Woodland plans 60 new stores in India by 2008

With international shoe brands betting big on India, homegrown footwear label Woodland has embarked upon a major expansion plan that envisages doubling production capacity and setting up 60 to 70 new retail stores in the next two years.

"Demand for our products has grown in the past few years. We would invest about Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) to set up three new facilities in Uttaranchal to cater to the increased demand," Woodland Shoes Managing Director Harkirat Singh told PTI.

The company currently has a production capacity of 6,000 pairs of shoes per day. The new units, likely to be ready by 2007-end, would take its capacity to 10,000-12,000 pairs.

"We are well-placed to achieve a turnover of Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) in the current fiscal and are anticipating a topline of Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion) in the next two years," he said.

The company plans to open 60 to 70 new retail stores by 2008 to strengthen its presence in the country. The new stores would come up in metros and Tier-I cities and would take the total number of exclusive Woodland stores to 195.

"About 50 per cent of our stores are owned by us and 50 per cent are based on the franchise model. We would follow the same model for our new stores, where around 50 per cent of the stores would be owned by the company," Singh said.

Apart from shoes, the company also looks to actively market its apparel and accessories brands. It would set up two new facilities to double its capacity to 6,000 pieces a day from the current 3,000 pieces.

"Our clothing line is well received by customers and we want the apparel segment to contribute much more to revenues.

We are targeting the apparel segment to contribute 30 per cent to our revenues in the next few years," Singh said.

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