Reliance to enter footwear business

New Delhi News.Net
Friday 31st August, 2007 (IANS)

Reliance Retail has decided to enter the footwear market with a chain of 100 shoe stores across the country under the brand Reliance Footprint.

'An average Indian uses only 1.1 pairs of footwear in one year,' said G. Sankar, chief executive, footwear business of Reliance Retail, outlining the company's expansion plans at the 26th international footwear conference that began here Friday.

The women and children footwear segment is vastly untapped and men's footwear makes up 50 percent of the market, he said.

'Footwear is not considered an essential item like clothing, so value added taxes (VAT) and excise structures are not on par with the garment industry. As much as 70 percent of the footwear used domestically is made in the unorganised sector,' he said.

'Converting the unorganised manufacturing sector to an organized and regulated one is a big challenge. Another challenge is to increase demand, consumption by pricing, branding and promotion,' Sankar said.

'Training vast untapped rural and urban communities in foot hygiene, foot care and use of informal clean footwear is also necessary,' he said.

Reliance is looking to position itself in the supermarkets and hypermarkets with shoes ranging from Rs.299 to Rs.999.

By 2011, it hopes to capture 12 percent of the market with a turnover of Rs.30 billion.

Bata is still the largest player in the Indian shoe market with a turnover of Rs.9 billion. Reebok comes a distant second with Rs.4 billion and Liberty is the third biggest company with a turnover of Rs.3 billion.

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