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Japanese sportswear brand ASICS is looking to “at least” double its topline in India over the next three to four years.
While standalone store addition will form the pivot of the strategy, growth will also be driven by the brand’s expansion into South Indian markets, East and the North-East.
This apart, as Rajat Khurana, Managing Director at ASICS India points out, the company has already witnessed “good visibility” and traction in tier-II markets. Plans are also afoot to shore up retail presence in such places.
By the year-end, ASICS will look to add at least 15 new stores, to its existing tally of 27, across these target markets. This will take up its retail presence to 42.
The 27 stores that it has are spread across tier-I cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad and some tier-II ones like Surat, Ahmedabad, Jammu and so on.
“We are quite satisfied with our performance here and we see huge scope of growth in both our topline and bottomline. We can double, if not treble, the numbers over the next three to four years,” he told BusinessLine during an interview.
Local sourcing
Besides these ASICS brand stores opened in partnership with local associates, the company’s offerings are available in multi-brand stores and marketplaces that account for about 20 per cent of its sales. Nearly 75 per cent of its sales are through the distributor models (own and multi-brand stores)
The average selling price for ASICS shoes in India varies between ₹4,000 and ₹8,500.
ASICS will look at opening its own branded store at a later stage, when it expands its local sourcing presence. Most of its offerings are still imported.
“While 100 per cent foreign direct investment is allowed in single-brand retail in India, we need to source at least 30 per cent here. We have started sourcing locally for apparel. It will take some time,” Khurana said.
Creating a niche
ASICS Corp, the Japanese sports goods maker that is known for its celebrity users such Barack Obama and Bruce Lee, has positioned itself as a “technology provider” .
ASICS, despite being a late entrant, has successfully presented itself as a “high performance / high technology offering”.
It entered India in 2010 with an exclusive five-year tie-up with Reliance Retail. Since 2015, it embarked on a standalone journey.
As Khurana points out the company currently markets its shoes as “running shoes” and claims to be a leader in the segment.
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