Investors become interested in shoe retail

At the end of March, Moscow hosted the annual forum of the Adam Smith Institute “Russian Retail Trade”. During the session “Evaluation and Analysis of New and Existing Strategies and Ideas,” the director of the Obuv Rossii group of companies spoke about why investors after the crisis began to show interest in shoe retail.

According to Anton Titov, the shoe market before the crisis was underestimated by investors: “Then everyone invested in more developed retail segments, such as food retail, cellular retail, and household appliances. However, these markets no longer have the same growth potential as before, since they are almost completely consolidated. The crisis has shown the stability and prospects of new markets, such as shoe retail. Footwear is a basic commodity and ranks second after food. Despite the fact that the market dipped 15-20% in 2009, it recovered quite quickly in 2010. According to experts, in the next few years the footwear market will grow by 10-12% annually. And such dynamics of the footwear market cannot but interest investors. In 2010, a number of large shoe retailers resumed their network growth, which is no coincidence. The footwear market today is poorly consolidated and undersaturated, therefore there are huge opportunities for enlarging networks and developing new regions. The market potential is great, which is also explained by the projected growth in consumption. Today, a Russian buys an average of 2,8 pairs per year. In terms of this indicator, we are far behind Europe (four to five pairs) and the United States (six to seven pairs). However, taking into account the pronounced seasonality, we have the potential for growth in consumption - at least up to 4,5-5 pairs.

All these factors determine the growing interest in the shoe market from investors. In 2010, the UCP investment fund bought back 36% of the shares of the Monarch group of companies. This spring, the largest shoe retailer in Russia, TsentrObuv, announced plans for an IPO. ”

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According to A. Titov, Obuv Rossii also plans to actively work on the open capital market and attract external financing. In the first half of the year, the company intends to place bonds in the amount of 700 million rubles. These funds, along with the company's own funds in the ratio of 50X50, will be used to finance the investment program until the 2015 of the year, according to which Obuv Rossii plans to increase its net revenue from 1,6 billion by the end of the 2010 year to 7,5 billion by the end of the 2014 year and expand the network with 120 to 450 stores.

“The most promising now is the mid-price segment, whose share in the shoe market is 30%, and it will continue to grow. This is because the purchasing power of precisely that part of the population that has average incomes will grow. These are people who can afford to buy good shoes and consider it not just as a product, but as part of a lifestyle. Given these trends in changing consumer behavior, shoe companies will invest more in brand development and building long-term relationships with customers. In our development program, we also rely on strengthening brands and developing large-scale marketing campaigns that include offering non-standard services for the market (such as installment shoes), ”A. Titov explained. По материалам сайта Altapress.ru