Asics, a Japanese sportswear brand, has drawn up plans to ramp up local sourcing to 30 per cent over the next two years to pave way for opening its own first retail branded store in the country.
The retailer follows the calendar year for its operations and currently sources 25 per cent of its requirements locally both for footwear and apparel.
Currently, the company has 64 exclusive retail brand outlets operated by the franchisees in different parts of the country.
During the current year, Asics plans to open 15 stores, of which 25 per cent will be in South. Currently, it has 14 stores in south India.
Rajat Khurana, MD, India and South Asia said, “In order to open own retail outlet, we should locally source 30 per cent of raw materials. We are going step by step. Most of our outlets are in the north, followed by west and south. We will open our own retail outlets as soon as we reach 30 per cent local sourcing clause. The number of stores, size, cities and investment will differ from state to state.”
He further added that having an own outlet had its own advantages such as large space and the opportunity to display a wide variety of products as against the multi-brand retail outlets with less visibility in a cramped space.
The brand posted a 30 per cent growth over the corresponding earlier period of CY20, and about 35 per cent of it came via online sales.
Regarding raw material costs, Rajat said that Asics did not pass it on to the customers, which impacted its profit.
