Economictimes
30 May 2010
New Delhi, India

US–based premium footwear brand Crocs Inc today said it is targeting the country’s market for its specialised range of medical footwear and aims to sell at least 1.5 lakh pairs within a year.

The company, which entered the Indian market in 2007, also said it has appointed Indian drug maker Surya Pharmaceuticals as its sole marketing partner in India for its ’Rx’ range of medical footwear.

"We launched our ’Rx’ line in India last year through regular retail channels. However, we found the normal route inadequate for specialised footwear so we are now aligning with Surya, which has its own retail pharma chain that we seek to explore," Crocs India Managing Director Murli Desingh said.

He said that besides Surya’s about 40 pharma outlets across the country, the company is also going ahead to launch exclusive stores Surya Crocs Medical Stores for the medical footwear.

"We plan to have exclusive outlets in 15 major metros and Tier I cities in one year. Combined with Surya’s retail pharmacy chain, this should give us enough leverage to clock sales of at least 1.5 lakh pairs of the medical footwear within a year," Desingh said.

Medical footwear are specially designed to cater to the needs of customers with certain foot problems like post– operative care, diabetes and skin ailments.

Crocs offers a range of medical footwear for both men and women in six designs and styles and Desingh said it plans to launch four more designs this year.

The footwear is available at a price range of Rs 1,600– 2,200.

The USD 825 million footwear maker sold around 3.5 lakh units of its regular lifestyle footwear range last year in the country.

It has over a dozen exclusive outlets and is also present in around 250 large format and multi–branded stores across India, including Metro, Lifestyle and Planet Sports.