India's domestic footwear market is valued at $3.25 billion per year. The current rate of shoe consumption is 2.3 billion pairs i.e equivalent of each person buying 1.8 pairs of shoe , which is expected to increase to 4 pairs per person by 2020 i.e 5 billion pairs per year assuming population stays constant (which is quite not obvious :-) )
The footwear retail business in India is continually growing. International brands, including Pavers England, Clarks, Crocs, Skechers, Aldo and Charles & Keith, are expanding in India, while home-grown Liberty Shoes and Reliance Footprint are innovating to stay ahead. Bata's turnover has doubled from Rs 1,000 crore in 2008 to Rs 2,000 crore in year 2014 and still counting on.
Like global counterparts in India's Rs 38,500-crore footwear business, home-grown players are aggressively expanding to increase the share in the organised market from just 15 per cent in 2014.Â
The Indian footwear market is segmented between organized and unorganized segments. The organized segment caters to about 1/3rd of the market while the remaining market is fetched by small unorganized players. The organized sector is represented by major domestic and international players like Bata, Liberty, Adidas, Metro Etc and the unorganized segment comprises of small cottage industry based manufacturers. With increased household income, shifting consumer behavior from saving to spending and modern lifestyle, the organized retail in footwear market is rapidly evolving and expected to grow at a higher rate in the future. The market is further segmented into men, women and kid's segment. At present the women's segment is primarily catered by the unorganized players but factors like increase in number of working women and urbanization are expected to drive the purchases from this segment.
The rural market of India is still largely untapped for footwear manufacturers. Companies should re position themselves and launch specific product and price ranges to expand their presence and increase their consumer base.The best part is 85% footwear market in India is unorganized , So here lies the major potential. Launching your brands targeting the 85% of Indian consumer can be a sure win with potential to sell in large number of quantities.
Indian Footwear market is dominated by men's segment which accounts for about 55 per cent followed by ladies 30 per cent and kids 15 per cent. Hence targeting Men segment first can be a right approach with focused approach on lowering down cost price and innovation i.e bringing in more styles - To give taste of Being Trendy Affordable Range to the Tier 2-3-4 locations in India.
The highly low-cost production, abundant availability of raw material and a huge consumption untapped unorganized market are the major key factors of WIN-WIN approach if we choose footwear business.w
With my sincere efforts !
Mandeep