Bata, India’s largest footwear retailer, is sprucing up its image and launching aggressive product and marketing campaigns but is feeling the heat from manufacturers in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Brazil whose products are more competitive. Import of cheap footwear from China, which controls 17 per cent of the international leather trade compared with India’s 3 per cent, remains



the main challenge for Bata.

But still the footwear major continues to focus on improving its collections by introducing new product ranges regularly and outsourcing some parts to get better margins. The cash flows from higher margins are used to expand its business primarily through large format stores. While the company, through its 1,200 exclusive stores in 400 cities across India, has a significant share of the mass-market footwear, multinational brands are taking away clients in the premium segment.

Moreover, Bata will diversify and open big format stores in Tier II and III cities and take the best available space in shopping malls and busy street corners to aggressively market its products. The company also operates a large non-retail distribution network through its urban wholesale division and caters to millions of customers through over 30,000 dealers.