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Bata India Ltd hopes to make its stores available at every city’s corner in the next five years. Currently, the brand is present in about 500 cities of India. It runs 1450 company-owned and 40 franchise units in the country.
On his company’s plans for the next five years, Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Group Managing Director, South Asia, tells Franchise India, “Five years down the line, I would like Bata India to have the best team in South Asia at manufacturing, retail and store level. We are working towards building the best customer service team in the industry. From a product perspective, we should be achieving a product enhancement in the outdoor category alongside ballerina, comfort and sportswear category. I would also like to see Bata Stores to be available at every city’s corner in the next five years for providing our customers convenience at their doorstep.”
The footwear company is buoyant on expanding via the franchise route. “With a diverse reach of more than 1400 stores across the country, it becomes essential to have a few franchise stores to reach out to places where it may be difficult for us to manage remotely. The franchise model gives us the comfort of somebody else managing and taking ownership and responsibility of the store on the brand’s behalf. And this is where the franchise model fits perfectly for us as it helps us to penetrate deeper in the market and further expand our business via store openings not only in the metros but also in the tier-II and III cities.”
