Anupam Bansal, Executive Director of Liberty Group talks about the growth and story behind Liberty, a pioneer brand in shoe industry in India. With the insight over franchise Industry, Anupam showed the road ahead for Liberty with successful franchise model in head.

Brief us about the journey and growth of Liberty, from the time its inception?
Liberty Group began in 1954 from Karnal, Haryana with an aim of delivering great products at a great and affordable price. To break it on the basis of milestone events, the year 1954 was when we got into footwear business, 1964 was when we formed ‘Liberty brand’, in 1982 we entered the domestic market and finally, in 2003, we forayed into retailing with the launch of Liberty Retail Revolution. Our brand over the years has emerged as one of the most trusted and sought after footwear brands with turnover of 600 crores. Today, Liberty is one brand in the Country that has the maximum number of sub brands under its umbrella and thus, there is a lot for every family member at Liberty.

Liberty is very conscious of the fact that fashion is a process of continuous evolution which through the passage of time finds expression in different thoughts and forms. This makes it incumbent on the part to stay in touch with ground realities by keeping track of the changing aspirations and sensibilities of our customers. Our DNA of innovation, technology and advancement enables us to stay abreast of all that’s new in the domain of fashion and quality while, our deep-rooted value system guides us in maintaining the tradition of sound workmanship that’s basic to our ethos.

Why you have chosen franchise route to expand? How you see this medium in today’s era?
Liberty has been the pioneer of footwear retail franchising in India. Liberty’s decision to go for the franchisee retail model was to tap the local market knowledge of the franchisee and use that as a base for strengthening and broadening its retail network. Today, with around 325 franchised units in large, medium and small cities, Liberty has emerged as one of the most successful Indian franchisee chains of the current times. Liberty’s success stems from an innovative marketing approach. It’s an approach that goes against the general perception of what works in the market by opening and running franchisee showrooms on cash and carry format without ensuring minimum guarantee.

Liberty is also helping the franchisees plug the need and supply gaps by focusing on new products that match emerging footwear trends and deliver the hottest styles matching the consumer needs.

You are in an industry where competition is flooding in, which also includes international brands. How you mange to cope with that? What’s your strategy?
Competition is always good as it helps us to improve continuously in providing the best services to our esteemed customers. We at Liberty group give the best quality products at affordable price in warm, friendly and relaxed environment. While doing this, we have our own niche and are happy to maintain the same. However, companies within this industry are impacted by a variety of factors, from the unorganized and Chinese environment within the footwear categories. In addition, the industry also faces constraints from skilled labour and supply chain.

Our strategy to overcome Competition is to help franchisees to plug the need & supply gaps by focusing on new products that match emerging footwear trends and deliver the hottest styles which contemporary consumers are on a look out for. We have positioned ourselves as aspirational brand for middle and upper middle class. Hrithik Roshan as the Liberty brand ambassador represents a quantum leap for our brand. Hrithik as a style idol lends the brand a very fashion forward status. With this, the brand regularly refreshes its store look and products to keep up with changing consumer trends.

We have adopted a consumer-driven approach and made sure that the shelf space in the stores are occupied by products that today’s generation, the young families, wish to buy rather than the products that the company wishes to sell. This customer connect has yielded valuable results. Today, the Liberty brand is drawing in a younger, more fashion-focused target customer but more importantly, with the company’s operating expertise – from footwear design to the retail floor – we are able to identify emerging footwear trends and deliver the best styles that consumer wants.
As I said, since the time Liberty was born, customer satisfaction has been the integral part of us. Our efforts have aimed at offering something special to our customers. We come across with customer centric programme on regular basis and offer them with rewarding experiences that strengthen their bond with us. Most of the consumers are following the fashion trends and would like to own different pairs of shoes for various outfits so as to strike a balance. Major seasons like Spring Summer and Autumn Winter see fresh launches and later the mid-season launches happen at a smaller scale adding to the major season. Every month, Liberty launches new styles and designs across all sub brands to sustain the interest of the consumers.
Focus on the following:
• Expansion of retail network
• New look and feel of stores
• Expansion plans in terms of opening more outlets in potential cities and markets
• Launch of new products

What are the qualities and requirements you are seeking in a franchisee? How much investment do they require?
We welcome anybody and everybody with an investment of Rs 10 to 15 lakhs with an area of 800 to 1,000 Sq.Ft. The franchisee owner should be young & contemporary in their outlook, show keen interest in global footwear fashion, experience/ understanding of retailing but not necessarily footwear retailing. The focus is to enhance guest experience through consistency in quality, services & offerings. All store openings are done post extensive consumer profile research and mapping. All store openings are done post extensive consumer profile research and mapping.

What are your plans for expansion via franchise route? What is the current status of your presence?
The Brand has received a tremendous response from the franchising model. Out of 400 stores in 120 cities and towns, 325 are the franchise stores.

To maintain a harmonious relationship with franchisees, what training and support you offer to your franchisees?
At Liberty, we provide regular training for our franchise outlets which include selling skills, inventory management, IT management, communication skills, customer centric service which depends from franchisee to franchisee. We also follow a training calendar (twice a year) for these activities around the year and also have a constant help desk to handle the day to day queries from the franchisees.

What advice would you like to give to the franchisees, which are planning to enter into this business?
While the economic reforms have taken center-stage in the country, India is gearing up for yet another post-reform era, foreign companies are looking to enter the market and retail management is going to play a very important role for the franchise stores to draw more sales and profitability. And today, the challenge is to empower positive change in the franchises. Therefore, the franchise stores need to listen to their customers to not only win the battle for sales, but also set an easy-to-execute strategy in place to increase profit margins. Franchising is a creative business today. It is no more a shop with wares to be sold. The curator of the business should apply numerous innovations to help grow the business. But first of all, they have to think like an entrepreneur. The franchise owner needs to have constant engagement with the customer and needs to have understanding of the customer’s choice. While doing this engagement, the franchise will build a strong relationship with a customer and convert them into a loyal one.