, Pix Transmis, Rubfila Intl, GRP, Cosco India, Mahalaxmi Rub, etc.

Footwear manufacturer Companies are responsible for designing, manufacturing, and packaging footwear with all necessary requirements. To innovate and conceptualize new designs, footwear manufacturers keep track of changing consumer preferences to keep pace with their tastes. Attractive designs are important yardsticks taken into consideration while purchasing a specific footwear.

Bata India, Metro Shoes, Agra, Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc. are the leading manufacturer of footwear. While most of them are private labeled brands coming from a few manufacturers in India. There are overall 15000 units involved in the manufacturing of shoes in India with 55% of volume coming from small players and rest by the large manufacturers.

Distributors Distributors of footwear supply shoes, sandals, and boots to different entities, such as retail stores, brand outlets, discount stores, online stores, and manufacturer owned online web portals. With the retail platforms, manufacturers understand the overall market demand and have opened their own outlets across various potential markets. Online store is an emerging channel of distribution and is a convenient medium for customers to purchase footwear items.

The rise of e-commerce and increased online orders has left many footwear distribution centers stretched to keep up with nationwide demand. In many cases, footwear companies only have a single distribution center located on one of the median geography. This oftentimes causes customer service issues, slow and/or expensive shipping to customers, and an overall network that is not optimized for the new business reality.

Expanding the footprint to the other locations and/or distributing from the center of the country where overall shipping costs are less due to the closer proximity to customers’ homes would help save millions of dollars.

Consumers Consumers of footwear consist of individuals of different age groups and gender. The improved spending capabilities of individuals, changing lifestyles, and rising number of working professionals has increased the spending capability of individuals. This is occurring especially in the developing countries and leading to further expansion of the overall market for footwear.

Competitive Landscape

The footwear market in India is very fragmented and catered by many small and mid-sized players with almost 15,000 small and medium enterprises operating largely in the unorganized segment; and limited presence of organized segment. The competitive intensity is high between the two segments and both are estimated to have an equal share of the overall domestic market in value terms.

This market is shared between organized and unorganized segment. The organized segment caters to about one-third of the market while unorganized players fetch the remaining 78 percent market which essentially falls under micro, mini, small and medium enterprises.

Though, the unorganized segment dominates the market in sales volumes due to its presence primarily in the low-cost rubber/ plastic footwear. The unorganized sector gains its prominence in the Indian context due to its price-competitive products which are more suitable and attractive to the price-conscious Indian consumer. Their products are cheaper due to an involvement of cheap household labor, evading of tax and labor laws and limited investment in assets.

However, the implementation of a unified Goods & Services Tax (GST) is expected to help in increasing tax compliance and simplifying tax structure by bringing all Central and state levies (like excise duty, sales tax, octroi, VAT and other countervailing duties) under one single head having uniform tax rate across goods and services.

Competitive Factors

Differentiation based on quality and price: The new-age Indians seek quality and stylish products but at the same time have a strong value-for-money orientation. Brands are competing to meet these high purchasing aspirations will to capture the market share.

Key Market Players

Local Brands

Aqualite Aqualite has manufacturing plants in Haryana and Rajasthan and has distribution channel of 35,000 retailers all over India. It offers more than 6,500 products under several sub-brands.

Campus Activewear

Metro Shoes Metro Shoes was founded in 1947 with its first store in Mumbai. Currently, it operates 350 showrooms and is growing continuously. Because of the emergence of e-commerce in India, the company faces omnichannel management challenge particularly with their unreliable software, sales visibility, inventory location, return data, etc.

Since it is becoming harder for the company to meet customers’ personalized demand and convenient experiences with physical storefronts only. Therefore, Metro Shoes partnered with IBM and CEBS to embark on digitization and hence to trigger online sales.

Agra Footwear 65% of Indian footwear demand is catered by Agra Footwear. It also captures 25% of total exports from India.

International Brands

Reebok Reebok is one of the leading global brands for lifestyle and sports products. The brand is focused on creating products, which show the wish and originality needed to constantly come up with new challenges for the established norms.

Bata Bata was founded in 1894 by Tomas Bata and is a multinational company today. With its presence in over 60 countries, Bata is among the oldest footwear manufacturing company in the world. Bata India Limited, which is a subsidiary of Bata show organization, is the biggest manufacturer and retail in India now.

Also, Bata has become one of the outstanding players in the footwear industry and selling in over 1,200 stores and with its strong online presence. The company captures 25% share in the organized footwear segment. It has a strong distribution network of 1,265 stores across 500 cities consisting of 1,121 Bata stores, 102 Hush Puppies and 42 Footin Stores.

In terms of sales of the shoes, men’s shoes contribute 50%-55% to sales while women and kid footwear account for 30%-32% and 7%-8%, respectively. Brand-wise, core Bata brands account for 70%, Hush Puppies 10%-11%, Power brand accounts for 10% and accessories 8%-9%. The company also has tie-ups with major e-commerce portals and sales through e-commerce channels currently account for 2%-3% of total sales.

Nike Nike is a world’s largest footwear, accessories, apparel, services, and equipment brand in terms of sales and is based at Portland, Oregon. It is the global leader in athletic apparel and footwear as well as sports equipment. Its market share in India closes to 15% to 20% which is only 1% of its total global sales. Nike offers shoes in the following categories:

Men
Men’s training
Women
Women’s training
Kids
Golf
Running
Skateboarding
Basketball
Snowboarding
Football
Surfing
Soccer
Tennis

Adidas Adidas is one of the most popular shoe brands in India and its sneakers, fashion oriented, and sports shoes are highly sought after. The company was founded by Dassler brothers – Adi and Rudolph – who came up with the first soccer shoes that had studs. In India, it has marked phenomenal USD 141 million sales revenue in 2017. Its Originals footwear series start from USD 100 and goes up to USD 350. It is the second largest international selling brand in India.

Liberty Liberty Shoes Limited, an Indian multinational company, is based out of Karnal, Haryana. It was founded in 1954 and is one of the leading global footwear makers today. Currently, Liberty Shoes have operations in over 25 countries. Also, the company has a global presence with more than 6000 multi-brand outlets with more than 400 outlets.

Woodland Woodland is owned by Aero Group that has been in the business of outdoor shoes since the early 50s. The brand was introduced in 1992. At present, the brand has 350 exclusive outlets across the world and is present in at least 3000 multi-brand stores in several countries. Currently, Woodland has 600 stores across the country and planning to open 50-60 new stores this year.

The sportswear brand is not planning to go to very smaller towns as their distributors will be affected. The company owned stores have a long range of products other than shoes. The major product ranges of Woodland may be enumerated as below:

Boots
Casual
Shoes
Travel
Sandals
Climbing
Slippers
Trekking
Men’s
Hiking
Women’s

Valentino Valentino is the brainchild of Guru Shoes Tech Private Limited. The company’s head offices are situated at Agra and it was set up during 1985 by Moti Lal Daultani.

Converse Converse, a leading American brand, deals with athletic apparel and lifestyle fashion in addition to footwear. It is presently owned by Nike and was set up during February 1908 in Malden, Massachusetts. At present, its head offices are at North Andover in the same state.

Lancer Lancer is one of the leading shoemakers in India. The organization was incorporated during 1989 and its head offices are at Udyog Nagar, Delhi.

Lotto Lotto is one of the leading global brands in footwear.

RedTape Red Tape is famous for its unmatched comfort, and a wide range of styles. It is owned by Mirza International Limited and it was launched in 1996. It is represented by Bollywood star Salman Khan and is now the leading lifestyle brand of India. In addition to footwear, it deals with accessories and apparels. It primarily deals in men’s footwear that comes in 3 ranges – casuals, slippers and sandals, and fashion formals.

REDTAPE is a premium lifestyle brand offering style, quality, and comfort at competitive prices. REDTAPE footwear is sold across the global markets and in India.

Puma Puma is one of the world leaders when it comes to sports and lifestyle products such as footwear, accessories, and apparels. Apart from the Puma brand, the synonymous parent group owns Tretorn, and Cobra Golf. Puma signed Virat Kohli for ₹110 crore – the highest ever brand commitment in Indian sports history. Its registered offices are at Herzogenaurach in Germany. Its footwear comes in the following ranges:

Men
Sport
Women
Motorsport
Lifestyle

Paragon Paragon was introduced during 1975 and its head offices are at Kerala. At present, it operates through 16 depots across the country and 300 distributors, who form the backbone of the company. Apart from shoes, the organization also deals in school bags and solid tires. Following are its various footwear brands:

Rubber Based
Max
Solea
Walkie
Vertex
Escoute
Slickers
Meriva
Stimulus
Fookids
Para Lite
School Worth

Relaxo Relaxo started operations during 1976 and officially became a company in 1984 and went public during 1995. The company earned in excess of INR 8700 million in 2011-12 and has a current daily manufacturing rate of 3 lakh pieces. Its 9 manufacturing units are located in northern India. Following are its major brands:

Hawaii
Sparx
Casualz
Flite
Schoolmate
Elena

Action Action Shoes are owned by Action Group, one of the top conglomerates of India. Action Shoes have been in the footwear industry for 30 years and have millions of consumers across India. Following are its various brands:

Campus
Flotter
Dotcom
Hooha
Milano
Fun Time
Chanchal
Micro
Florin
Easy Line
Roaming
Fly Float
School Time
Health Plus
Eva Flotter
Synergy Shoes
Mausam

Fila Fila is one of the biggest brands of the world when it comes to sportswear including athletic shoes, accessories, and clothing. The company was established during 1911 in Italy and at present, its head offices are at Seoul, South Korea. It operates in 11 countries across the world

Inblu Inblu was established in Surat, Gujarat during 1997 as Condor Footwear (India) Ltd in association with Condor Trade SRL, one of the leading footwear companies from Italy. At present, the company has a manufacturing capacity of 40,000 pairs each day. It offers sandals and slippers for men, children, and women in addition to related accessories.

Other Leading Shoe brands in India

Following are other leading shoe brands of India:

VKC
Coolers
Forest
Force 10
Sharon
Fermani
Italiano
Lues Club
Loochi
Lues Alberto
Amblin
Khadims
Genius
Cyke
Mainly
Vans
Beneto
Vivobarefoot
Subtraction
G Sports
Montee Cairo
Globalite
Green Waves
Big Boon
Stiflex
Valentino
Wood Style
Alberto Torresi
Aria
Language
Womenz Collection
Style Centrum
F9
Kook N Keech
Catwalk
Sole Threads
Nine West
Havaianas
Gliders
Timberland
United Colors of Benetton
Tiptopp

Strategic Conclusion

Unlike its export-orientated textile industry, the footwear industry in India is mainly catering to its domestic market. 80% of the market is unorganized which means the local players are endowed with the sales revenue. This unorganized sector is labor exploited and doesn’t contribute much in the economy as a whole.

Current 10% of the footwear shipped overseas every year is not enough to repatriate foreign currency into the Indian economy. However, with growing foreign direct investment in the country’s footwear manufacturing sector and constant government support with beneficial policies, India is increasing its market share in the global footwear exports year after year.

The BoP segment in India characterized by having significantly low income continues to move up the consumption ladder. While the urban segment enjoys media exposure brand consciousness plays an important role in purchase decision but for rural BoP value consciousness segment price sensitivity is the only factor in purchase decision making. Therefore, reducing cost in distribution at last mile and selling value for money product is the key to capture the rural market.

Youth constitutes a considerable proportion of online users with India’s youth comprising a significantly larger share than global internet users.

Convenience is a key determinant of online shopping which is evident from the dominant share of mobile phones across consumer segments. Therefore, for urban population going through digital experience would help achieve the larger share of the pie.

The industry is transforming from a traditionally labor-intensive sector towards a more technological and innovative driven sector, with an increasing number of small and big footwear manufacturers focusing more on developing newer technologies and introducing better products.

Today, India’s footwear industry has evolved into a highly specialized industry, where machine production with a systematic labor flow is facilitating the industry to an international level.

This has further been leveraged by government support. The Indian government has recently announced a USD 365 million special package for fuelling the leather and footwear industry. The special package includes the implementation of the central sector scheme ‘Indian Footwear,

Leather & Accessories Development Programme (IFLADP) under which, a further 300,000 workers will be trained and 20-30% subsidy will be offered to MSMEs on the capital expenditure for building a plant and buying machinery.

Appendix

CAGR: Cumulative Annual Growth Rate
GMV: Gross Merchandise Value
FDI: Foreign Direct Investment
PVC: Polymerization of Vinyl Chloride