- The Nation -
ICC International, the local manufacturer and distributor of Regal men\'s footwear, is opening its first store in Thailand that offers customers not just an extensive choice in shoes but is also a stylish cafe. Khanisorn Suyanand, vice president of the ICC International\'s shoe division, said the "Shoes Cafe" was created to serve male consumers who want to take a break while shopping for shoes. Coffee will be provided by Japan-based UCC Coffee.
ICC International, the local manufacturer and distributor of Regal men's footwear, is opening its first store in Thailand that offers customers not just an extensive choice in shoes but is also a stylish cafe.
Khanisorn Suyanand, vice president of the ICC International's shoe division, said the "Shoes Cafe" was created to serve male consumers who want to take a break while shopping for shoes.
"We want to meld the coffee culture with shopping habits in order to hold the attention of male consumers, who spend very little time buying shoes," he said.
Khanisorn added that a recent survey showed that most men purchase just one or two pairs of shoes per year on average, while women buy at least six pairs per annum.
He said ICC was planning to open another two or three cafes this year, where collections on offer will match the coffee menu in terms of shades. Regal men's shoes go for between Bt3,000 and Bt6,000, and are targeted at young professionals between the ages of 25 and 40.
"The Shoes Cafes will be placed in major Bangkok shopping malls such as CentralWorld and Siam Paragon. They will have an average retail space of about 36 square metres and will require an investment of between Bt500,000 and Bt1 million," Khanisorn said, adding that the coffee would be provided by Japan-based UCC Coffee, which is distributed locally by an affiliate of ICC International.
ICC currently manufactures and distributes four footwear brands - Naturalizer, Regal, Elle and BSC.
Khanisorn said Naturalizer covered about 80 per cent of sales in the company's shoes division, while Regal provided 10 per cent and the rest was contributed by Elle and BSC.
"While our Naturalizer footwear has shown a growth of 18 per cent year on year in the first six months of this year, the sales of Regal shoes is stagnant," Khanisorn said.
He explained that this only proved that Thai men were not fashion oriented and spent little on shoes.
"Our shoe division posted a 12-per-cent growth in sales in the first six months of this year. We, however, aim to boost our sales by another 22 per cent in the second half of this year and maintain a growth 15 to 18 per cent for the entire year," Khanisorn said.