NEW DELHI: American sports apparel giant Under Armour is bullish about opening 10 stores in its first year of operations in India following its retail launch at the DLF Promenade Mall in the capital city on Tuesday.
“We will be opening 10 stores in the first 12 months here and then will assess our performance going forward,” Under Armour President and COO Patrik Frisk was quoted as saying to Economic Times.
Frisk believes that though late as compared to its competitors such as Nike, Adidas and Skechers, this is the ideal time for the brand to invest in the Indian market, with the country adopting a multi-sport and fitness-oriented culture.
“India is the last piece of the puzzle in this part of the world for us, and an incredibly important market. We believe that India and China are the two markets where the growth is going to come from in the future,” Frisk told The Hindu Business Line.
“We believe consumers in India are now increasingly starting to think about their health and fitness. The athletic performance products market is fast evolving and we want to come in and grow this market further. We may be criticised for being late to India, but we were very realistic when we started thinking about our India entry. But we think this is the right time for us to enter the Indian market.”
Under Armour is planning its expansion in the world’s top two populated countries through local franchises than single-brand retail, while focusing on the athlete performance segment.
He estimates that selling its products on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Myntra will reap more dividends in India with time as compared to other countries as they contribute 10-20% of sales revenues there.
“I think it’s the right model for markets such as India and China. If you want to scale up quickly, you need to be able to leverage on the local knowledge of the franchise partners. So, part of the reason for this strategy was scale and part of it is was to be able to tap into the expertise of Indian entrepreneurs as our partners.
“We are taking a very different approach than some of the other players. We want to make sure we remain true to the performance segment and we believe it’s going to be our strength in the longer term,” he concluded.
