In our previous article, we learned about the marketing strategy of Levi’s, one of the popular brands in jeanswear.
In this article, we will learn about the marketing strategy of Bata India, the largest footwear retailer, and manufacturer in India. It is a subsidiary of the international brand Bata shoe organization, yes you heard it right Bata is an international brand.
The crucial element that helped them to go international is digital marketing. If you are interested in learning about new-age digital marketing, you can check our IIDE’s Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101 by our CEO and Founder, Karan Shah.
This blog will fully cover Bata India’s marketing strategy, STP, marketing campaign, social media marketing, and SEO strategies. So before we delve in let’s start by giving you a brief overview of the company.
About Bata India
The largest footwear brand in India – Bata was founded by Tomas Bata on 24 August 1894 in the Moravian town of Zlin, Austria-Hungary (today in the Czech Republic). His brother Antonin and his sister Anna, whose family had been cobblers for generations. Initially, the company employed 10 full-time employees. After some time Tomas started having financial problems so he started to overcome these setbacks, he decided to sew shoes from canvas instead of leather.
The foundation stone for Bata India’s first building was laid in January 1934. The whole facility was increased in size in the years that followed. Batanagar is the name given to this township. It was also the first production plant in the Indian shoe business to be certified according to ISO: 9001.
The company was incorporated as Bata shoe company private limited in 1931, they initially set up a small operation in Konnagar close to Calcutta in 1932. Since then Bata has come a long way, today it sells over 17 million pairs of shoes in more than 82 countries around the world with the help of its 30,000 dealers’ strong retail distribution network. Its production facilities in 18 countries and 1375 stores in India alone give it an edge over other footwear companies.
| CEO | Gunjan Shah |
|---|---|
| CMO | Anand Narang |
| Area Served | Worldwide |
| Industry | Shoemaking |
| Market Share/ Revenue | It commands around 35% of the market share in India. With a total net worth of 1,893.92 Crores. |
| Vision | To grow as a dynamic, innovative, and market-driven domestic manufacturer and distributor, with footwear as their core business, while maintaining a commitment to the country, culture, and environment in which we operate. |
| Tagline | Must have shoes. Everyday comfort. |
Marketing Strategy Of Bata India
Bata’s adaptation strategy is close to none despite being an international brand it provides Indians with affordable footwear with keeping the local taste in mind and that is what helped it in becoming the leading brand in terms of sales revenue in the footwear industry.
Let’s start analyzing the marketing strategy of Bata India.
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP) Analysis
Segmentation
Bata has divided its customer base into different segments based on the following variables – geographics, demographics, and psychographics.
Targeting
Bata employs a targeted marketing strategy that is differentiated. With its many sorts of sectors, offerings, and services, Bata Shoe Company has covered the whole shoe market. Bata is ready to meet any footwear need through its wide range of footwear.
If upper-class, high-income individuals desire a luxurious shoe, Bata can meet their needs. If a lower-class, low-income person only needs a shoe to cover their feet, Bata provides a solution for them as well.
Positioning
Bata is positioned as an affordable superior quality, soft, attractive, and fashionable brand.
Marketing Campaigns
Here are the three most successful campaigns of Bata India.
‘9 to 9’ campaign:-
In Bata’s 9 to 9 campaigns TVC. It shows Kriti Sanon, the face of Bata’s women’s range solving her friend’s problem of not being able to find stylish and comfortable footwear by surprising her with Bata’s latest 9 to 9 range of footwear. The film’s purpose was to let working women know about Bata’s new comfortable and surprisingly stylish footwear for women. And the campaign does fulfil its objective.
Relaxed workwear:-
Bata has launched a campaign featuring Kartik Aryan promoting its new relaxed workwear collection. In its TVC campaign, Kartik Aryan surprises his friend who needed a replacement for his black formal shoes with Bata’s new relaxed workwear. The TVC aimed to target the working population who were going back to the office from home after the pandemic and needed something relaxed but formal for work.
Unlimited Sneakers at Bata:-
The “unlimited sneakers at Bata” campaign by the footwear company aims at letting the audience know about its 300+ styles of sneakers by Bata’s 9 brands. The digital film portrays people wearing Bata sneakers at various events in their lives. From the fashionable North Star shoes for college to the Power sneakers for workouts, Hush Puppies sneakers for workplace meetings, and Bata Red Label sneakers for date evenings, Bata has a sneaker for every occasion.
Social Media Marketing
On social media, Bata is in fierce competition with other companies in its sector. Bata has a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc in addition to its website.
Facebook:- Bata has 8.2 million likes on Facebook.
Instagram:- Bata has 164k followers on Instagram.
LinkedIn:- Bata has 64.1k followers on LinkedIn.
Twitter:- Bata has 14.3k followers on Twitter.
Bata’s most-followed social media account is Facebook with 8.2 million followers. But they are equally active on all four social media platforms mentioned above. They also have a youtube channel and a Pinterest page where they have put up all their ads. All of their posts either information about something new happening with the brand or promote a single uniform message i.e. comfort to perfection, formals to casual, modern to premium, Bata has a range of footwear for your every/any style.
SEO Strategies
SEO strategy is “The thing” when it comes to bringing in organic traffic to your site. And Bata does well in it since it has 82,000 organic keywords. And its site also has monthly organic traffic of 3,20,000 visitors. Which is way more than any of its competitors and shows how much importance Bata gives to its SEO strategy.
Influencer Marketing
Let’s have a look at Bata’s new influencer marketing strategy of Bata India which is based on changing the brand image.
Recently Bata has associated its brand with many young Bollywood stars such as Kartik Aryan and Kriti Sanon both of them have appeared on various TVCs of Bata promoting its new 9 to 9 and relaxed workwear collections, all in a bid to appeal to younger shoppers and position itself as a fashion-forward brand.
In February 2022 Disha Patani was signed as brand ambassador for Bata. The footwear brand said Patani will be seen promoting several well-known labels under the Bata banner.
E-commerce Strategies
Bata has realized the importance of e-commerce platforms to reach out to as many customers as it can.
“Now we are using all three mediums – Bata retail stores, Bata franchise stores, and multi-brand outlets. And we will also be using e-commerce channels, whether through Bata in or other E-commerce platforms” said former Bata India CEO Sandeep Kataria.
Brand’s official site Bata. It is the online selling portal of Bata India. It has all the Bata products available on it and provides free shipping on all orders from the site. It has separate sections for women, men, kids, sales, sneakers, and new products. This way it helps them reach untapped markets and overcome geographical boundaries too and expand their presence.
Mobile Apps
Bata Me is a mobile app by Bata available on the play store it is an E-commerce app and an information portal for Bata employees, customers, and other businesses who like to read stories and know what are new happenings about the brand.
But this app is not at all popular among its target audience because of its poor performance and bugs. If you want proof just have a look at the review section of their app. From payment errors to products not being delivered, Bata seriously needs to fix all the errors in its mobile application.
So when it comes to mobile apps Bata is way behind its competitors like Nike and puma. And with such things, Bata is not doing justice with its brand name.
Content Marketing Strategies
When it comes to the content marketing strategy of Bata. It does give attention to this part of marketing too. They have a newsletter, press releases section on the website, social media handles, and a youtube channel.
On their youtube channel & social media handles, they post content where they collaborate with the designers of various Bata products and portray them by explaining the Nitty-gritty of the footwear designs.
A bulk of their social media posts are just about their latest collection, shoe trends & topical posts utilizing trending and relatable topics.
Bata India’s website doesn’t have a blog section but they do have newspaper articles and blogs talking about its marketing strategy and communicating the brand’s message and its approach going forward. This way Bata also generates a lot of backlinks for its website too.
This ends our elaborative marketing strategy of Bata India. Let us conclude our learning below from the marketing strategy of Bata India.
What’s Unique in Bata India Marketing?
Today’s marketing strategy of Bata is focused on changing its brand image from reliable school shoes to an affordable yet fashion-forward brand. Their “surprisingly Bata” & unlimited sneakers at Bata campaign have helped them achieve the brand image makeover and what makes Bata unique is that they have something to offer to every section of society. From kids to older generations, Bata has it all.
Bata uses digital marketing to the fullest; they run ad campaigns on all major social media platforms. By the time we are writing this blog Bata has multiple ad campaigns active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, linked, etc, and google ads too.
Brands like Bata put great emphasis on digital marketing and they need skilled digital marketers. With the increasing importance of digital marketing, learning about the growing field is an important step.
If you are someone interested in this field then you can check out IIDE’s 4 Month Digital Marketing Course to learn more.
We hope this blog on the marketing strategy of Bata India has given you a good insight into the company’s marketing strategies.
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