Mumbai-based footwear and accessories retailer Metro Brands Ltd, which houses brands like Metro Shoes, Mochi, Walkway and Davinchi, and operates retail stores for Crocs in India, is eyeing a larger presence in the online segment. It expects growth to primarily come through its premium offerings under Metro and Mochi brands.

According to Alisha Malik, Vice-President-Marketing and E-commerce, Metro Brands, e-commerce’s share in total turnover is expected to jump from around 3 per cent to around 10 per cent over the next three years.

Currently, Metro and Mochi cater to the mid-premium and premium segments (primarily through private labels). Other brands like Cheemo focus on handcrafted footwear and accessories, while Walkway caters to the mass segment.

The premium brands are increasing their online focus and have managed to stay away from deep discounting, Malik said.

Discussions have been on with the marketplaces to ensure price parity between online and offline channels. Stocks across stores and online channels are being refreshed with approximately 40 new styles being introduced every week.

“The online channel’s contribution (to total sales) is around three per cent now. However, it is growing rapidly, and over the next three years, it is expected to be around 10 per cent,” she told BusinessLine .

Metro Brands reported a turnover of ₹1,350 crore in FY19 and is expecting to close FY20 with a ₹1,500-crore turnover.

Store expansion

Nearly, 60 per cent of the company’s turnover is from non-metro markets. Across brands, it has 535 stores and another 20 are expected to be added over these two months (February and March).

“Over the last three years, we have been increasing store counts across brands. This fiscal, we are targeting a total of 56 stores. Except some Walkway stores (value format offering), all are company-owned stores,” Malik said.

Metro Brands continues to be debt free as a company, and all expansion will be funded from internal accruals.

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