Blak - The Shoe Store, is a leading multi-brand footwear selling company that was started in Bangalore in the year 2008. Having begun with only one store in 2008, Blak has successfully expanded to 17 stores in South India in four and half years. The company was nominated for the Images Shoes & Accessories Award (ISAA) for the “Most Admired Regional Footwear Retailer of the Year- South" in 2012. The following year, in March 2013, they bagged the same award. M.Yahya Sait, the CEO of the company speaks to Winston Marvel Jude about their successful run as a company.
What makes 'Blak-The Shoe Store' so unique when compared to the other companies?
The most striking thing is that we sell 29 major brands of footwear along with our own in-house brand of shoes under one single roof which is what makes Blak stand out from other companies. People visit our stores very often because of our constantly-updated wide range of products. Moreover most people like the ambiance at our stores. We also are very focused on providing the best customer services. People are very fond of the friendly staff at our outlets. This is what has helped us reach this far in the past few years.
What are the products that 'Blak' deals with?
Our business is focused on selling footwear. We sell footwear for men, women and children of all ages. Our wide range of products includes party wear, formal wear, casual wear and home wear. Although we only focus on selling footwear, we also sell other additional products such as women's handbags, men's wallets, belts, socks and other accessories. Alongside our in-house brand, Blak, we market numerous other brands such as Nike, Puma, Adidas, etc.
What led to the growth of this company?
In 1995, managing director of the company, Raj Lalwani founded Pooja Footwear Pvt Ltd in Bangalore. In 2008, we saw that there was a need for fashionable footwear. Customers wanted footwear with the latest trends. They wanted the most fashionable products of the time. An idea struck us and we began Blak - The Shoe Store, which is basically an offshoot of Pooja Footwear. This is why we are involved in wholesale footwear sales as well. We have expanded to 11 stores in the city. We have outlets located at Commercial Street, BEL road, JP Nagar, Basaveshwarnagar, Kammanahalli, Vijayanagar, Jayanagar, New Town Yelahanka, HSR Layout, Malleswaram, Sahakar Nagar, etc.
How often do you introduce new products into the market?
Since rapidly changing fashion is a matter of concern, we come out with newly designed products every three months. This is the secret behind our wide range of products that people love. Most of our customers come with a need of the most fashionable products with the latest trends. This is what we at Blak aim to provide the public with. We try to alter our products to the best of our abilities and provide the latest products to our customers because changes in fashion are very frequent.
What is the company's vision and mission?
Our vision is to scale newer heights in footwear by understanding the need and requirements of every customer and revolutionise through a passion for innovation. We want to be the best shoe retail chain outlet brand in the footwear and accessories market.
We would like to establish a good network of stores in Karnataka in the near future and explore new markets where we do not have any presence. We deliver high customer value and build strong customer relationship through the expertise of salesman who are recruited and trained to be at their best. We attend every customer with utmost care to ensure their requirement is supplied and delivered on time.
What are the company's future plans?
We have 17 stores in total; 11 of these stores are situated in Bangalore while others are in Secunderabad, Belgaum, Udupi, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, etc. This year we have a plan to expand our reach into other south Indian states. Our target for this year is to have 25 stores in total. We also want to expand sales into Chennai and Kochi. In the long run we have a vision to open stores all over India including Northern, Western and Eastern states.