Woodland sets higher targets for investment and expansion.

Footwear and apparel-maker Woodland is likely to invest around Rs. 100 crore this fiscal to set up 40 to 50 company-owned stores. One out of every four new store (25 per cent) will be in tier-2 and tier-3 towns.

Based out of Delhi, Woodland is promoted by the Aero Club Ltd. It has 475 own stores with a 50-50 break-up between tier-1 and other centres.

According to Harkirat Singh, Managing Director, Woodland, the company has seen good success along with increased demand in tier-2 and tier-3 towns over the last 18 months.

'Of the 50-odd stores planned, some 20-25 per cent of them will be in smaller towns. So far we have seen good demand for our products in smaller centres. In tier-1 towns, most stores will be in malls,' he told BusinessLine.

Expansion will mostly be through internal accruals via own stores; apart from having shop-in-shop formats. The company does not operate through franchisees.

With offerings priced between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 5,000; Woodland's previous foray into the smaller towns was in the 2000s. However, the entry was not very successful then.

The brand competes with the likes of Levi's and United Colours of Benetton in both apparel and footwear segments. It reported a turnover of approximately Rs. 1,000 crore in FY-13 and is looking to clock around Rs. 1,300 crore this fiscal.

While footwear makes up 60-65 per cent of the turnover; another 25–30 per cent is from apparels. Accessories contribute the remaining 10-15 per cent.

Approximately, 80 per cent of manufacturing is done in-house from around 15 facilities located in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.


HBL