Bata India plans online expansion, strengthens retail presence in small towns

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Jul 20, 2021

Footwear major Bata India is planning to strengthen its online operations and expand its offline network in small towns to fuel its growth in the country over the next few years.
 

With this expansion, Bata expects strong sales going forward and aims to recover the losses suffered during the lockdown caused by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
Bata has already expanded its retail network through franchise channel over the last few months and also opened 18 new company-owned stores.

“Bata India is focussing on "conserving cash by bolstering productivity across value chain and tight inventory control, driving margins via cost-reduction projects and achieving higher turnover by small-town and online channels expansion," Bata India managing director, Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, said in a statement to shareholders.
 
“We opened a total of 64 franchise stores in smaller towns and cities, taking the total to 220 franchise stores. The company also scaled up its presence via distribution channel, with Bata products now available in over 800 towns across 25,000 multi-brand outlets,” Gopalakrishnan added.
 
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, Bata India reported a net loss of Rs 89 crore ($12 million) as compared to a net profit of Rs 33 crore in the previous year, while its revenue for the fiscal was down Rs 1,708 crore as compared to Rs 3,056 crore in 2019-20.