The sports and athleisure footwear company has come out with its IPO. Find out if you should bid for its shares.
25-Apr-2022 •Udhayaprakash and Karthik Anand Vijay
Incorporated in 2008, Campus Activewear is India's largest sports and athleisure footwear brand in terms of value and volume, as per a Technopak report. The company manufactures and distributes footwear under the brand 'Campus'. It has a 17 per cent market share in branded sports and athleisure space as of FY21 and covers over 85 per cent of the addressable market in this space. It has over 425 distributors catering to more than 19,200 retailers throughout the country. The company has 1,433 styles for men, 485 styles for women and 485 for children. As we can see in their product portfolio, Campus Activewear has a strong presence in the men's category, which generated 87.6 per cent of revenue, followed by 7.8 per cent from the kids' segment and 4.6 per cent from the women's segment as of FY21.
The company has 3,513 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) at entry-level, 1,469 SKUs at semi-premium level, 1,341 at premium level and 64 at the premium plus level. Although it is present significantly higher at the entry-level (46 per cent of revenue), the premium segment is also able to generate an adequate level of revenue (32.7 per cent of revenue). Its pricing strategy also translates to better revenue from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. During the nine months ended FY22, the company generated 73.1 per cent revenue from tier 2 and 3 cities and 26.9 per cent from tier 1 and metro cities.
Indian footwear and athleisure industries are expected to grow at 21.6 and 15.7 per cent, respectively, till FY25. Factors such as increasing median income, the rise of e-commerce platforms and increasing spending on health and wellness are expected to influence this growth. While the space is filled with competitors, Campus Activewear's pricing strategy and penetration in tier 2 and tier 3 cities is expected to help them grow.
Strengths:
1) Wide geographical presence: The company does not rely heavily on tier 1 and metro cities as it generates one-third of its revenue from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. In addition to this, the company's revenue is also well spread as it generates 53.2 per cent from the north, 18.6 per cent from the east, 13 per cent from the west, 9.4 per cent from the south and 5.8 per cent from central India. It also has over 19,200 retailers selling its products all over the country.
2) Efficient new product cycle: To keep themselves in the trend, Campus Activewear launches under two flagship seasonal launches and has a short new product cycle. From the date of product conceptualisation, the company only takes 120 to 180 days to launch it in the market. It launched a total of 583 new designs in FY21.
3) Omnichannel presence: The company does not only sell its products through its retailers but also online channels. In FY21, online sales accounted for 21 per cent of the total revenue. The company has been working on integrating online and retail sales to improve customer experience.
Weaknesses:
1) Highly competitive: The company operates in a highly competitive space full of domestic and global players. While companies like Nike, Adidas, etc., have a strong presence in the premium segment, Campus Activewear competes with Relaxo footwear's 'Sparx' brand at entry-level.
2) High valuation: The company is valued at a price to earnings ratio of 93 times and price to book value of 22 times despite only having a 9 per cent revenue growth and a decrease in profits by 16.6 per cent in the last three years.
3) Increasing merchandise returns: Like all the players in the footwear industry, Campus Activewear gives an option for customers to return their products within 14 to 30 days if they are not satisfied. But the company's returns as a percentage of sales increased from 2.4 per cent in FY19 to 6.9 per cent in FY21 to 9.2 per cent during the nine months ended FY22. If the trend continues, the net sales may decrease despite increasing production or launches.
Also read Campus Activewear IPO: How good is it? to learn how we evaluate Campus Activewear on various metrics.
Disclaimer: The authors may be an applicant in this Initial Public Offering.
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