Footwear Retail Industry: India

THE INDIAN RETAIL SCENE There is no doubt that the Indian retail scene is flourishing. Several large corporate houses Tata's, Reliance's, Raheja's, Piramals's and Goenka's have already made their sortie into this dome, with lifestyle products, fashion, beauty and health stores, supermarkets, everyday-low-price stores tec.

- AMIT CHOPRA

Today, Retail sector accounts for 10 per cent plus of the India's GDP, the largest among all the industries, with approx. 8 per cent of the employment. In the last two decades modern retailing has established strongly into the Retail market in India as is witnessed in the form of multi-storied malls, humming shopping centers and the enormous multiplexes that offer shopping, entertainment, and food all under one roof.

India's enormous middle class and its practically unexploited retail industry are the significant appealing forces for international retail giants wanting to explore newer markets. Indian retail is expected to grow in the band of 22-23% annually. As per statista, the retail market size in India was expected to amount to 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026, up from 883 billion dollars in 2020. While Invest India projects that the Indian e-commerce industry is expected to cross $350 bn mark by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 23%.

With the government policies turning more encouraging and the emerging technologies expediting operations, the prospect of the India Retail Industry looks promising.

Purchasing power of Indian urban consumer is growing and branded merchandise in categories like Apparels, Cosmetics, Shoes, Watches and Jewelry are gradually attracting lifestyle products that are broadly acknowledged by the urban Indian consumer. Indian retailers are now talking advantage of this growth and targeting to diversify. The emphasis here is on retail as a brand rather than retailers selling brands. The focus should be on branding the retail business itself.

FOOTWEAR RETAIL IN INDIA