Woodland to invest Rs 100 cr in concept stores

Company currently looking for suitable place for opening first such large format store in Delhi

Footwear and apparel maker Woodland would be investing about Rs 100 crore within two years for setting up 8 to 10 concept stores in major cities across the country. The company is currently looking for a suitable place for opening the first such large format store in Delhi.

These will be the flagship stores of the brand where specialised adventure gear such as skiing sticks, climbing shoes and mountaineering bikes will be available along with other regular collection of shoes and garments, Woodland managing director, Harkirat Singh, told Business Standard.

Woodland is eager to tap the outdoor adventure equipment market in India which is stated to be growing at a rate of 20-25 per cent annually. At present, the annual market size for these products is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore.

Singh said the idea behind these company-owned stores was to become a one-stop shop for any kind of adventure sport. The size of each store would be 8,000-12,000 sft as against its existing stores size of 2,000-3,000 sft.  Woodland was also associating with global brands including Go-Pro, Petzel and Victorinox for co-branded/customised products that would be sold through these stores.

Emphasising that Woodland’s focus was on technology and  being a product differentiator, he said the company would be launching 'ResQ' technology that could be a life saver in case an explorer getting stuck. A light-weight transmitter would be fitted in ResQ jackets that would send and receive signals and help rescuing people from difficult situation.

The other products envisaged by the company include shoes with heating pad that can help explorers escape frostbite in extreme temperatures and solar panel fitted explorer bags which can provide emergency power for lighting and charging devices like mobile phones.

Woodland expects to post a group turnover of Rs 1,050 crore as against Rs 850 crore last year. It has targeted to increase the number of the company-owned stores in the country from the existing 450 to 500 by this year-end.