Best Foot Forward

The proverbial adage, "Give a girl the right pair of shoes and she can conquer the world", holds true for classic Bata who has always been surprising us with it's new discoveries; the recent one being the new collection of chic and stylish ladies footwear by Marie Claire, for the new crop of confident women launched in a glittering fashion event at New Delhi where Miss Universe, Ms. Ximena Navarrette and Ms Sanjana Jon, international fashion designer and eminent social worker were also present. In a chat with our correspondent, Aadeetya, Marcelo Villigran, MD, Bata India, bares all…

Aadeetya Sriram(AS): Tell us something about you product, Marie Claire?

Marcelo Villagran(MV): Marie Claire is a brand born in France and belongs to the Bata Collection.

AS: Where exactly do you want to position your brand Marie Claire?

MV: Marie Claire is trendy, not at all aggressive, so the market we attract is more on the middle and high end of the consumers who are willing to shell out more to make a statement.

AS: What is the specialty of the range of collection that is on display?

MV: Marie Claire is a trendy collection, and following major trends from all over the world, we took the direction which is not in tune with the modern-day trend but more of a conservative trend which is very commercial, not aggressive and available at very affordable prices.

AS: Other than Marie Claire, what are your other products?

MV: Other than Marie Claire, we already have Weinbrenner, these are heavy outdoor casual footwear for people who have a liking for the adventurous experience, and basically will be preferred by the ones who live their life out of the ordinary. We also have North Star, a brand which was there in India earlier and now we have them back in the country; Suitable for a  casual sporty look that will compliment the jeans-wearing genre.

AS: What sort of plans do you have in terms of bringing up more stores in the future?

MV: Within the next 4 years, we plan to have 70 Bata stores and 30 Hush Puppies stores. We also plan to have our stores in 35 big malls across the countries spread over 1.45 million sq.ft of area, and these stores will be beautified in every sense, so the investment is expected to be around, let’s say, Rs 6 billion.

AS: What are the future expansion plans for Bata, India? What sort of growth have you attained for the year?

MV: We only have one plan, that is to expand our retail stores.  Also, we will add other chain of retail stores, which is mainly focusing men’s and ladies footwear. Bata store is a family footwear store where you find different range for kids, father, mother, sports basically for everyone, but the other chain which we will start in the 2^nd half of the year will focus only on the men and women trends. In terms of growth, we close the year at 44% increase in profits, and the revenues come to about Rs12, 000 million, but the exact figure will be published soon.

AS: Do you have any sort of franchise?

 MV: No, we do not have any franchise dealings. At the moment we are functioning with our own retail stores. In the near future we might consider for the benefit of the brand in the country.