Sneakerheads Rejoice! Foot Locker Steps Into India With Nykaa Fashion, Metro Brands

American multi-brand athleisure chain and sneaker giant Foot Locker formally launched in India on Saturday via a partnership with retail giants Nykaa and Metro Brands.

The sneaker retail chain formally opened its first store in New Delhi. As part of the three-way partnership, Metro Brands will operate Foot Locker's physical stores and Nykaa Fashion will operate the e-commerce business, FootLocker.in.

Foot Locker will also be available as a shop-in-shop on the Nykaa Fashion and Nykaa Man platforms.

In an exclusive conversation with NDTV Profit, Nykaa Chief Executive Officer Falguni Nayar and Metro Brands CEO Nissan Joseph said the growth of sneaker culture in India prompted them to take the call of entering this segment.

"The growth of athleisure and the sneaker industry in India is encouraging," Joseph said. "Foot Locker is a global leader in premium sneaker retail and the first-mover advantage will come into play as we tap this segment in India."

"Sneakerheads in India are on the rise. Apart from consumption, the digital penetration in sneakers is also growing fast," Nayar said. "Indians have the desire to access (an) assortment of brands. I have personally been eyeing at least four pairs of shoes."

Beyond New Delhi, Joseph said Foot Locker could expand to every major city in India in terms of offline scale. "The only question is about the timing of the expansion. We need to figure out where India is on (the) journey of adoption," he said.

Nayar added that physical retail makes up only 10% of total demand for Nykaa, and that e-commerce is a great way to play India beyond the 10 large cities.

"We're expecting this to be the decade for retail in India, with discretionary consumption categories to grow. Income levels in India are rising and the younger generations are spending more and have more purchasing power," Nayar said, expecting sneakers to have a meaningful presence on Nykaa.