From a local shoe manufacturer to becoming a national leather footwear brand: the San Frissco story
Based in Agra, Kuldeep Singh built the Rs 25 crore turnover footwear brand San Frissco entirely on an omnichannel strategy, including a direct-to-consumer line of business on its ecommerce channels.
Oxfords or Brogues? Any man working in the corporate world would have had this dilemma before walking into a business meeting. After all, shoes tell a lot about a person.
Being a shoe lover himself, Agra resident Kuldeep Singh decided to get into the shoe manufacturing line in 1993. But, he didn’t just want to be another contract manufacturer in the market; he wanted to create a niche for his brand.
In 2005, the entrepreneur set out on a path to build a brand, which, in 2018, would become a D2C brand selling shoes online. Such is the journey of Kuldeep and his footwear brand .
Kuldeep Singh
"I have had a streak for footwear ever since I was a kid. Being born and brought up in Agra, I was surrounded by kids whose parents were shoe manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, and traders. They were also mostly related to the same industry around shoes," says Kuldeep Singh.
Right after his college, in 1993, Kuldeep’s family helped him set up a shoe factory by lending him a small amount of Rs 2 lakh. For the first 12 years, he did contract manufacturing of shoes for other brands. However, the lack of orders saw him lose his money fast in the fixed plant and machinery.
Despite such roadblocks, the entrepreneur kept pushing himself to keep his factory afloat by borrowing from his father. Through small orders, Kuldeep slowly built his cash flow and kept reinvesting in the business by procuring quality leather for his finished products.
The early experience, Kuldeep says, was tough since finding clients who believed in Kuldeep's manufacturing capabilities proved difficult.
Over time, when he became well-known for managing quality, and more orders kept coming his way, Kuldeep realised that it only takes a brand play to have a lasting name in the market, rather than remaining a contract manufacturing company.
In 2005, he took the plunge to build his footwear brand San Frissco, that started with manufacturing formal leather footwear for men. At the time, the brand was receiving small orders and was available in less than 100 stores in northern India.
"But, gone are the times when a man only needed a single pair of shoes that he would wear to the office, dinners, and other events. With the advent of social media, influencers, and fashion stylists, now, men need a groundbreaking head-turning pair for all occasions. With that being said, San Frissco has broadened its range by not just including classics, but, also offering something trendy and stylish for the quintessential modern male, who's also a fashion enthusiast," Kuldeep tells SMBStory.
San Frissco’s annual turnover rose from Rs 11 crore in FY19 to Rs 25 crore in FY20, and has been profitable for the last three years. At present, San Frissco shoes are available in 1,000 retail outlets across India. However, it earns about 70 percent of its revenue from online sales, while 30 percent comes from physical stores.
Kuldeep strongly believes that the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model is the future for any brand. For this reason, the brand moved to the online segment in 2018.
The move from offline to online
San Frissco works on the narrative of finding styles for the modern male, who is well travelled, aspirational, and rising in the world of business. It aims to make the man stand out in the crowd.
When San Frissco was first launched in 2005, the brand had no customer profiling and was simply catering to middle-aged men who preferred simple classic footwear. However, in 2014-15, with the ecommerce sector booming, Kuldeep realised he could access new customers online by listening to their reviews and tweak the brand’s offerings.
Immediately after, he listed San Frissco on major ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, etc., and also launched its own online retail store, where it offers exclusive collections to its loyal customers. Today, it targets customers between the age groups of 20-50 years.
With the growth of its D2C model, the brand is now preparing for a high-end, all-leather range called ‘San Frissco Luxor.’
"San Frissco has always been very clear about its goal, and that is to provide value. When we talk about values, we refer to selling good quality, value for money shoes domestically, or exporting shoes to different parts of the world and representing India with the best possible price points and quality at the same time. Moreover, we believe a company stands with the help of its hard-working staff and labour; we have so many people in our team who have been with us since the very beginnings and have loved the brand like their own," says Kuldeep.
According to the World Bank, India has the youngest demography in the world with 65 percent of the population under 30 years of age. A majority of this population will order products online and will have a closer affinity to brands present online with a few experience stores in major cities.
San Frissco handcrafted leather
However, a D2C business requires marketing spends to win new customers and the right pricing becomes essential to the success of this business. India is a diversified market where people want good quality products, but are also price conscious and sceptical about trying new things.
"Gaining the trust in the first couple of years and creating a loyal customer base was one of the biggest challenges that my brand and company faced over the years. Other than that, Agra is a remotely located city, and most of the businesses are unorganised, which is why finding the right human resources has always been a huge task for me to build a pan-India D2C brand," Kuldeep claims.
At present, the brand continues to export its shoes to the Middle East and some selected parts of Europe.
The next 18 months
According to India Retailer, the Indian footwear market has reached close to Rs 40,000 crore in size as of 2020.
But, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed things down for almost every business. Kuldeep says, "Just when we were finally recovering from the aftershocks of demonetisation and GST, the pandemic hit us. In the last two-three years, not just ours, but every business across the country has been a nightmare."
San Frissco is focussing on an omnichannel distribution strategy, and has been trying to understand and strategise cross-border ecommerce across different markets. The entrepreneur believes that a combination of offline and online expansion will make the brand a Rs 100 crore business in five years.
In fact, over the last six months, the brand has seen a shift in the market where people want quick and unique styles. For this, the company wants to now focus on making leather shoes more accessible for every occasion, such as loafers, casual leathers, and sandals.
The company has plants in Kanpur and Chennai, and it believes that through these manufacturing units, it can cover the north and south Indian markets as ecommerce orders pick up.
Despite the pandemic hurting the brand’s operations, Kuldeep says that San Frissco has plans to clock an annual revenue of Rs 40 crore by FY22. It is banking on the fact that consumption will continue to grow in India post the COVID-19 situation.
Edited by Suman Singh
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