Shoemaker Bata, which operates almost 1,500 stores across India with an annual revenue of almost Rs 2,500 crore has seen India grow as the largest market for its products in recent years.
It is surely facing stiff competition and has its job cut out in dealing with nimble brands that bank on e-commerce for sales.
Here the companies CEO, Alexis Nasard talks about how Bata plans to upgrade itself to strike a chord with the new emerging youth market.
When asked about the Bata legacy as a drawback, Nasard stated that no, it wasn’t, in fact they considered the brand to have a competitive advantage, although in the past 10 years the brand had lost the aspirational value for the youth. Bata plans to launch several line extensions under its banner
While talking about Bata’s strategy to address the Indian sportswear market, he said that Bata was a global player with strong Indian roots. He said that Bata products were value for money and the pricing was done keeping the Indian customer in mind. This according to Nasard was the secret of Bata’s success in India.
Talking about the uniqueness of the Indian footwear markets as compared to other global markets he said that it was a challenge to have premium high-street retail experience because of the ways cities are, while at the same time the way one does delivery through omnichannel in a country so wide and diverse was more complicated than other global markets.
The global average for shoes-in-hand is around six while in some countries it was 15 such as in the US or Europe. He said that India it was 3 and so Bata had a long way to go
Answering the question of low capitalization of Bata which is only 9000 crore, he said that in case of market cap, it is hazardous to engage in speculation, though one thing was clear that Bata had margin opportunities in India and Bata is focusing on capturing them. He also said that Bata will not grow the top line at the cost of the bottom-line and that Bata would continue to increase its margins in India.
Source: TIMES OF INDIA
