Despite leading the outdoor shoe segment with a good brand recall, Woodland does not want to diversify into other footwear categories whose market is valued at Rs 30,000 crore and is growing at a CAGR of 20 per cent. Instead Woodland has chosen to focus on the niche segment, adventure accessories, as Indians, the company feels, are increasingly taking up adventurous. activities: Founded in Canada, Woodland had been conceptualised as an outdoor and adventure brand with a tagline of “explore more”. However, in India it had limited opportunities to grow its adventure accessories and the brand got known for its shoes. Shoes still contribute 70 per cent of the brand’s turnover of Rs 850 crore and apparels account the rest of the sales. Harkirat Singh, managing director of Woodland feels it is the right time to grow adventure accessories as a category. “Products like tents, sleeping bags and specialised backpacks were there in our stores earlier also. But it is only now that we have started seeing customers asking for these products,” he said. In recent times, Woodland has launched several products in the category like trekking gear, full-body jackets, trekking ropes and skiing equipment. It has around 40 products in this category and is further growing it to include mountaineering bicycles, sunscreen lotions and creams and solar chargers in order to offer a complete range of adevnture outdoor and sports products. “Adventure accessories is a niche, but an emerging category with good growth potential. We want to have the first-mover advantage in the category,” he said. Further, this is a category where safety is of highest priority. People are more concerned about quality while buying products for high-risk adventurous activities, he added. Woodland, which is growing at a rate of 25 to 30 per cent annually, expects the category to contribute 10 to 15 per cent of the turnover in two to three years. It is spending 8 to 10 per cent of its sales revenues for promotion and marketing, which also includes promoting adventure activities among youth. sangeethag: @mydigitalfc.com, Source: Article
