Fashion footwear brand Zedds, which currently operates two stores in Hyderabad, plans to open 15 outlets in three year time. The company is open to partner with franchises to expand presence across nine cities including Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur and Nagpur. Further, it plans to add bags and accessories range to its existing portfolio, informed a top company official.
Speaking to IndiaRetailing, Rajesh Rawtani, director, Zedds, says, “We are planning to foray into nine cities with franchise partnership in one year time. We are looking at cities like Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur and Nagpur in the first phase of expansion.”
Elaborating the franchise criteria, Rawtani says that for a franchise to start with, he should have a decent showroom of 1,200-1,500 square feet size and frontage should be minimum 20 feet in width. In terms of investment, the franchise should contribute around Rs 15 lakh for merchandise, apart from the cost of the store and interior designing.
He also informs that the company soon add bags and accessories range to the existing portfolio. “High range bags, exclusive belts and leather products will be added soon and the franchises will be benefited from that,” says Rawtani.
The company, which claims around 17 per cent market share in the south Indian market, plans to achieve 42 per cent share in the same market and 30 per cent share across India in three years time. The company has been leveraging the retail prospect further and is tying up with leading department stores like Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop and seamless mall Central to have presence in shop-in-shop format. The company is also promoting its brand extensively through kiosks at PVR and Cinemax locations and want to open around 10 more kiosks in cities including Maharastra, Indore and Jaipur to touch 14 kiosks mark by March 2010.
About the expected turnover, Rawtani informs that the company is looking at around Rs 2-2.5 crore from stand-alone operation in this fiscal.
Zedds retails footwear for men and women in categories such as formals, casuals, ethnic and party wear. The price of the products ranges from Rs 795 to Rs 2,400 for each pair of shoes.
— Sarimul Islam Choudhury
