MARKETING MANAGEMENT PROJECT

PRODUCT CATEGORY: BATA FEMALE FOOTWEAR

PROFESSOR IN CHARGE: Avinash G Mulky

July 22, 2013

SUBMITTED BY
SECTION E- GROUP 6
1311297
1311298
1311315
1311336
1311337
1311340

JAYANTA KUMAR SARDAR

K SHARATH CHANDRA
R RANJANI
SIDDHARTHA MANDAL
SUSHIL KUMAR GAUTAM
VAIBHAV JHA

INDEX
SL.
NO
1
2
A
B
C
D
E
3
4

2|Page

TOPIC
INTRODUCTION
5 CS OF THE MARKETING STRATEGY
COMPANY
CUSTOMER
COMPETITOR
COLLABORATORS
CONTEXT
REFERENCE
APPENDIX

PAGE NO.
3
4
4-5
6-10
10-12
13-14
14-15
16
17-20

1. INTRODUCTION
India is the world's second largest footwear manufacturer after China. Globally, footwear production is
around 16 billion pairs, of which India accounts for nearly 13%1. Of the 300 crore pairs of footwear
manufactured annually in the country, close to 90% is consumed domestically2. Owing to such a high
consumption, India has established itself as the third largest footwear market in the world. The per capita
shoe consumption in India has gone up from 1.4 shoes a year in 2004 to 2.5 shoes per year in 20122.
However, it is much below the average per capita shoe consumption of 5 in developed countries.
The following chart illustrates a gender-wise break-up of the footwear market in India1:

MARKET SHARE

Kid's Wear
15%

Women's
Wear
30%

Men's Wear
55%

Womens footwear accounts for only 30% of the total Indian footwear market, while in developed countries
like US, womens footwear accounts for a market share of 40% 2.
The focus of the current research is Bata, one of the leading footwear retailers and manufacturers in India.
BTL (Bata India Limited) has been one of the major players in the footwear industry since 1930s.
Customers associate Bata with durability, look, softer shoes, design, fit and popularity. The hugely popular
brand image carried Bata forward for many years and helped it to gain a dominant market share in all
categories of the footwear industry.
However, over the years Bata was faced with stiff competition from both the organised and unorganised
sectors. With the opening up of the economy and rising purchasing power of women, the needs, aspirations
and demands of the female consumers are rapidly changing and growing. The women footwear industry in
India is expected to grow at the rate of 30%3. Thus, we would like to devise a strategy through which Bata
can penetrate further into this growing market for women footwear.

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2. 5 CS OF THE MARKETING STRATEGY

The first step of devising a market plan is to understand the existing market. We have applied the 5 C
framework of marketing strategy for analysing the market situation. The framework takes into consideration
the following five parameters:

CUSTOMER

COLLABORATOR

COMPANY

5C

CONTEXT

COMPETITION

A. COMPANY
Bata India Ltd is the largest footwear retailer and one of the leading consumer brands in India. Its
Footwear & Accessories division is engaged in manufacturing of footwear and accessories and their
distribution through a strong distribution network. Women footwear segment accounts for around 35 per
cent of Batas revenues. However, this is expected to grow at the rate of 30% as per Rajeev Gopalkrishnan,
the group managing director of Bata India.
The main reasons for this anticipated growth are:

growing proportion of Indian women joining the work force

higher disposable income of working women, who are employed as professionals

globally, women have a greater fancy for footwear than men

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SWOT analysis of Bata with focus on the female footwear industry:

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

Leader in Footwear Industry

High cost for brand protection

Complete coverage of the market

Inability to augment market share in the

Near 100% brand awareness in consumers

Wide network of outlets all over the world.

Brand perception of being unfashionable

Sells through 1200 shops in India and 5000

Perceived as brand for the Old and

face of growing competition.

conservative.

shops worldwide.

Economy of scale

Tried and trusted brand

Competitive price

Wide range of products

Favourable association with suppliers and

Difficulty in changing to newer product

technologies

Very high labour costs

fellow retailers.

Highest market share in India

OPPORTUNTIES

THREATS

Growing number of women professionals

Competition from existing players

Availability of cheap skilled and unskilled

Availability of cheap substitutes

work force

Entry of new brands with change in FDI

Target Segment has a robust growth rate

Per capita Consumption only 2.5 as

Break in supply chain

compared to global rate of 5

The government tax policies on all

Increasing prevalence of online shopping

Favourable government policies

Easy availability of high quality raw

material

Newer and better technology available

With 70% of the sector unorganised, high

market potential for organised sector.

5|Page

policy

luxury goods.

Rapid changes in needs and wants of

consumers

B. CUSTOMER
An exploratory research was conducted with a representative women group to understand their needs and
desired attributes and relative importance of attributes. It was identified that respondents had differing needs
based on the usage situation they were in. Prima facie, it appears that footwear can be segmented into
casual, formal and designer wear. It was found that most of the consumers considered style, durability and
price as the important attributes.
In order to understand the consumer preferences better, an online survey was conducted amongst young
women belonging to the age group of 18-35 years and covered a wide range of occupations from students to
working women. A total of 48 responses were collected.
Refer Annexure 1: Percentage breakup of age group of respondents of the survey.
The data obtained from this survey gave a good insight into the needs, desired attributes, and relative
importance of attributes and how different competitors are rated on the attributes.
Observations from the survey conducted:
1. Need for footwear:
From the survey, it is clear that whilst most of the women prefer buying new footwear only when the
old pair is worn out, there is a significant proportion that prefers buying shoes to suit different
occasions like party, family function, marriages and love collecting different models and styles.
Given below is the representation of the data obtained from the survey:
To replace an old one

3%

10%
40%

20%

17%

10%

Whenever there is a
sale/discount
During event/occasions
Love collecting shoes
Transition in life
On seeing friends/peers

Analysis of this data clearly indicates that almost 30% of total respondents give importance to style
and variety.
2. Attributes women look for in footwear
Respondents were also questioned about the different attributes that they would consider while
purchasing footwear and they were asked to weigh each of those attributes based on the importance
that they would give for them.

Figure below illustrates the different attributes that most of the respondents said they considered
while purchasing footwear in the order of their decreasing priorities.

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5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Series1

The figure clearly proves that Shoe style is the second most important thing that is considered while
purchasing shoes
Depth Interviews
Depth interviews were conducted on a representative population from the section who were surveyed. They
were asked to rate the attributes mentioned above for different brands that they have used till now and the
Expectancy value for each one of them was calculated. The expectancy values for the brands are given in
Annexure 1.

Observations based on the data obtained:

Based on the Expected Values calculated (refer Table 1, 2 and 3 from Annexure 2) it can be concluded that
Bata, though considered the market leader in terms of comfort, durability and price, does not lead the market
when it comes to preference because of its low ratings in attributes like Style and Variety. However, it is
found that amongst the different BATA brands, Marie Claire is highly preferred and has a high retention
rate.
Decision Making Unit
Based on the inputs obtained from the online survey, the various factors which influence the purchasing
decision of women while purchasing footwear are represented below:

Decision Making Unit

Prior Experience with a
brand

3%
32%
65%

Recommendation by
friends and peers
Advertisements - Mass
Media

It can be inferred from this diagram that most of the purchasing decisions taken by a person is influenced by
prior experience and recommendation by friends and peers. Thus, brand perception plays a very important
role in determining the consumer choices.
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Brand Concept Map

As discussed earlier, it was found that Brand perception played a very important role. A brand concept
mapping was done to map the views that consumers had about brand Bata and classify these views as
favourable, unfavourable, strong and weak associations.

simplicit
y
quality

Not
fashiona
ble
worth
the
money

Comforta
ble

Bata
Renown
ed

reliable

durabilit
y

Loyalty
Lack
of
variety

school
going

Favorable Association
Un- favorable Associations
Weak Associations
Strong Associations

Intention to buy:
A strong indicator of a companys brand perception is the extent to which consumers are willing and
interested in purchasing products of the company. Understanding the marketing funnel of a companys
brands is a clear indicator of consumers intent to buy a product. The marketing funnel represents the
percentage of people who are aware of said product, and further, the percentage of them who have
purchased a product and those are willing to repurchase it. The marketing funnel for Batas sub-brands
directed at women is shown below:

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Footin

Legend:

0
25

Green: Positive response,

Awareness

Red: Negative response

Prior Purchase

Funnel: Percentage of positive respondents

who have graduated to the next stage
0

Naturalizer

22
Awareness

Prior Purchase

62

42

Marie Claire

40

16.6

Awareness

40

100
10

10

Awareness

Will repurchase

Prior Purchase

20

NorthStar

Will repurchase

Prior Purchase

25

Hushpuppies

11

31
Awareness

66
6
Prior Purchase

6
Will repurchase

Consumer Buying Behaviour

In deciding purchase of footwear, consumers are engaged primarily in extended problem solving with some
influence of heuristics. There are also some moderating effects on consumer buying behaviour. At times,
consumers also indulge in variety seeking behaviour and at times in habitual buying.
Identification of need:
Before buying a footwear brand, consumers broadly identify their need and usage situation.
Need trigger:
The results of the survey illustrate that the need to buy new footwear is triggered due to one of the below
mentioned reasons. Consumers decide to purchase footwear for one of the following reasons (ordered in
decreasing order of importance):
a) To replace old or worn out footwear
b) During events/ occasions or festivals
c) Transitions (college to job etc.).
9|Page

On identification of a need/usage situation, they decide to buy casual/formal/designer/sports (each of which

represents a segment or category of shoes). And the criteria they choose for evaluation depend largely on
this choice of segment.
For ex: One of the respondents to the depth interview indicated that when it came to purchase of footwear
for casual wear and social settings, she gave importance to style and comfort. As a result, she would choose
brands like Catwalk and Metro over traditional brands. Similarly, another respondent answered that she
would give importance to durability and price when she purchased footwear for regular/formal use. She
might prefer brands such as Carlton and Hushpuppies. Similarly, when the respondent wanted to get a shade
of local touch in their footwear, the respondent preferred to buy from the unorganized sector. Based on the
online survey and depth interviews conducted; it was found that there were a number of attributes
considered when a footwear purchase decision is made (as represented in Fig 2). The importance given to
each of these attributes varied depending on the buying situation.
Information Search:
Once consumers identified their usage situation, they based their decisions largely on prior experience
(past purchases). They are also influenced by the opinions of significant others such as peers and opinion
leaders in their social circle. Consumers seem to be influenced to a lesser extent by advertisements. The
impact of a favourable or unfavourable experience weighs heavily on consumers minds and simplifies their
decision making. In the event of an unfavourable experience or when consumers are seeking a change from
the brand they are using, they employ two or three important criteria.
They search for this information from other consumers and find out about brands.
Criteria and Evaluation of criteria:
Consumers heavily employ the heuristic of elimination by aspects. They determine two or three important
criteria and assign a certain weight or importance to each attribute. On choosing an attribute, consumers
probabilistically choose a criterion and eliminate brands that fail to meet a minimum threshold. For ex:
Consumers have a high probability of choosing style or comfort as the primary criteria. At times, they also
choose price as a criteria. If consumers were to choose style as a criterion, there is a good chance that Bata is
not preferred as it is not perceived to be a stylish brand. However, this logic doesnt apply to Bata partners
such as North Star and Marie Claire, which are considered to be stylish brands.
At times, consumers also display variety seeking behaviour, and the probability of employing such
behaviour is heavily dependent on price. At higher prices, consumers are more likely to display a higher
level of involvement. At times, consumers also exhibit purchase on mere exposure to discounted or
attractive products, but that again is restricted to footwear that are priced low.
Decision:
Consumers decide on a product and go ahead with the purchase. Their purchase influences their and others
post purchase behaviour.
C. COMPETITION
Based on the data collected through the survey and our understanding of the women footwear industry, we
have segmented the market based on the following criteria:

Income level of consumers

Product type

Bata or its partners and its major competitors operating in each income segment is illustrated below:
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High Income
group

Boutique,
Naturalizer
Metro, Adidas, Nike,
Marie Claire,Catwalk,
HushPuppies,
Northstar

Upper middle
income segment
/Aspirers

Bata, Catwalk, Footin, Liberty

Middle income
segment
/Strivers

Unorganised Sector

Lower
income segment

Segmentation based on the Product type is as given below:

Segment
Casual Footwear

Products in this
segment
Sandals, Flats, flipflops

Designer Footwear

Bellies, wedges, Heels,

Bata, Marie Claire,

Northstar

Catwalk, Metro, Mochi

Sports Shoes

Running shoes, Sandals

Power

Luxury footwear

High Heels, Mid Heels,

Wedding wear
Sandals, Wedges

Naturalizer

Nike, Adidas, Puma,

Reebok
Gucci, DKNY, Boutique
firms
Catwalk, Carlton

Formal Shoes

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Bata/partner brand
Bata, Sandak, Sunshine,
Footin, Hush puppies

Bata, Hushpuppies

Competitors in the
segment
Liberty, Relaxo,
Catwalk, Metro

Based on the above we have identified the following key competitors and an analysis of their positioning
strategies, strengths and weaknesses is given below:
Major
Competitor
Liberty

Catwalk

Segment of
Positioning
Interest
Casual
Top 5 footwear
manufacturer,
fully functional
brands

Designer/
Casual/
Premium

Trend-setting,
Creativity, style

Strength

Metro

Gucci, DKNY,
Boutique brands

Designer/
Casual/
Premium

Quality,
Affordable luxury

Boutique

Sophistication,
exclusive

Full market coverage

All segments, price
ranges
Wide presence
throughout the country
Strong sub-brands
Style Quotient
Growing brand equity
due to awards
Partnership with
Reliance trends
Heavily marketed by
electronic retailers
Exclusive Stores in
major Indian cities
Focus on innovation
Affordability
Variety of shoes
Enormous brand value
Global presence

Weaknesses

Lacking in the style

factor
Notion that it is
out of touch

Supply chain is
fragmented,
Doesnt have many
exclusive
showrooms

Distribution is
restricted to
company owned
outlets, and hence
expansion is slow
Limited presence in
Indian market

Nike, Adidas
Catwalk

PRICE

Metro
Liberty
Bata
Northstar
Marie Claire
Naturalizer
Boutique brands

STYLE
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D. COLLABORATORS
Large Format stores
Retail outlets

Headquarters

Manufacturing
Zonal Divisons

Hushpuppies

Online Retail

Footin

Exclusive Channel

Shop in Shop stores

Non-exclusive
channel

Non-exclusive
online retail outlets

Non-exclusive
showrooms

Non-exclusive
Channel

Bata authorized
dealer
Non-exclusive
outlets

BATA ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

Bata India Limited (BIL) has its headquarters in Batanagar (Konnagar), West Bengal. The manufacturing
plants of BIL are situated at different locations across India in different states. Some of the manufacturing
units are Batanagar in West Bengal, Patna and Hathida in Bihar, Faridabad in Haryana, and Bangalore in
Karnataka and Hosur in Tamil Nadu.
BIL had 1,342 retail stores at the end of June 2012. Its wholesale division operates with a network of over
275 wholesale distributors and over 20,000 independent shoe dealers.
The company has plunged into online retailing of shoes to grab hold of its potential customers.
It has improved its distribution channel by implementing concepts like cash on delivery and multiple
order services. The company has made tie-up arrangements with various e-commerce online retailers like
Jabong, Snapdeal, India Times, Rediff, Junglee, etc.
Ways to Improve Bata Distribution Channel:
1. Strengthen brick and mortar distribution channel:
Given that a majority of the sales earned by Bata is attributed to its traditional distribution channel,
and the emergence of malls and multi-brand retail as pre-eminent modes of distribution and retail,
Bata can ignore this channel at its own peril. Bata has to consolidate its existing network and work
towards partnerships with big retail players like Reliance Trends. Some of the ways Bata can
achieve this are as follows:
a) Develop synergies in distribution with Retail brands: Bata should release its brands in multibrand retail outlets. It can also go for retailing with big malls in cities and come up with shop-inshop stores. In return, Bata should provide access to its extensive distribution and warehousing
facilities to the retail brands to reduce the cost pressure they face in the wake of rising inventory
costs.
b) Developing one of the retail partners as a preferred retailer.
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2. Develop distribution networks in eTailing:

Its a given that Flipkart, SnapDeal and other eCommerce companies are the future of retailing in
India. Bata has to exploit the trend towards eCommerce and develop healthy relationship with these
companies. Bata can incentivize its retailers and distributors by developing a profit sharing scheme
with these retailers based upon the total revenue they generate. For ex: It can fix slabs for revenue
generated by the retailers and based upon increase in sales it can increase the profit share. If a retailer
like Jabong generates a revenue of x lakh Rupees, it is given a 5% share of the profits that Bata
earns and if the revenue increases to 2x lakh Rupees, it could be provided an 8% share of profits.

E. CONTEXT/ CLIMATE
The environment in which any business operates can be subdivided into the following sub-environments:

ECONOMIC

SOCIOCULTURAL

BUSINESS

ENVIRONMENT

POLITICOLEGAL

TECHNOLOGICAL

The analysis (PEST analysis) of how each sub-environment affects women footwear segment of Bata is
given below:
1. Politico-legal Environment

With the opening of FDI in single-brand retail several global foreign players are foraying
in this segment. This is a cause of concern for the Bata.

The increase in indirect taxes increased the cost of producing goods in general and can
adversely affect Bata as a whole.

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Changes in the legal framework may or may not have an effect on the market. However
Bata has to take cognizance of the various changes occurring in the politicolegal
scenario, both domestic and international.

2. Economic Environment

The purchasing power of women has increased with more and more women joining the
workforce. As a result, the women footwear industry is expected to continue to its boom.

The advent of e-commerce and online retail sales has helped Bata to reach out to more
people.

The availability of low cost but skilled labour is a plus for Bata.

The organic raw materials like rubber, leather etc is easily available in India.

The increasing inflation is adversely affecting the revenue of Bata due to substantial
increase in the cost of the raw materials and labour.

Due to the presence of organized unions, any new technologies that can lead to layoffs are
opposed by the workers. This leads to use of obsolete technology which can further
increase costs.

3. Technological Environment

New technologies like the Air Bubble by Nike are being introduced every day. So, Bata
needs to keep itself abreast with the technological developments and implement the same
in their products.

Bata lags behind many global footwear corporations both in terms of technological
expertise and innovation techniques.

4. Socio-Cultural Environment

The presence of a population which is dominated by the youth means that the market
requires more youth oriented products. So, Bata needs to come up with more products
directed towards the youth.

The survey has highlighted that Bata is perceived to be an old, boring and unexciting
brand. So, for casual and comfort wear, youth prefers other brands. Bata needs to change
this perception to appeal to the modern, fashion conscious youth.

Shoes are no more just an apparel to cover your feet. They also provide other benefits
like, esteem, beauty, status etc. Bata would need to keep the other needs in mind while
making their products.

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References:
1. Retail consumer Report by PWC on 13-17 August-2012
2. ASSOCHAM Report on 15 Feb 2012: http://www.indiaretailing.com/News.aspx?Topic=1&Id=6390
3. http://www.statisticbrain.com/footwear-industry-statistics/
4. http://www.netmba.com/marketing/situation/
5. http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/bata-plans-to-rejig-productmix/article4781575.ece
6. http://www.bata.in/
7. www.libertyshoes.com
8. www.catwalk.co.in
9. www.gucci.com
10. www.metroshoes.in
11. http://www.dsij.in/productattachment/BrokerRecommendation/Bata_Buy_Fullerton_07September20
12%20.pdf
12. http://bata.in/cms_in_img/media-2012/Bata-Annual-Report-2012.pdf

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ANNEXURE 1
Age group of people surveyed
3%

18%

79%

18-25

25-35

Above 35

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ANNEXURE 2
Expectancy value model for customer 1 (Table 1):
Brand/Attributes Comfort Style Usage
type
Mochi
1
1
3

Durability Price
1

Material Brand Variety Expected

value
1
3
1
1.40

Bata (Marie
Claire only)
Catwalk
Woodland

4.17

3
4

5
3

4
2

4
3

5
3

4
5

4
5

5
4

4.22
3.72

Metro
Importance
weights

2
0.25

2
0.08

1
0.06

0.18

1
0.12

2
0.07

2
0.19

1.79

1
0.07

Expectancy value model for Customer 2 (Table 2):

Brand/Attributes Comfort Style Usage Durability Price
type
Mochi
3
4
5
4
4
Bata
5
1
3
5
Catwalk
4
5
4
3
Woodland
1
3
2
2
Metro
2
2
1
1
Importance
0.25
0.08 0.06
0.18
weights
Expectancy value model for customer 3 (Table 3):

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5
3
2
1
0.12

Material Brand Variety Expected

value
3
3
5
3.94
4
5
2
1
0.07

4
5
2
1
0.07

2
4
1
3
0.19

3.95
4.00
1.68
1.73

Brand/Attributes Comfort Style Usage Durability Price Material Brand Variety

type
Mochi
4
3
5
3
2
3
4
5
Bata
Catwalk
Woodland
Metro
Importance
weights

Expected
value
3.76

3.06

1
5
2
0.25

3
5
4
0.08

1
3
4
0.06

1
4
2
0.18

1
3
4
0.12

1
5
2
0.07

1
5
3
0.07

2
3
4
0.19

1.37
4.18
3.01

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ANNEXURE 3
Online Survey Questions - Ladies Footwear Market

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ANNEXURE 4
The following questions were asked to the customers during depth interviews:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

What are your needs related to footwear?

When do you buy new footwear?
What attributes you keep in mind while buying the shoe?
What is your most preferred footwear brand?
What do you buy eventually?
How do you choose on a particular brand?

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7. Do you prefer buying the same brand again and again or you love to try new things?
8. Do you use different brands for different usage situations?
9. How many pairs of footwear do you have?
10. What does high quality mean to you?
11. What is your preferred mode of buying is it online or retail?
12. Do you want good service? What are your expectations from warranty?
13. What is your opinion about Bata shoes?
14. What is the word that comes to your mind when you hear?
BataMarie ClaireHush PuppiesNorth star-

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