The shoe brand which once created a monopoly in the footwear industry has a long history. Back in our school days, everybody at least bought Bata shoes. It was the only brand which was available and known for durability and affordability. Thomas Bata was born into a middle-class family, where his family was into shoe making.
In those days, only the rich used to wear shoes, and it was a royal gesture back then. Thomas Bata always saw poor people without footwear on the streets. He wanted to make shoes which were affordable and durable for the entire Europe.
Initially, they used to make shoes with hands and traditional patterns. It was time-consuming, but people started admiring their work. It started with a small idea, but eventually they had a huge loyal customer base. Thomas bata knew it, to expand and reduce costs, he went to the USA and brought machines to produce shoes. which quickly produce shoes with quality and at a lower production price. This became a game changer for Bata and the sales increased across Europe. The World War began, the situation was critical and Bata unexpectedly received a call saying the World War had begun. We need affordable and durable shoes for soldiers. This one call further gave big contact for Bata, which created the brand name and growth.
Every story has few bad times, when Thomas Bata lost his life due to a sudden air crash. It was one of the shocking incidents for Bata. All the responsibilities shifted towards his younger brother and son. Which further expanded the business across the entire world.
In India, the Bata brand is an emotion for all of us. We have used it from our school to college and even office-going officers had great opinions on the Bata brand. It was injected into our minds that it was only a durable brand. It occupies 15% of the market share of the shoe industry in the world. That was the level of influence it had on the public. The journey was never easy, and it took a lot of time and strategies.
* The marketing strategies Bata used in India were unique. They majorly focused on health and ran major campaigns on footwear. Explained the side effects and dangers of not wearing footwear.
* They reached hyper-local communities by opening not only in urban areas, but opening retail in tier 2 and tier 3 towns.
* Instead of distribution, they targeted direct customers with quality products, removing all the barriers.
* Focusing on all age groups, from school kids, women, and eventually new fashion themes and funky-based shoes.
Today they have 30,000 employees and 5000 stores and a presence in 70 countries with a net worth of 18,000 crore.
