With an eye on pushing up its turnover four times in the next five years, Bata India is foraying into rural markets. The company, which has so far restricted itself mostly to catering to the metros and big cities, will aggressively pursue its plans for tier II & III towns.
The company also introduced its new non-executive chairman, Uday Khanna, now a director, to shareholders here on Tuesday. Khanna, former CEO of Lafarge India, will take over from PM Sinha in July.
While the company will emphasise on its sales from more than 1,200 stores in big towns and cities, the rural market will give it a multiplier effect, the company top brass said. ?We intend to grow faster than ever before..expanding retail outlets, closing down unviable stores, and focusing on tier II and tier III cities,? Sinha, Bata India?s outgoing chairman, said.
Bata will be covering another 140 places where it is not present. While most of the Bata stores are company-owned, it will use distributor model in tier II and III towns and wholesaler system to get into the interior markets.
The company, which caters to the metro market through upmarket brands like Hush Puppies and Marie Claire, is developing sub-brands aimed at the rural population.
