Leading clothing and accessories brand Numero Uno has launched its new range of shoes. The company claims that the shoes have been designed keeping in mind the latest trends and need for comfort. The collection is versatile as consumers will get to choose from a plethora of colors and styles. Its Chairman and Managing Director Narinder Singh Dhingra told S&A, with the introduction of footwear segment as a brand, we have expanded our offerings to our ever growing target audience.
Numero Uno in Footwear Market
Entering the footwear segment has been easy since Numero Uno brand is well recognized in the Indian market. With the introduction of footwear segment as a brand, we have expanded our offerings to our ever growing target audience.
Product Diversification
We started our journey with men’s denim and few jackets. Later we moved towards making men’s shirt. The later years saw us launching women’s wear with few options of denims and tops. Eventually we added knitwear to our offerings. In mid 2000s, we migrated towards slim-fit denims and casual wear. We also produce “Village Indigo Collection” and lastly, we added shoes to our offering. Our footwear collection comprise of loafers, brogues, moccasins, formal shoes and more. It’s safe to say that not only have we diversified our products but also sustained each category and are going strong.
Markets and Consumer Concentration
Within these 30 years, we have made a strong presence in the Northern part of India. We are expanding in East and Northeast states exponentially through EBO and MBO channels. The brand is also present in all the leading online channels as well.
Retail strategy
So far, the brand has focused on its distribution network and EBOs offering both apparel and footwear. However, we are planning to open exclusive stores for footwear and accessories extensively in the coming years.
Online Vs offline
With a strong brick-and-mortar model already, going digital was the next big step for us. Currently we are present on all major ecommerce portals, which has helped us reach a larger audience in this age and day.
Challenges you are facing
Lately in India there has been influx of international brands with deep pockets which has resulted in heavy competition. In a brick-and-mortar model, we face issues with huge rentals due to mall culture that has cropped during the past decade. Apart from these issues, the industry is also seeing a downturn in sales from fresh stock.
View on GST
Like every other brand in India, GST impacted our business as well. From money getting blocked for small vendors to the lack of knowledge about GST, all of it created trouble in the industry.
Weak markets and impact
We are seeing a dip in sales of fresh stock. The changes brought in from the government like GST and also purchasing power of people going down are the main contributors towards this slowdown.
Indian footwear industry and Numero Uno
We are foreseeing the growth of footwear industry as the per capita income of Indian consumer is growing. If we look closely, we can see exponential growth of per capita income of tier 2 and tier 3 cities consumer, which will boost the business tremendously. With that in mind, Numero Uno plans to penetrate these cities to increase our sales.
