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Footwear and apparel-maker Woodland is looking to re-position its sub-brand ‘Woods’ as a separate retail identity. Woods will focus primarily on women’s footwear.
A separate retail identity, that includes branding and creating standalone outlets, will be carved out during the year. At least 30 stores, at a proposed cost of Rs 50-60 crore, has also been planned during the fiscal.
cater to women
“Woods will cater to the luxury footwear segment only. Nearly 60 per cent of our offerings will be for women, while the remaining 40 per cent for men,” Harkirat Singh, Managing Director, Woodland, said. Singh was in the city to launch the brand’s new summer collection.
Woods, introduced nearly a decade back, was a sub-brand for men’s formal wear.
The focus initially was on international designs compared to outdoor shoes and boots under the Woodland brand. Later, Woods was extended to include women’s footwear.
“The branded women’s footwear segment has seen a good growth over the years, especially, in the luxury segment. We are targeting this segment with Woods,” Singh added.
Headquartered in Delhi, the Aero Group, maker of Woodland, reported a Rs 850-crore turnover in 2012-13.
About 20 per cent of the group’s turnover was from Woods(luxury shoes, formal and women’s footwear). The segment’s contribution, according to Singh, is expected to rise to 30 per cent within the next three years after Woods has a separate entity.
At present, the group has one standalone Woods store in Delhi. Based on the success of this pilot, more will be planned. Offerings under Woods will be priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 8,000 a pair.
According to market sources, the branded footwear segment in the country is pegged between Rs 25,000 crore and Rs 30,000 crore.
Shop-in-shop format
Singh, meanwhile, added that the company was already in talks with multi-brand outlets for having shop-in-shop formats for the Woodland brand. These would retail Woodland apparels, accessories and footwear.
“Discussions are on with Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle to introduce shop-in-shop format,” he said. Woodland already has two such shop-in-shop formats in Kerala.
Currently, only shoes are sold through multi-brand formats.
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