The Germany-based sportswear behemoth, Adidas is eyeing to boost its retail presence in India by opening 50-60 stores across the country per year. The activewear brand is looking to open stores in major metros, Tier I & II cities and also transform the existing ones.
The German athleisurewear giant said it is focussing on an opportunistic growth strategy in 40 cities and it will also look at doubling the number of company-owned stores by the end of 2019.
Dave Thomas, MD, Adidas India elucidated on the development that the retailer is at a stage where it is opening a lot more stores than it is shutting down. “We are hardly closing, but renovating stores with the latest fixtures. At the same time, we are focusing on opening bigger stores in selected regions,” Dave added.
Currently, Amazon operates 450 Adidas stores and 220 Reebok stores across India and recently, the sportswear retailer has cut down its franchise partners to 50 in a bid to concentrate on profitable growth.
Furthermore, elaborating about the brand’s strategy of focussing on 40 cities, Dave added the retailer is not just looking to increase numbers by adding more stores but it is focussed to tap the majority of the customers in these regions by offering bigger stores in a bid to enhance engagement with shoppers.
It is important to mark out here that, Adidas launched its first-ever stadium-based store in the capital (New Delhi) earlier this year. ‘We are planning to launch five more stadium format outlets for our vast customer base in the nation,’ Dave concluded.
