APART FROM CONVENTIONAL SHOE BRANDS

Danish footwear brand Ecco has opened the first of three planned concept stores in India, starting in Gurgaon Ambience shopping mall. At the time of the launch, Michel Krol, Executive Vice President (Global Sale), ECCO said, “We will launch our brand in the premium category. We feel that some of the other premium brands that came to India went on a medium level in terms of target positioning. But, we are targeting the premium segment of the population.” Shoes&Accessories interviewed Michel to find out more about the brand’s strategies and many more.

Given that India is a sensitive market, has Ecco deployed a different strategy? If so, please elaborate.

First of all, we are happy that our first own-and-operated retail Ecco store in India has been opened in Ambience Mall, Gurgaon, Haryana. We see a strong potential in the Indian market, and we are very pleased that our careful preparations have now materialised and resulted in the opening of two Ecco concept stores - one in Gurgaon Ambience shopping mall in Delhi and another one at ICC Pavillion Mall in Pune, Maharastra. Right now, we are working to ensure a successful launch of the second Ecco concept store in Pune, allowing Ecco’s customers in India to get the ultimate shopping experience.

Give us an overview of the product range you have introduced here.

The collection range varies from region to region. Nevertheless, the collection overlapping is high, considering neighbouring markets within ECCO such as United Arab Emirates and Singapore. I do believe that the shoes that will sell the most are allocated within the formal range for both men’s and women’s and the top performers would be Ecco Vitrus, Ecco Vitrus Artisan and Ecco Melbourne. And for women, Ecco Shape Sculpted Motion, Ecco Shape Pointy Sleek and Ecco Shape Pointy Ballerina.

For really warm environments, Ecco Offroad will be an attractive sandal for full seasons on both categories.

The Indian government is in favour of global brand either setting up production units or sourcing from the country. What is Ecco’s take and what kind of sourcing strategy it has in place?