Indian shoemaker Woodland plans grand global expansion

After nearly a two-decade hiatus, Harkirat Singh, the managing director of Woodland, is plotting to return to the footwear market in Canada, a country he exited after competition from China made his business unviable.

In his sights are also Russia, South East Asia, Africa, Australia and South America, among other regions. “With our kind of shoes, we have an edge in international markets. We know our products so well,” says Singh. But knowing the product isn’t enough to succeed in international markets, and Singh, the third generation of the family to run the business, knows that only too well.

Woodland, which is best known for its outdoor shoes, started as a manufacturer of winter boots in Canada with a factory in Quebec. The company sourced leather and other raw materials from all over the world, including from its tannery in Amritsar. From its factory in Canada, it exported boots to Europe and other parts of the world, building up scale in the 1990s. Then came the inexpensive Chinese goods. Its export shrank and the business became unviable, forcing it to retreat from Canada and shift base to India in early 2000.

For much of the past decade, Woodland has focused on building its business in India and creating a niche for itself in outdoor shoes. In the last five years, it has nearly doubled its revenue from ~750 crore to ~1,350 crore today.

“In India we are growing at 15-20 per cent annually and we are pretty much on a stable footing; we have 600 companyowned stores and we are opening new stores each year. Given our strong foothold in India, it is the right time for us to look for the next phase of growth overseas,” says Singh.

China is one market he is betting big on. Although a manufacturing hub itself, what gives Woodland the confidence to enter the market is the lack of competing brands in the region. While there are many makers of synthetic shoes, few make the kind of outdoor leather shoes that Woodland does.

“Europe and Canada are saturated, but there are markets such as China, Saudi Arabia, North Africa and South Korea where we feel we can build a sizable market,” says Singh.

Woodland is adopting a piecemeal strategy instead of making investments in setting up plants at the outset in these markets. Initially, it is partnering with distributors and retailers overseas and looking to export shoes from its plants in India, which are currently operating at half their capacity.

Last month, Woodland tied up with one of China’s biggest footwear retailers, Aokang International, to sell its products through its stores.

WITH OUR KIND OF SHOES, WE HAVE AN EDGE IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETS. WE KNOW OUR PRODUCTS SO WELL” HARKIRAT SINGH MD, Woodland