Skechers India to launch e-commerce site

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Nov 13, 2017

Skechers have announced that they aim to launch their own e-commerce store in the coming months as they step into an Omni-channel approach in India.

The brand aims to reach more customers, particularly those in non-metro areas through e-commerce.

Rahul Vira, the CEO of Skechers India said: “The brand is adopting omni-channel approach by integrating online and offline. In the next couple of months’ time the brand will go live with www.skechers.in. We shall then have a better clarity on the path towards the Omni-channel approach.

“The brand has 100 stores across 45 markets, MBOs [multi-brand outlets] and EBOs [exclusive brand outlets] distribution leads to 130 markets and 800 retail touch points,” said Vira. “It [has] been five years that Skechers entered the Indian market and we have reached the 100th store mark. We are growing at a rate of 100 percent year-on-year and thus we aim to have close to 400 stores in India over a period of [the] next five years,” he added. Launching an e-commerce site whilst continuing to expand the brand’s brick and mortar store count will thus make up Skechers’ omni-channel expansion strategy.

Footwear is currently a growing segment where once it was predominantly a need-based industry. Skechers has capitalised on this since entering the country in 2012. As India is currently the world’s second largest footwear manufacturer after China, the market does not appear to be slowing down soon. Since 2015, Skechers have been looking into manufacturing their shoes in India and setting up a permanent production unit here, however that has not yet come to fruition as the government needs to first give its permission.