Kari threw to Siberia

The Novosibirsk shoe retail market has attracted the attention of another network player - the Kari shoe chain. Its stores have opened in the ZUM and Continent shopping centers. Kari has ambitious plans to open 30 stores in Siberia by the end of the year. The chain hopes to attract buyers with low prices, on average $ 20 per pair. Kari has a chance of success, because its owner Igor Yakovlev once managed to create a chain of household appliances and electronics stores "Eldorado", experts say.

In July, the first two Kari shoe stores opened in Novosibirsk, General Director of Kari Valentin Dmitriev told Kommersant. According to him, the stores operate in the ZUM shopping center and the Continent shopping center. In the coming months, he specified, stores will open in Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk and Irkutsk, and by October there will be thirty of them in the Siberian Federal District (SFD). “The chain chooses cities with a population of 100 thousand residents and premises in shopping centers with an area of ​​250 to 350 sq. m ", - said Valentin Dmitriev.

The first 10 Kari shoe stores opened in June in Poland, then in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. According to Mr. Dmitriev, approximately 70 stores are currently operating in these three countries. By October, the number of Kari outlets in Russia should increase to 130.

The network relies on low prices. According to Mr. Dmitriev, shoes are made to order in China, the average bill per pair is $ 20. CEO Kari said the company has been able to minimize costs by reducing handling, storage and distribution costs as "the stock of shoes and accessories arrives in a store in a container directly from Chinese manufacturers." Another feature of the Kari chain is the wide range of accessories. “Probably the largest of all shoe stores,” says the shoemaker. He found it difficult to define what will be the share of accessories in the company's revenue, but clarified that 75% of the assortment is women's shoes, the rest is men's shoes and accessories.

On the Novosibirsk market, Kari will have to compete with the chains "CenterObuv", "Monroe" and the recently opened Obuv.com stores. They all also rely on the low-cost segment.

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“Kari has chosen the most competitive segment of the market, the struggle for the consumer will be tough,” says Anton Titov, director of the Obuv Rossii group of companies (developing the Westfalika and Pedestrian chains). He explained his skepticism by the fact that the cheap segment was actively developing in 2008-2011, but now the picture is changing. In his opinion, the next five to seven years will see the greatest growth in stores in the mid-price segment, which now accounts for about 35%. The shoemaker believes that footwear consumption will grow precisely at the expense of people with average incomes - they are willing to pay extra for the brand, for the quality of collections and service. Mr. Titov emphasized that in large cities "there are more and more consumers for whom footwear is no longer just a basic commodity, it is an element of style and lifestyle."

Finam Management analyst Maxim Klyagin disagrees with him. “The project has chances for success - the concept is up-to-date, easily replicated, which can contribute to the rapid expansion of the new network,” the expert believes. In his opinion, the middle and especially low price segments remain the most promising. Based on materials from the Kommersant Siberia newspaper.