02 December 2021, Mumbai:
Metro Brands plans to strengthen its retail presence across India, and is opening over 200 stores in the next three years. The footwear major currently operates 586 stores pan-India. It owns the eponymous brand and Mochi, besides Walkway and operates Crocs exclusive brand outlets across the country as their national retail partner. In 2015, Metro Shoes signed a retail partnership agreement with Crocs to help increase the global footwear company’s presence across the nation. As per the agreement, Metro Shoes would open exclusive brand outlets of Crocs footwear across the country.
The company plans to float an IPO and utilise the funds raised from it to fuel its retail expansion plan. The IPO proceeds will go primarily into expansion of stores. Offline expansion is expected to aid the omni-channel presence as well as shore up offerings in the e-commerce space. Most Metro Brands stores double-up as omni-channel aiding deliveries for orders made online.
There’s been a revival in market demand with numbers being higher than pre-Covid levels. Premium offerings are witnessing movement again. And e-commerce is also not as deep discounting a channel as it used to be. The digital space has evolved as a complementary channel focused more on convenience rather than being a liquidation channel as it was earlier.
