Sports shoe-maker Reebok is re-positioning itself as a fitness brand. Previously, known for sneakers and T-shirts, the company is re-branding itself with a bouquet of niche sports shoes, apparels and gym accessories.
Lower-range products have already been phased out, with current offerings priced upwards of Rs 4,000.
Keeping in mind the company's new retail entity old “Reebok” stores will be re-designed as “Fitness Hubs.”
New stores would have the look and feel of a gym. Fitness Hub stores will have a “Delta” sign after the brand name.
According to Somdeb Basu, Brand Director, Reebok (India), existing stores, will over a two-year-period be phased-out and converted to “Fitness Hubs.”
New stores
“We are re-positioning ourselves as a fitness brand and will add 100 new stores by the end of this fiscal. Existing stores will be re-branded as Fitness Hub,” he told Business Line , without sharing investment figures.
Reebok has 400-odd standalone stores across malls and high street formats, with 33 of them being Fitness Hub stores.
The idea, Basu said, is to target the country’s fitness segment pegged at Rs 3,000 crore. According to Basu, apart from apparels and footwear, offerings include gym accessories and equipment.
At present, the product mix (in new stores) are skewed — almost 96 per cent — in favour of apparels and traditional products.
Going forward, the product mix would be in an approximate ratio of 80:20 (apparels and traditional products to fitness equipment and gym accessories).
Other electrical equipment such as treadmills, joggers and exer-cycles would, however, be sold through multi-brand formats only.
Reebok is also targeting tie-ups with gym chains cross the country. At present, it has tie-ups with Fitness First and MS Dhoni's SportsFit; where marketing and brand awareness campaigns are carried out. This apart, Reebok is carrying out free fitness camps, training and awareness campaigns in Delhi, later to be extended nationally.