Established in 1954, Liberty Footwear has established its footprint in India as well as globally. The brand marries comfort and style, making it appealing to the middle class Indian. Liberty has managed to remain a favourite in Tier II markets and that’s where the growth for the brand is happening. Devansh Sharma caught up with Anupam Bansal, Director- Retail, Liberty Group, to learn about the brand’s strategy and positioning in these markets
Q] The Hindi-speaking belt of India is a major market for Liberty. What is its contribution to your annual sales and what drives these sales?
Around 70% of our sales come from the Hindi speaking states in North India. Today, brands look beyond metros for expansion. If Liberty wishes to open a hundred stores, we would open 80 in the Tier II market. I also know that the 20 stores I open in the metros won’t fetch me good profits. When we opened a store in Dhanbad, the first day’s sale was Rs 4.5 lakh. This kind of sale would not do for a market like Delhi. For Liberty, the Tier II market is far more attractive, far more profitable than the metros. We do focus on metros for brand-building, because people in small towns are buying your products only because you are present in metro cities. Urban areas are the fashion drivers and cannot be ignored. At least 80% of our stores are in Tier II markets while 20% are in the metros.
Q] How has Liberty managed to survive and thrive in this market and what is the core product proposition that you offer?
Liberty stands for ‘Fashion is Comfort’ and is a family brand. Within Liberty as a family brand, we have 10 sub-brands, and technically our subbrands fight with the other footwear brands. For instance Force 10 is a sports shoe sub-brand and it competes within that category, while Fortune is a formal footwear brand and it competes in its own segment. So whenever you walk to a Liberty store, you will be able to get the right product and that is our USP. I think it’s our brand communication strategy which is working for us. In the last few years, we have been focusing on the sub-brands rather than on Liberty as an umbrella brand. Our entire strategy focuses on making our brand more desirable by giving it a fashionable look.
Q] What is your marketing strategy in the Northern belt? Which media vehicle do you prefer for reaching out to your consumers in the Tier II markets?
About 85% of the footwear market is unorganized. None of the big brands have more than 2-3% market-share. So the biggest competition is from the unorganized sector. The challenge is to take the consumer from a local product to the branded segment. So the strategy is to provide multinational quality footwear at a pocket friendly price. Most of our marketing spends are dedicated to traditional media vehicles. We look forward to Television and Print, especially vernacular channels, to reach out to the consumers in Tier II towns. A right combination of TV and Print works for us. Advertising on GECs would not get great returns for us from regional markets. For instance, if we are to advertise in a Tier II South Indian market, no GEC would work. But the vernacular medium has more importance there. If we talk about the overall significance, the vernacular Press in Tier II markets is huge and works better.
Q] What is the marketing mix of Liberty? What percentage of your marketing budget is allocated to Print?
Our marketing mix is made up of traditional media, while minimal spends are allocated to digital. Exploiting digital media for marketing is at its initial stage in case of Liberty. But Print and Television dominate our marketing spends. Besides, we also focus on stores and BTL activities to keep the brand active and interactive. Marketing spends vary from time to time. We do not have fixed spends for Television or Print. It’s a combination of product, product category, the market and the deal at that point of time. Media is always going through transformations and the right mix is always closer. The Print medium plays an important role for us. Its role cannot be ignored when it comes to convey the look and feel of our products.
Q] What are Liberty’s plans for North India in the months to come? Is it planning new stores, coming up with ad campaigns for traditional media, looking at an increase in marketing spends?
We have a very strong presence in North India, covering the length and breadth of the region, and will continue to bank on it. Seeing the response of this region for footwear, we have recently opened new stores in J & K and Chattisgarh and will have one in Gorakhpur, UP in the near future. The expansion plan in the North will continue at a rapid pace with special focus on Madhya Pradesh/Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh which are all extremely lucrative areas for the footwear industry. As far as marketing spend is concerned, we do 10 different brands targeted at different segments and have new launches every month. We are always open to any good marketing proposal which offers us branding and a direct connect with our customers.
Q] What makes the common man in these States connect to Liberty?
Liberty Shoes is a home-grown brand from North India or the Hindi-speaking belt, and hence the connect is obvious. We understand the foot shape, styling, likes and dislikes of the consumers from this region better. Our manufacturing unit is set up in Karnal, which produces more than 50,000 pairs of shoes a day and our central warehouse is in Panipat. Hence, it is easy to supply stock to these areas. We take this market seriously and do our best to fulfil the requirement of the common man. We do thorough market research to understand what designs will work best for this market. Since the manufacturing unit is in Karnal, the demand-supply issue can always be handled smoothly.
