Crocs to open 55 new outlets in India

New Delhi

Last year, Amazon.co.uk reported that the sales of American footwear brand Crocs jumped 1,500% in the UK after the paparazzi took a picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s son wearing a pair. It seems the firm now wants to build on that success.

Eyeing the Indian market, Crocs plans to set up 55 more company-owned outlets and 450 multi-brand retail points by next year. At present, the firm has about 1,000 outlets, including 35 company owned outlets and e-commerce alliances.

The brand that sells 5.5 crore pairs annually, registering a turnover of approximately ₹9,750 crore, expects to sell 70 lakh pairs annually against the current 15 lakh in India in the next five years.

The fun footwear brand is targeting a revenue of ₹670 crore by 2021 in view of the rising sales of casual footwear in the country. Crocs will launch about 400 new products, including 250 new designs and 150 colours, in India.

“We will have 100 company-owned retail outlets by the end of next year,” said Deepak Chhabra, managing director.

A study by Retailers Association of India said the per capita consumption of footwear in urban India has risen from 1.4 pairs in 2010 to 2.6 in 2015. Moreover,casual wear constitutes 70% of the total footwear sales.

With an annual production of 210 crore pairs, India is the second largest footwear producer in the world, according to industry estimates.