MUMBAI: Polish sportswear brand 4F is readying its maiden foray into the Indian market next month.
“For the initial foray, we will first focus on online sales and see how the market responds. First, we need to understand the market and consumer behaviour here. Thereafter, we may opt for a brick-and-mortar model as well,” Igor Klaja, owner of the 4F brand, told Business Standard.
Its products will be available on Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Jabong.
For its Indian foray, the company has tied up with Ace Turtle, an omni-channel platform, which is responsible for operations, distribution, marketing and sales of this brand, the business daily reports.
Ace Turtle’s solutions are currently used by brands such as Ray-Ban, Puma, Max, Arrow, Flying Machine, Ed Hardy, US Polo, Fossil and others.
“For Asian countries, we always enter a market with a partner. This is the brand’s strategy,” he told BS.
Initially, it will offer products imported from Asian and European manufacturers but Klaja is open to explore local sourcing once sales pick up. The products can also be customised as per Indian needs.
Apart from sports shoes and sneakers, it will namely offer two lines of clothing – sports collection, which one wears while playing sports like football; and a lifestyle line, where the clothes give a sporty look like sweatshirts, windcheaters and others.
“We have already entered eight countries in the recent past including Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and others and plan to foray into another 10, including Russia and UAE this year,” he told BS.
According to Klaja, the entry into India and other countries will help 4F register an over 25% growth after 2020.
It is estimated that the sportswear market in India grew from Rs 240 billion in 2014 to Rs 370 billion in 2016 and is forecasted to grow by 11.3% during 2016-21 period.
