Footwear maker Bata India said consumers have either curbed spending at the lower end or the pace of upgradation has dwindled in the economy segment, triggering the company to bring more affordable products even as premiumisation trend continues.
Gunjan Shah, MD and CEO, Bata India Limited said consumer in the lower price segment have got disproportionately impacted by inflation over the years, especially in the last three years post COVID.
“One of the things that we can do is to make sure that we are able to get affordability across the consumers, so getting the right price point to consumers which are offering them the right value is the kind of areas that can help trigger consumer at lower price point,“ Shah said.
Bata has tied up with quick commerce company Zepto to boost sales in lower priced segment.
“Quick commerce is the buzzword and we have seen how quickly that segment has grown, especially in FMCG category. But they are also expanding their mandate to get into other fashion and lifestyle categories. We have been in discussion with all the three major players that we have in India and we are currently are live in few of the dark stores in Delhi- NCR with Zepto,” Shah said.
ET had earlier reported about Bata’s plan to board quick commerce companies to boost sales that have been flattish for the last few quarters amid the challenging environment.
“It will take few more weeks for them to have stock availability across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore. These are the three markets that we have aligned with them,” Shah said.
The company already offers 72-hour delivery for items that are not available at the store.
“It’s just an experiment that we are doing. They are also not committing on any numbers and we are also not expecting any numbers from them. As a brand, we really want our products to be available to customers at every touch point. That’s our objective. And Q-commerce is where the customer currently is buying,” Shah said.
Despite the focus towards Quick Commerce and online, Bata will continue to expand offline store.
“The consumers are appreciating both. There’s a role that the online channel plays, but then there’s a role that the offline channel plays, and especially we have seen that post COVID offline world has bounced back with a vengeance. So that expansion will continue. A lot of our expansion will be into the tier 3 and downwards, and that will be driven through the franchise model,“ Shah said.
Amid the change in the preference of the consumer, the company is trying to target new age consumers through athleisure products and social media marketing.
“Overall consumption in India has been a little sluggish, especially the last few quarters. It’s been the lower middle price points that have been facing the maximum amount of stress. We will want to also see the lower price point consumers also bounce back,” Shah said.
Shah said the company was expecting a much better growth numbers in July-September quarter and hope the festive push in the October-December quarter will push the sale further.
“We are hopeful, that the festive and the wedding vocations, combined together should give us this lift that is being required from a consumption momentum perspective, which has been sluggish for the last few quarters,” said Shah.
