In the shoe retail market, Crocs created a wave by fashionizing clogs and footwear meant for only comfort. Last few years have seen the brand coming up with newer and more chic varieties of clogs. Although the brand has reduced number of its exclusive brand outlets, the visibility hasn't really gone down, thanks to its tie-up with some of the most eminent multi-brand shoe outlets. VM&RD digs into the brand's retail strategy and future plans in a chat with Nissan Joseph, Managing Director, Crocs India.

Tell us about your retail presence in the world and in India.
Crocs shoes are sold in more than 90 countries and present across the globe in more than 30 languages. You can spot Crocs whether you are walking in the streets of New York City, Hong Kong or London. Globally, Crocs has over 1000 retail locations and continues to grow. Over the past 13 years, Crocs has sold more than 300 million pairs of shoes globally. Crocs, which entered India in 2007, operated mostly through franchisees or via MBOs and is present online through leading ecommerce portals like Jabong, Amazon, Flipkart among others. This year, Crocs will have over 30 exclusive Stores all over India.

Retail design wise, what do you think works differently in India than rest of the world?
India is the land of colors, traditions and fun, and bright colors work very well for the Indian Market. As Crocs enjoy 4 quarters of summer, Clogs and Flip Flops are the best sellers in India and are available in many colors. Our exclusive brand outlets are area-wise smaller with solo focus on our merchandises. We don't believe in large stores as products are our primary forte.

How voracious are you on your marketing/branding strategies in India?
In a bid to capture the growing and demanding pie of the footwear segment in India, Crocs India has planned an aggressive marketing strategy.We are focusing more on Digital and social media marketing as India is becoming a large smart phone user market. We are constantly focusing on launching innovative & new products within the crocs existing range for the consumers.

Please tell us about the brand tie-ups you have in India. How does it work in rest of the world?
In India, Crocs has partners for distribution, logistics and retail. Crocs is now present on all leading e-comm websites like Amazon, Jabong, Flipkart, Myntra& many more among the top listed sites. These e-comm sites offer the wide range of styles. Other than this, Crocs has also expanded its retail presence by exploring tie up opportunities with the leading retailers in India like Metro Shoes, Lifestyle, Shopper's Stop, Reliance Trends, Regal Shoes, Inc.5 and many more among the top retailers.

Tell us about your visual merchandising and is it effective for your retail design?
Our Visual merchandising is set up to tell the story of fun, color, comfort and innovation in every pair of Crocs. Since the time of inception Crocs has been focusing on its visual merchandising as the product range offered is bold and innovative which speaks itself for the brand. Our style of front-heavy display enables customers to instantly find their size in the style of their color, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and optimize staff costs.

What are the changes that you looking at in India?
The biggest learning has been not to do everything itself. In India, Crocs has partners for distribution, logistics and retail. The competencies and relationships required to run a store in Rajasthan are different from those needed in Tamil Nadu. As a brand, Crocs could spend years building those competencies or could find people with such competencies. The difference is showing in the business as the growth has been very strong over the past two years. Crocs manages product, segmentation and marketing and then further coordinate the logistics.