Footwear firm Khadim India plans to add 70-80 stores every year across India

The footwear from its stable comes with the tagline, 'It's Wow! It's Khadim.' The new brand campaign eyeing the festival market and featuring popular YouTuber Kiran Dutta (The Bong Guy) and Indrani Biswas (Wonder Munna) that the Kolkata's homegrown second largest footwear brand has recently rolled out, actually highlights the brand's trinity offerings of refreshed in-store experience, affordable pricing and fashionable range of products-together leading to that 'Wow' factor. Simultaneously Khadim has also launched its festive range under the sub-brands- British Walkers, Lazard, Turk, Sharon, Cleo, Softtouch, PRO, Bonito, Adriana, targeting the younger generation, in particular and the entire family, in general.

Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Namrata Ashok Chotrani, CEO, Khadim India Ltd, delves at length on wide ranging issues facing the footwear industry, Khadim's growth story and how they are planning to position Khadim, going forward

Which segment: men's/ women's/ children/ girls'- is growing faster?

The women and kids segments are growing at a faster pace. The growth in the women segment is driven by the increasing number of working women resulting in high disposable income and demand of classy & fashionable products owing to exposure to new fashion trends. And the kid's segment is boosted with rise in number of working parents resulting in higher expenditure for kids. However, the male category remains dominant. Additionally, over couple of years the consumption of comfortable and casual sports shoes (Athleisure) have increased considerably for both men and women categories. The category holds a lot of potential to grow further.

For Khadim, which is the fastest growing segment? At what rates these different segments are growing?

Khadim has witnessed growth in all segments for both its business units. The company's athleisure category has seen phenomenal growth due to rise in performance of physical activity by the consumers. Further there is a change in customer buying behaviour towards casual and fashionable footwear which we are focusing on aggressively.

Which of these different segments will be company's thrust, going forward?

Our constant market study has revealed that the demand for stylish and comfortable footwear has increased. Accordingly we have restructured our product portfolio with focus on premiumization while keeping price affordable in all the categories. Keeping the changes in consumer preferences in mind we would focus on Athleisure and casual footwear in both retail and distribution business units.

How many retail outlets do you have, at this point of time? How many of them are company owned and how many are franchisee-owned?

Currently, Khadim India has 796 retail stores pan India. Out of them, 207 are COO (Company Owned Outlets) and rests 589 are in association with franchisee partners.

Are you looking at expanding your retail presence? Could you please elaborate on that - how many stores would you add, how many of them would be company owned and how many franchisee-owned?

As per our plan we are expanding our retail touch points. We would add on around 70-80 stores every year across the country through a combination of company-owned outlets as well as through franchisee partnerships.

How much would you invest over the next 1-2 years for brand promotion and retail expansion? How has the re-branding helped you and what was the trigger for re-branding?

Our brand promotion investments are focussed on ROI driven campaigns. We would spend around 1.50 per cent-2 per cent of net sales on brand promotion.

In our effort to engage with new age consumers, we went through the rebranding exercise by incorporating a new logo in vibrant red colour along with an energetic tagline 'It's WOW It's Khadim'. Our revamped logo looks more sleek in a vibrant red and white combination. To further strengthen our rebranding exercise we on boarded the Indian Cricketer Shardul Thakur and launched campaign along with him early this year. In salience with our brand tagline, to offer a Wow experience to our consumers, we designed a trinity approach with a new fashionable range of products, a refreshed in-store experience while reinforcing the affordable price point.

Do you export? If so, what would be the export volume? To which countries, do you export? Any new geographies/markets that you are looking at?

We are open to export business deals as and when any right opportunity comes. But our focus is predominately focused on catering to domestic demand.

What percentage of your total sales revenue comes from institutional sales (school shoes etc)? Would you look at this segment with increasing thrust?

In FY22, we did not deal with institutional sales. Going ahead we will continue to focus on our retail and distribution businesses.

The impact of GST on footwear industry?

We have passed on the GST hike on the MRP of footwear items up to Rs 1000, like any other industry players. The GST hike has resulted in rise in products prices.

How much of your sales come from e-tailing? Going forward, by how much would you expect this percentage to go up?

E-commerce is a growing division for us. Currently, 5 per cent of our sales come from e-tailing and going forward, we expect this to go up by 8-10 per cent. With our vision to be an Omni-Channel brand, we are focusing towards enhancing our services. We have partnered with major ecommerce platforms Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra to widen our product offerings along with enhancing the reach of our own platform www.khadims.com.

How many brands/sub-brands do you have? Are you looking at more brands under the Khadim umbrella?

Our both business verticals retail and distribution have separate sub brands along with the mother brand Khadim with multiple end users. In retail, we have the following sub brands:

♦ British Walkers offers menswear (formal shoes & sandals using premium quality leather)

♦ Lazard offers menswear (semi-formal & casual shoes / sandals, using premium quality leather & faux leather)

♦ Turk offers menswear (outdoor boots / sandals using, premium quality faux leather); Sharon caters to womenswear (fashionable yet functional sandals using premium quality faux leather); Cleo caters to womenswear (light & trendy sandals using premium quality faux leather)

♦ Softtouch offers men and women wear (closed & open shoes / sandals using premium quality soft leather & faux leather)

♦ PRO offers men and women wear (sports / activity sneakers / floater sandals in mesh / synthetic / canvas uppers )

♦ Bonito offers Kidswear (a colourful range of shoes for toddlers and children)

♦ Adriana offers comfortable and fashionable footwear for pre-teen and teenage girls

Our Distribution segment is comprised of the following sub-brands:

♦ Dunford offers formal shoes for men

♦ Wash &Wear offer men & women PVC footwear

♦ Fliers offer men & women DIP & PU Footwear

♦ FitNxt offer men & women Athleisure sandal and shoes

♦ Kalypso- premium Hawaii & Fabrication Chappals

♦ Pugo- footwear for Kids

How do you position your brand in the market? Would you continue with this brand positioning in future or would you look at a different positioning?

Khadim India, the home grown second largest retail footwear brand in the country, has largest presence in the East and is listed among the top three players in South India. It is one of the emerging brands in the North and West India. The core proposition of the brand is affordable fashion for the entire family for all occasions. Going ahead we would like to continue with this identity of affordable fashion footwear brand supported by our trinity offering of trendy & fashionable footwear range, revitalised retail experience and reinforcing the affordable price point.