How does a purveyor of comfortable shoes to middle-aged Britons bec-ome one of the fastest-growing retailers in India? By listening to the shop staff, says Stuart Paver, managing director of Paver Shoes.

The business, which began with his mother selling footwear door-to-door and in village halls and spread across the north of England to reach annual sales of more than ￡60m, has continued to keep it simple while listening to what customers want.

The UK stores are crammed with long racks of shoes and boxes displaying all the stock in order to keep staff costs down. But in India, which accounts for a quarter of group sales, spacious Paver shops are plastered with Union Jacks and ooze glamour and bling (see box). Mr Paver, whose appearance puts him in the smart, comfortable-clothes-wearing-Brit category, cre-d-its his Indian staff with helping to get the product right.