BATA: Product Differentiation

FT13431

My last week’s visit to the nearest Bata store was fruitful in understanding some of the concepts that I came across in the marketing class. The showroom is located near the Velachery main bus terminus and thus it’s very visible so that a lot of customers enter the store (though they may not buy).

At the entry point, one is welcomed by the ‘NewArrival’ section. That has products from different categories such as ladies hand bag, sports shoes, back packs etc. The sales person says that every 2 weeks new items are displayed in the section so that frequent visitors get interested to buy when they see new models and designs.

Bata’s Sub-brands:

There are various sub-brands under the gent’s formal shoes category. ‘Mocassino’ is mostly preferred by people above 50 years and the starting price is Rs.1200 and is made of pure leather.

‘Hush puppies’ brand is considered luxurious with a starting price of Rs.2800. This is also made of pure leather.

The ‘Comfit’ brand comes with extra cushioning. Both formal and semi-formal wear are available and preferred by all age groups.  It is made of pure leather with a starting price of Rs.2000.

The ‘Ambassador’ brand of formal shoes is made of pure leather with a starting price of Rs.2500.

‘Power’ is a sports wear brand. There are shoes as well as floaters. An observation that made me inquisitive was the presence of ‘Reebok’ shoes in the shelf. The sales person explained to me that they are being kept in the store for the customers to perceive the competitive pricing and design of ‘Power’ products. For instance, ‘light weight’ shoes in ‘Power’ cost Rs.1300 whereas they cost above Rs.2000 in ‘Reebok’.

The other casual wear brands are ‘North-star’, ‘Weinbrenner’, that has shoes made of fur leather and office bags.

‘Bubble Gummers’ is the brand of kids’ casual wear shoes and bags.

‘Marie-Claire’ is the ladies hand bag brand that has bags from Rs.600.

The Store Layout

The layout of the shop is different for different seasons. In summer, when there is more demand for sports shoes and shoes made of leather, canvas, leather shoes are displayed in the frontal side of the shop. Similarly, during rainy season plastic and moulded shoes sell more and hence they are displayed in the frontal side of the store.

During school reopening season (May, June) school shoes are displayed in the front. During Christmas, leather shoes have high demand and hence get the front display portion.

The showroom layout is prepared by Bata’s ‘Marketing team’taking past sales data into account and then communicated to the showroom. The Regional Manager also visits the showroom and suggests any correction in the layout that may be required.

Product Line Extension

In the past two years, Bata has launched new product categories such as ladies hand bag and formal leather belts. The ladies hand bag with the brand name ‘Marie Claire’ has received good response. The bag that was initially sold for price starting from Rs.700 is now available for price of up to Rs.2000.

Bata also regularly gets feedback from its customers the following things:

1)      Store is easy to locate

2)      Ambience and interiors comfortable

3)      Found the required size

4)      Product range is trendy

5)      Satisfied with the price

6)      Staff was helpful, courteous and understanding

The customer will either have to ‘Agree’, ‘somewhat agree’ or ‘Disagree’ for the above statements.

A disturbing trend that I observed in Bata was that the permanent ‘sales force’ is being replaced by contracted sales personnel (who work on temporary assignments). As a result, establishing personal relationships with the frequently visiting customers has become difficult.

Though, Bata has been doing well on ‘Product differentiation’ especially in terms of durability, style etc. the company at the moment seems to lose out on ‘Personnel differentiation’ and 'Market orientation'. Bata will have to sit back and fine-tune it's strategy with respect to 'Market orientation'.