New Delhi: Festive season orders for footwear priced below Rs 300 have seen a jump, while the demand for products above Rs 300 has been impacted as the purchasing capacity of the customers has not increased, compared to the high input costs and increase in GST, shared footwear brand Walkaroo founder, V Noushad in a conversation with ETRetail.
“The demand for low-value items is increasing. Demand for the majority of our footwear below Rs 300 is increasing and those priced above Rs 300 are decreasing. To cope with the market requirement, we are working on demand-driven planning. So, when the demand comes, we will increase our capacity to make relatively low MRP products,” he said.
Explaining the company’s strategy, the industry leader shared that as a manufacturing company, Walkaroo did value engineering, increased its capacity, and reduced the number of SKUs to offer value products at affordable prices.
While the demand has been under pressure, Noushad shared an optimistic view and said that the brand is eyeing a 10 per cent value growth this fiscal, against the 8 per cent expected growth of the market.
“We are expecting 10% growth as we have made changes in our products which will help us achieve our targets. The demand has not picked up as per our expectation, but we have changed our product portfolio and we are trying to feed the product as per the market need and trying to achieve our sales targets.”
The Coimbatore-based company closed FY23 at a turnover of Rs 1,070 crore.
In terms of categories, Walkaroo plans to focus on Hawaii slippers and sports shoes. It is a leading player in the PU footwear segment.
While the brand drives 95 per cent of its sales from offline channels for its core categories, for upcoming newer segments such as sports shoes, the footwear retailer plans to tap online channels as the primary distribution system.
