What does it take to sell a more expensive shoe in a country that is price-sensitive? For Liberty Shoes, the answer is not simply to put a higher number on the price tag. It is about giving consumers a stronger reason to pay for it. That is one of the theories shaping Liberty Shoes’ current playbook. The company is working on premiumisation. At the same time, it is rethinking its brand architecture, putting more weight behind digital and influencer marketing, and continuing to invest in physical retail. For Anupam Bansal, Executive Director, Liberty Shoes, the challenge is to make all these pieces work together in a market where around 70% of footwear remains unorganised.
“Footwear was very low priced in India,” Bansal says, pointing out that footwear commands a higher price globally than apparel, while the reverse has traditionally been true in India. Liberty is now premiumising at around 5-7% every year, with the focus on better fashion and materials rather than price alone.
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The question, naturally, is how far consumers will follow. Bansal notes that average selling price of around ₹1,000 towards ₹2,000 works, while price-sensitivity becomes a much bigger factor around ₹2,500-3,000. In the mid-market, he believes pricing has to be balanced with brand aspiration, the retail experience and product quality. “In an inflationary economy, you must focus on premiumisation. If you're not able to give a better product at a higher value, then the consumer will disconnect with you. Because of inflation, the prices are always increasing. The new products have to be always better so that the customer not only feels the pressure of inflation, they also feel that they are getting a better product,” he explains.
But price is only one part of Liberty’s rethink. The brand is also moving away from putting everything under one broad identity. It has created four communication pillars: 'Healers' for comfort, 'Leap 7X' for athleisure and youth, 'Aha' for monsoon, beachwear and casual footwear, and 'Lucy & Luke' for kids. “Instead of creating an overall brand imagery of Liberty,” Bansal mentions, the company is looking at how its four brands can speak in different languages and connect with the right target audience.
The media mix, naturally, is getting a rethink too. Liberty’s traditional-media allocation has fallen from almost 100% to around 25-30%, with more investment going into digital, visual merchandising, store signage, CRM and direct customer engagement. Even its offline customers are now being reached through digital channels, including Google Business Profile and direct messaging.
Yet Bansal is not looking at digital through a simple profitability lens. Advertising, he argues, is a long-term expenditure, making it difficult to judge channels instantly as either profitable or loss-making. Google and Meta offer measurable performance metrics, giving the team a clearer view of what is working, but that does not mean the work stops there. Campaigns need to be monitored and optimised regularly, with the team constantly learning and adapting as consumer behaviour and platform dynamics change.
That same strategy runs into Liberty’s campaign strategy. The company has a three-year plan to refresh its communication, with new activity expected almost every month and around key seasons. The aim, Bansal says, is not to change the brand narrative, but to update it.
And when it comes to the debate between always-on marketing and big campaign bursts, he has a clear view, “One burst is never a success mantra because people forget. Consistency is always better.” His argument is that consumers forget quickly, making regular communication more useful than putting too much behind one campaign. He also sees marketing as only one part of the equation, alongside product, retail and the other elements of the business.
Influencer marketing for the brand follows the same playbook. Rather than relying on one large celebrity endorsement, Liberty is working with multiple creators and placing greater emphasis on whether they genuinely connect with the brand. Recent campaigns with influencers from Punjab, Bihar and Karnataka have been built around real, local experiences, which Bansal says have delivered better engagement than more artificial executions.
Despite the growing role of digital in Liberty’s marketing, physical retail continues to drive the bulk of its sales. More than 80% of Liberty’s sales currently come from traditional channels, while e-commerce contributes around 15-20%. Quick commerce remains relatively small. The company wants to keep expanding its retail network while also making online buying more pleasurable, rather than choosing one channel over another.
That balance becomes particularly interesting when Bansal talks about the future of marketing. He sees a landscape with more platforms, greater fragmentation, higher marketing costs and less consumer attention. A 30-second Reel, he points out, may get only three seconds of attention. His answer is not to let technology take over everything. Even in an AI-heavy marketing environment, Bansal argues that there is something brands should hold on to: “The value of real touch and feel is something which is priceless.”
Theories shape the way a brand markets itself, but business ultimately commands its own milestones. Liberty wants to cross ₹1,000 crore before 2028, opening around 50 stores every year. For Bansal, the ambition is to build the brand across products, retail and communication, while keeping pace with how consumers shop and engage. “I want to see better brand and consumer connect going forward,” he concludes.
