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Adventure gear, shoe and apparel brand Woodland is in the process of consolidating its business post demonetisation, which has temporarily impacted sales volumes.
The company plans to take to expansion next year by setting up 50 more stores up over the current 600; it is also seeking to step up export volumes.
Harkirat Singh, Managing Director of Woodland, said: “The sales volumes have been impacted by about 15-20 per cent post the demonetisation announcement. The past few days have been better. We expect business to get back to normalcy in the first quarter of 2017.”
“The focus now will be on consolidation during the remaining part of this fiscal, and expansion in the next fiscal. We had set a growth target of about 15 per cent this fiscal on business of ₹1,200 crore. However, with correction during the demonetisation period, there could be some impact on the growth numbers,” he told BusinessLine .
Good thing about the adventure sports category is that a major chunk of sales is through digital payments, be it in brick-and mortar-stores or online sales — the latter now accounts for about 15 per cent of total business volumes.
“Outdoor sports products and gear is a growing segment, and we have meticulously expanded to a network of company-owned stores of over 600 in the country. We expect to add another 50 stores next year.”
Referring to the company’s exports, Singh said: “About 20 per cent of business comes from exports. The company is gradually strengthening presence in South-East Asia, West Asia, Europe and the US. The best part is, in these areas we need not set up physical stores, we can ride on our online partners for growth.”
While the e-commerce business was seen to be disruptive initially, it has gradually grown to be a big component of Woodland sales.
“Apart from our own site, several online retailers market our range of products, thereby adding to volumes,” Singh explained.
The mix of domestic sales versus exports is currently in the ratio of 80:20, and Woodland is consciously trying to increase the contribution of exports.
“Four-five years from now, we hope to make it a 50:50 business.”
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