Woodland to open 60 new retail stores this financial year

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Sep 1, 2017

As the adventure footwear brand experiences online sales growth and steps into China, 60 new stores are planned for India this year.

The brand currently has 600 company-owned stores country wide and is present in over 5,000 multi- retail outlets. Although the brand does not currently have any franchise stores, it is currently in the process of strengthening its franchise model in order to roll it out for more remote locations such as Kashmir and northeast India.

Malls and high street markets in Tier 1, 2, and 3 cities are the main location for Woodland stores and Harkirat Singh, Woodland India’s Managing Director, stated that the retail expansion would continue in these locations. Singh said: “We are planning to set up 60 more stores this year majority of which will be in Tier I, II and III cities. We have recently expanded our business in collaboration with Aokang International to enter China. This partnership will allow us to sell our products in about 5,000 retail outlets in China. We will initially start selling through 150 Aokang outlets. After testing the market with 150 stores, we shall scale up stocks by September and will be available in Aokang stores across China. We are planning similar collaborations in some South African countries and Canada.”

The brand’s online presence is also expanding as Singh said: “Our online sales are growing at a faster rate and we expect it to grow to 40 per cent in three to four years. We plan to concentrate more on a seamless approach through all available shopping channels, i.e. mobile Internet devices, computers, brick-and-mortar, television, radio, direct mail, catalog, in-store experience and so on. Our EMI scheme for online sales has proved beneficial for us. It is one of the prime reasons for the growth of our online sales. Soon after its launch, it generated a tremendous response from our customers. Nearly 15 per cent of our sales are now through this scheme.”

Woodland, originally launched in Canada and owned by the Aero Group, entered India in 1992 and is present in 40 countries worldwide. The brand was one of the first to introduce the “adventure shoe” category into the Indian market. The brand now has India specific product lines and has also branched out into clothing and handbags.