The Hindu Business Line : Danish shoe major ECCO to set foot in India

The euro 450-million ECCO group, which produces over 11 million pairs of shoes annually and is owned by the Toosbuy family, has been sourcing shoe uppers from India for the last three decades.

"We want to double our global business in the next 10 years. India is going to be a key market in helping us achieve this goal. We feel that is the right time to look at India and establish presence," Mr Michael Hauge Sorensen, Managing Director, ECCO Asia Ltd, told Business Line here.

Mr Sorensen was here to announce the group's plans for the Indian market.

To begin with, ECCO plans to establish presence in Delhi, before spreading its wings across the country. On offer in the Capital from the next Autumn-Winter season would be its range of shoes that are targeted at the premium end of the Indian market. He said that the average price per pair of shoes would be about Rs 5,000.

As far as the distribution channel goes, he said that no finality has been reached on this matter even as he indicated that ECCO would be available in both company-owned outlets and other shops.

ECCO Group is present in more than 40 countries, employs more than 9,000 personnel and owns about 400 shops around the world.

In terms of its near term goal, the group wants to annually sell about two million pairs of shoes in the Asia-Pacific region by 2005. It is currently selling about 1.5 million pairs in the Asia-Pacific region, with bulk of the sales emanating from Japan.

Concurring with the views of Mr Sorensen on the timing of the entry, Mr Michael Sternberg, Ambassador of Denmark, held that the recently improved political climate in South Asia augurs well for foreign investors looking at this region.

"The playing field for foreign investors has improved. We see further strengthening of economic and commercial relations between India and Denmark," Mr Sternberg said.

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