Footwear and apparel major Woodland is targeting Rs 1,300 crore turnover, including Rs 100 crore from 27 company-owned outlets in Kerala, across the country during 2014-15 fiscal and also eyeing tier II and III cities for growth, according to PTI reports.
Speaking on the Harkirat Singh, MD, Woodland, said: “The company’s turnover in the previous financial year was Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 800 crore. Having about 480 stores across India and 4,000 odd retailers, we plan to add 60-70 stores to touch 550 stores by the end of this fiscal with an investment of Rs 100 crore. We would add 10 more outlets in Kerala by the end of this fiscal. Our aim is also to make our presence felt in adventure sports segment so we are working on technology to come out with better products for adventure sports and trekking, which are more like a ‘survival kit’ for the users. About 10-15 technology enabled products are in the pipeline.”
Technology enabled products of the retailer include special jackets, mosquito repellant shirts, cooling shoes having a battery of a cell phone which can be charged for a day to be used for about 8 hours, anti-microbial shoes, which prevent the growth of microbes and harmful micro organisms, and trekking sticks, said PTI.
Pointing that the brand had been consistently working on technology led products that would support the extreme adventurer and ensure their safety while enjoying the adventure outdoors, he said they had tied up with some US and Indian technology companies.
“People are more brand conscious and there was brand loyalty in states like, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karntaka and Andhra Pradesh,” he stated.
The company which has opened 2 stores in Hong Kong is also keen to open stores in China, where they had finalised a distributor but there were some legal issues.
Singh said the company has its own online business stores since the past four years which accounted for 5-6 percent of the business.
