“Shoes of Russia” will open up to 50 new franchised stores by fall

Obuv Rossii launches a new franchise program: in three summer months the company will open 40-50 affiliate stores. The geography of expansion is cities and small settlements throughout Russia, both in the regions where Russian Shoes are present and in those regions where Russian Shoes are not yet represented, for example, the North Caucasus Federal District.

The company will also increase the number of brands for the franchise program. If earlier it was only Lisette and Westfalika, now S-TEP, Stella Mazarini and Emilia Estra will be added to them. Moreover, if the company also develops its own chain under the Emilia Estra brand, then under the Stella Mazarini and S-TEP shoe brands, stores will open for the first time. As a result of the project implementation, the Obuv Rossii franchise store network will increase to 70 from the current 120 by the fall-winter season, and the Obuv Rossii retail network will exceed 500 stores.

“Now the share of franchised stores in the total number of our outlets is 15%. For us, franchising is an additional tool for the development of retail. The goal of the program is to expand the geography of sales and markets, to reach those cities where Obuv Rossii does not yet develop its own network. An increase in the package of brands for launching franchised stores will help us attract new customers and increase the audience of our customers, especially in regions that are new for us, in which the shoe market is not yet saturated, federal and global players are poorly represented, ”commented the director of GK Obuv Rossii Anton Titov.

The new partners of the franchising company will be mainly wholesale customers with whom Obuv Rossii has been cooperating for several years. They will be offered a new format of cooperation when they launch outlets under the Shoe of Russia brands, work according to company standards, receive advertising support from the brand, etc.

The franchise program is part of the company's overall strategy to expand its presence in the regions in the medium term. In addition to franchising, Obuv Rossii also intends to develop its own retail, which is a priority for the company. The share of franchised stores will remain at the level of 15-20%. By the end of the 2017 of the year, Obuv Rossii plans to open 20 of its own stores under the brands Westfalika, Pedestrian and Emilia Estra.

The Obuv Rossii group of companies was founded in 2003; its head office is located in Novosibirsk. The main business areas are footwear production, retail and wholesale trade in footwear and related products. Obuv Rossii develops five shoe chains: Westfalika (mono-brand, mid-price segment), Pedestrian (multi-brand shoe supermarket), Emilia Estra (shoes boutique), Rossita (store for the whole family) and Lisette (fashion shoe salons). The shoe chain "Obuv Rossii" today has more than 450 stores in more than 100 cities. RAEX (Expert RA) assigned the Group a credit rating of “A +” (very high level of creditworthiness), the third sublevel, with a “stable” outlook. The company's revenue in 2016 under RAS amounted to 10 billion rubles, net profit - 1,3 billion rubles. The company has online stores westfalika.ru, westfalika-home.ru, emilia-esta.ru, rossita.com.