http://www.mastbusiness.com/bizguides/bg499/ http://footwearsinfoline.tripod.com/footwear_retail_overvw.htm Introduction The Footwear Industry is a significant segment of the Leather Industry in India.

India ranks second among the footwear producing countries next to China. The industry is labor intensive and is concentrated in the small and cottage industry sectors. While leather shoes and uppers are concentrated in large scale units, the sandals and Chappals are produced in the household and cottage sector. India produces more of gents footwear while the worlds major production is in ladies footwear. In the case of Chappals and sandals, use of non-leather material is prevalent in the domestic market. Shoes manufactured in India wear brand names like Florsheim, Gabor, Clarks, Salamander and St. Micheals. As part of its effort to play a lead role in the global trade, the Indian leather industry is focusing on key deliverables of innovative design, consistently superior quality and unfailing delivery schedules. Region-wise share of total estimated capacities is as follows:

Region

Leather Shoes

Non-leather Leather Shoe Shoes Uppers Percentage

Leather Sandals

Non Leather Sandals

Tamil Nadu Delhi & up North Agra, Kanpur Calcutta Bangalore Mumbai Others Total

26 10 45 12 3 4 0 100

5 77 0 0 3 2 13 100

54 4 32 2 4 1 3 100

1 1 62 3 0 32 1 100

0 60 0 0 0 0 40 100

Industry analysis The Indian footwear industry is provided with institutional infrastructure support through premier institutions like Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, Footwear Design & Development Institute, Noida, National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, etc in the areas of technological development, design and product development and human resource development.

The Indian footwear retail market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% for the period spanning from 2008 to 2011. Footwear is expected to comprise about 60% of the total leather exports by 2011 from over 38% in 2006-07.

The Indian footwear market is estimated to be worth Rs.13,750 Crore and

constitutes just about one percent of Indian retail. The ladies footwear segment still remains the most untapped as nearly 80-90 percent purchases happen in the unorganized market

Performance

According to the authors latest study on the sector, Indian footwear industry possess significant potential with overall market anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 9% during 2011-2014. The report thoroughly discusses factors, which will drive the growth of the footwear market during the forecast period.

Competition analysis Bata India ltd

BATA INDIA LIMITED was founded on August 24, 1894 by Mr. Tomas Bata (Founder) in Czechoslovakia. Its current headquarter is in Switzerland. It is serving 1, 30,000 customers every day. It has more than 6300 employees. It is a shoe making company. BATA follows 3 point strategies-1) Better product, fatter margins; 2) Expansion; 3) specialization.

Sells over 45 million pairs of footwear every year

Serves over 120,000 customers every day Sells through over 1200 retail stores Operates 5 manufacturing facilities

STRENGTHS
Brand awareness was established in the early 30s. People associated Bata for

quality and real value for money. Targeting all income segments. Footwear for the entire family. Nationwide retail network. Brand Image. Good quality at low or reasonable price. Shoes available are in varied quality and price.

The brand Bata is closely identified with footwear by consumers. An extensive retail network of owned and franchised stores enables the Company to reach out to consumers across the length and breadth of the country. The Companys own tanneries located in Batanagar and Mokamehghat ensures uninterrupted supply of raw materials. Six manufacturing locations enable the Company to schedule production to meet demand for a large number and varied categories of footwear.

WEAKNESSES
Lagging in innovation: Bata has not been able to keep pace with the latest changes taking place in the footwear market No continuity of leadership. No proper planning regarding Advertisement No variety in Fashionable shoes. Lack of variety in sports shoes. The Company has a large labour force resulting in high employee costs. The Company has been in existence for more than seven decades and faces a challenge in switching to new production technologies. Lack of futuristic approach.

Employs more than 6800 people

Opportunities and threat Rapid growth of consumerism in state: With the rapid growth of middle class in the state, the purchasing power of the average person has increased. The awareness for the quality footwear has created a rise in demand for quality footwear affordable prices. Even changing tastes of customer: The fashion conscious customers always look for new styles and designs in favour. The Indian footwear market is highly dynamic nature. The country has witnessed a retail boom and consumer today demand international standards in products and ambience. This has led to a perceptible shift from the unorganised to the organised sector. Also exposure to international fashion is driving growth for the organized sector. However, even today 60% of the footwear industry is still unorganised. This presents large opportunity for the company to continue its growth strategy

Woodland

Launched in 1992

Carved a niche as a Rugged high-quality premium casual shoe Presented itself as an outdoor/trekking shoe Called as SUV of Indian shoes for its ruggedness and all-terrain use Ads showing people wearing Woodland shoes for various outdoor activities Became status symbol during the 1990s due to excellence in quality and styling Pioneered suede and nubuck leather shoes in India

SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS: The strength of the companys production with in its captive facilities allows Woodland to produce aesthetically designed, sturdy and durable shoes. WEAKNESSES: Woodland is certainly not for people who desire tokeep on changing their footwear frequently havingbeen fed up with the same design. The athletic and leather shoes do start getting dentedwithin a year. The price offered by woodland shoes is quiteexpensive. As they are more into formal shoes so youngsters areless attracted. Woodland has limited number of outlets

OPPORTUNITIES

: They can expand their market more by covering andfocusing on developing areas such as Navi Mumbai. They also have a great scope to expand their marketin sports footwear. They can also target higher middle class people bylaunching new range of shoes between Rs. 750 to Rs.1000. As they mainly deal in leather shoes so, they can alsoenter into manufacturing of all seasons shoesespecially water proof shoes. They should increase the number of production unitsto earn more profits. THREATS: Woodland shoes face a big threat from organized aswell as unorganized sector. In organized sector following are the brands: Metro Bata Red tape

 Liberty Lee cooper. In unorganized sector following are the brands: Trekking Nicholas

In comparison to its competitors, Bata is a reasonably priced brand with reasonable product quality. With respect to its international competitors, it is the most affordable as can be seen in the above illustration. All the competitors have better quality with higher prices. Woodland has the highest price and quality in comparison to all the competitors of Bata. Whereas, relative to its Indian competitors, it is the highest priced but also offers the highest product quality. In case of Indian competitors, Relaxo and Lakhani is placed just a little below Benetton for its price and quality, and Sparks is the lowest priced with lowest quality with respect to the Indian competitors of Bata.

Liberty Shoes Ltd. Existed since the 1950s and until 1983, Liberty was entirely export-oriented Liberty is the second largest shoe company in the country Re-positioned as a mid-price brand in 2004 Contemporary brand in Indian footwear via new advertising 350 exclusive showrooms Childrens shoes bring in the largest volumes for Liberty