We are bullish on offline business: Nikhil Aggarwal

Kindly shed light on the journey of Campus Shoes in Indian footwear market. Also throw light on the current distribution model of the company?

Primarily, we are only into sports shoes. And, we don’t compare our- self with any other category of footwear segment.  We don’t do semi formal also. The idea of the brand is, to provide the premium products in affordable price range. Through, we are not completely positioned as premium.

As of now, 99% of the business comes from wholesale model. We cater to more than 13,000 to 14,000 multi brand outlets (MBOs) pan India through number of distributors. And, now we are focusing to start our EBO model where we plan on introducing number of stores this year. Our EBO business will start from Delhi/ NCR and then gradually penetrate into other parts of India.

What is rationale behind going into exclusive outlet model? Don’t you think it is kind of late as market is already with MNC brands? Kindly shed light on your exclusive store profile.

There has been a lot of development into products in last few years. We have brought in a lot of technology into the shoes. And, we strongly feel an urge to have an exclusive offline store where we can justify the kind of products we made, which we were unable to do in large form MBOs as there we have space constraint. We want to have EBO to impart experience and showcase our entire range to our end consumers. We are looking to impart high end product experience to patrons via our EBO model.  Spreading across 800Sq.ft. to 1000sq.ft, these would be very up market sort of stores.

So now you are ready to compete with establish brands such as Adidas, Puma and many more?

We do not complete with MNC brands. We strictly operate in Rs 800 to Rs2000 MRP range, whereas, the MNC brand usually start from RS3000. Despite the value price range our products are no less than any MNC brand. Our price point is super exciting for common man. The kind of technology we are deploying into shoes, we are leader in those technologies.

Also shed light on your TG?

We are youth centre brand, though we cater to all age groups including kids staring from six or seven years of age. We have women shoes as well catering to entire female range. However, our strength is into male segment. For this category we target age group between 15 t0 40. This is the segment where we are most popular.

Does your offering also includes at leisure range?

We have just introduced a new range called the lifestyle range , it cater to the leisure part of the TG. These are casual shoes but super comfortable casual shoes.

Any plans to foray into apparel category?

No, we are not into apparel but we plan to launch our clothing line very soon. We are basically present in four categories including running, outdoor, lifestyle and Pattel. All four are doing equally well for us.

Do you also mulling over franchise model for offline expansion?

Right now, our idea is to open only company own and operated stores starting with Delhi/ NCR. We are looking to open 50 stores in this financial year. Once the final business model will be decided we would look for franchise option. So next year on we might take Franchise route for further expansion.

What would be the location of your offline stores?

It would be mix of malls and high streets. We would be not looking for ultra premium destination, it would mix segment market of Delhi/NCR  such as Lajpat Nagar, Kamla market, etc.

How much Investment the company is willing to pump in for the offline expansion?

I cannot quote any number. It would depend on site to site. But, definitely, it would be a decent investment that the company is willing to invest in terms of expanding the reach of the brand.

How the company is looking to expand its online business?

We are already there on all leading market places and our new exclusive website will be up very soon. We are little apprehensive about online expansion due to its steep discounting nature that we do not encourage.  When sign a agreement with market places that they won’t go in discount without our permission.

So, what are your plans for omni-channel expansion?

We think offline will always play bigger role in Indian market especially in footwear category .Because, look and feel play a very crucial role as there could be vast difference between what you see on screen and what gets delivered. We are very bullish on offline market; and will definitely expand in that segment quite a bit more.