Paragon eyes women’s footwear as growth engine, expects around 40% share: Sachin Joseph

Founded over 50 years ago, Paragon Footwear, long synonymous with affordability, durability, and its ubiquitous “Hawaii chappals,” is now betting big on the women’s footwear segment, positioning it as a key growth engine.

The company expects its women’s footwear category, which currently contributes around 15–20% of overall sales, to nearly double its share to about 40% in the coming years, underscoring its role in driving both topline growth and brand repositioning.

exchange4media spoke with Sachin Joseph, EVP – Marketing & IT, Paragon, to understand how a value for money legacy brand like Paragon is evolving to appeal to a more fashion-forward audience without diluting its core identity, how it is reimagining its marketing playbook, and the opportunities and risks in scaling a traditionally underleveraged category.

Paragon's new growth engine

For Paragon, the pivot toward women’s footwear is both a strategic correction and a response to shifting consumer realities. While the brand has historically catered to a predominantly male consumer base, Joseph admits that the women’s category remained underleveraged despite being part of the portfolio.

“Women today are far more aware of fashion trends, largely driven by mobile and digital exposure. More importantly, they tend to purchase more footwear than men, often owning multiple pairs for different occasions,” he said.

This shift is not limited to metros. According to Joseph, rising income levels and financial independence among women in tier 2 and tier 3 markets are playing a critical role. “Gone are the days when purchase decisions were dependent on family members. Women are making independent choices and actively seeking variety,” he adds.

Cracking the code

According to Joseph, to scale the category from ~20% to 40% of revenues, Paragon is focusing on a mix of product innovation, accessible pricing, and sharper regional targeting.

On the product front, the company has strengthened its design capabilities to create more appealing, trend-relevant options for women. At the same time, affordability remains central to its strategy. “We want to ensure that pricing doesn’t become a barrier. The idea is to encourage multiple purchases without making it feel expensive,” Joseph noted.

A key differentiator, however, lies in Paragon’s region-specific approach. Instead of adopting a one-size-fits-all strategy, the brand is tailoring collections based on local preferences.

For instance, in the South, consumers prefer sober colours, matte finishes, and subtle textures. In the North, there’s a clear inclination toward brighter, glossier, and more vibrant designs, he explained, highlighting how cultural nuances influence product design.

Evolving the marketing playbook

While Paragon’s core brand proposition remains unchanged, its marketing approach is undergoing a noticeable shift, especially for the women’s segment.

Joseph notes that digital is emerging as a key focus area. “Our research shows that women prefer consuming content on mobile devices rather than television, where viewing is often shared within households. Digital allows for more personalised and independent engagement,” he says.

As a result, marketing is gradually pivoting toward digital channels, with a sharper focus on mobile-first consumption habits among women, while continuing to retain the brand’s core ‘value-for-money’ DNA.

Traditionally, Paragon’s marketing spends have been heavily skewed toward mass media, with an 80:20 split between traditional and digital channels. While this mix hasn’t changed dramatically yet, the company expects a gradual shift toward a 70:30 split, with a higher allocation to digital over the next few years.

Beyond media, the brand is also experimenting with digital-first campaigns and content formats, alongside TVCs, to drive awareness for its women’s range.

Retail as a key conversion lever

Despite the growing importance of digital, offline retail continues to dominate Paragon’s business, contributing nearly 90–95% of total sales. As a result, in-store interventions are central to driving discovery and conversion in the women’s category.

The company has rolled out dedicated merchandising efforts, including exclusive display walls for women’s products across nearly 90% of its outlets. In addition, it has introduced promotional tactics such as cashback offers to incentivise trials. It has also introduced a cashback-led initiative, offering an assured ₹30 instant cashback via a QR-based mechanism, aimed at encouraging trials and improving accessibility to its women’s range.

“These interventions are aimed at improving visibility and making it easier for consumers to explore the range within stores,” Joseph explains.

This is being complemented by integrated campaigns spanning TV and digital, designed to drive both awareness and footfall.

Further speaking about new channels and opportunities, Joseph stated that while e-commerce has been part of Paragon’s channel mix, an interesting development has been the rapid rise of quick commerce.

“Quick commerce has grown faster for us than traditional e-commerce, which was quite surprising,” Joseph notes. “We are now focusing on optimising our presence on these platforms.”

Retail media on platforms like quick commerce apps is also emerging as a new lever, although still at an exploratory stage.

Challenges & way forward

As per the brand, key challenges remain around supply chain volatility. In particular, sourcing upper materials continues to be a risk. “We depend on external suppliers, and global disruptions can impact availability. We’ve increased inventory buffers, but uncertainty remains,” Joseph says.

At the same time, expansion remains a key priority for the brand. 

As Paragon looks to scale its presence, it is transitioning from a largely company-owned, company-operated (COCO) model to a hybrid retail model, enabling faster rollout of stores and wider market reach. With around 100 exclusive brand outlets currently, largely concentrated in the South, the company is now focusing on expanding into other regions to drive national growth. As it looks to expand beyond its southern stronghold, the women’s category is expected to play a central role in driving both volume and value growth.

However, Joseph is cautious in his outlook. “This is still early days. While we see strong potential in the women’s segment, men’s footwear continues to dominate our business today,” he says.