Casual shoe market for men in India is the fastest growing yet depends on physical stores. Here's why

About five years back, formals used to be about 60% of total non-sports men’s shoe market. With the changing fashion trends in office wardrobe casuals have grown big time and have achieved 60% of the market.

Business Insider caught up a chat with Deepak Chhabra, MD of Crocs India to understand the casual shoe market dynamics in India. The most popular product of the brand Clogs is a casual shoe, which is stylish and preferred by fashionable men.

India’s fastest growing economy is boost enough for many brands to concentrate on online sales than relying on brick and mortar stores. However the Colorado based shoemaker with an aim to open 200-250 stores in India brings up the questions what’s the need of these stores?

Need for physical stores

“Both online and offline presence is required for every brand to maximize the potential. India being a vast country, online will always be relevant for reasons beyond discounting and convenience, but there is bound to be drop in growth rate of online sales with changing business models and focus moving to healthy bottom lines,” said Chhabra.

“ On the other hand, offline physical stores have advantages of touch and feel, trials, human touch, enhanced customer service and strong after sale services. We currently have less number of stores (40 stores) as compared to other footwear brands; hence we will continue our focus on physical stores till the time we reach 200-250 stores."

Market saturation

In Europe, the brand has gone through a rough terrain. From controversy over doctors saying the shoes aren’t healthy enough to experiencing a stunted growth, Crocs sale has suffered.

Chhabra, who would go to any extent to prove that the clogs are healthy enough for the feet said, “In india, we have 7-8% gdp growth and GST regime will fuel it further. Also we have not saturated the market yet and true potential of crocs is yet to be unlocked. Add to it growth in casual segment/footwear market getting organized. All these will ensure a strong growth for us for at least next 5-7 years!”

Make in India for casual shoes in India?

The complex and higher taxation system does not give any benefit for making in India, when it comes to casual shoes. With GST being rolled out in July, Chhabra hopes there would be some kind of positivity in the footwear market. While Crocs would wait till then and consider domestic manufacturing, there are various obvious benefits by piggy backing on global sourcing due to economy of scale.