EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Bata is a footwear brand in the country with a presence in almost 400 cities. The brand offers
a range of stylish comfortable and trendy footwear at affordable prices ensuring that there is
something for everyone in the store.

This project report examines the distribution channels of Bata India ltd. It also gives a
detailed representation of the supply chain management of Bata India ltd. The project report
includes the distribution channel structure of Bata India ltd. It also throws light on the product
form and logistics of Bata India ltd. The major key points on which the report focuses are:

1) Distribution channel structure of Bata

2) Structure of channel partners

3) Physical distribution, management

4) Information flow

The above points have been further analysed and give information on the channel members of
Bata, how is the product marketed and how is the channel managed. It talks about the channel
conflicts that occur and the pricing strategies. The report also talks about other details of the
supply chain management like the physical distribution management which includes who is
responsible for designing and setting up the channel and various costs involved like the
logistics cost and the distribution costs and what are the payment terms and debtors control
and the management of warehouses if any.

The project report also contains the critical analysis such as the supply management, demand
management and the speed of processes for complaints regarding supplies.

1
 CONTENTS
Topic Page No.

Introduction 4
1. Distribution Channel 5
1.1 Structure 5
1.2 Product Form 5
1.3 Logistics 6

2. Channel Partners 6
2.1 Product Marketing 6
2.2 Channel Participants 6
2.3 Channel Structure 7
2.4 Channel Management 7
2.5 Channel Conflict 7
2.6 Pricing Strategies 7

3. Physical Distribution Management 8

3.1 Distribution Management 8
3.2 Logistics 8
3.3 Warehouse 8
3.4 Payment Detail 8

4. Communication/ Information flow 9

4.1 Inventory Data 9
4.2 Sales Data 9
5. Supply Management 10
5.1 Speed of processes for complaints regarding supplies 10

CONCLUSION 11

2
 INTRODUCTION
ABOUT BATA:
Bata India is a footwear manufacturing company incorporated in 1931.The Company was
earlier known as Bata shoe Company which later in 1973 changed the name to BATA
INDIA.

The company manufactures footwear for men, women and children. The company
manufactures shoes of various quality such as leather, rubber, canvas and PVC shoes.

Bata Group has worldwide presence across 5 continents, serving 1 million customers
per day and operating 4,600 retails stores globally.

Prior to incorporation of Bata footwear were manufactured by handicrafts and small

enterprise sectors. The company started with its small operation unit at Konnagar (near
Calcutta) in 1932.

Currently it has five factories located at Batanagar (west Bengal), Bataganj (Bihar),
Faridabad (Haryana), Peenya (Karnataka) and Hosur (Tamil nadu).

VISION:

Grow as dynamic, innovative and market driven manufacturer and distributor, with
footwear industry while maintaining a commitment to the country, culture, and
environment in which they cooperate.

MISSION:

To be successful as the most dynamic, flexible and market responsive organization, with
footwear as its core business

3
 Distribution Channel
Organisational Structure:

General Manager

AREA SALES MG

Manager
Manager Sales
Operations Manager Finance

SALES EXECUTIVES

Product line
Deals in various products which includes

Formal Shoes
Causal shoes
Slippers

But Our Main Concern is formal shoes. It has huge product line which includes products for
middle age customer.

4
Logistics
If we talk about logistics then we can say we are doing our core business and this work is
given to third party, we have done contracts with other companies who have done this
business as their core job.

CHANNEL PARTNERS
There are no such channel partners of BATA, as all the stores are maintained by the company
itself.

But if talk about the stores of BATA then there are 300 stores of FLAGSHIP that covers
premium segment, and 660 stores of FAMILY that contains all the segments of BATA

To keep a check on these stores 25 members are employed on this work 9 members keep an
eye on flagship and 16 members keep an eye on family products.

PRODUCT MARKETING
BATA has not taken care of all the marketing strategy of their product dealers dont have do
much on marketing part all is done by BATA himself. BATA promote their product via
advertising. There are different media through which BATA advertise their product they are:

T.V. ADVERTISEMENT
NEWSPAPERS
MAGAZINES

All this kind of promotion techniques is hold by the BATA Hoardings :

BANNERS
AMPHLETS DISTRIBUTION

So the product is marketed by both manufacturer and the dealers. But the major difference is
that the manufacturer markets the product in huge scale and dealers in a very small scale.

CHANNEL PARTICIPANTS
A channel participant in BATA is only the distributors. There is one level channel distribution
which moves from manufacturer to dealer then to end customers. BATA selects there
distributors under some terms and condition like:

Location
Space

5
CHANNEL STRUCTURE:

MANUFACTURER

DISTRIBUTION CENTRE

RETAIL STORES

This is the simple structure followed by the BATA

CHANNEL MANAGEMENT
In the channel management main thing is the channel co-ordination so the BATA co-ordinate
with their distributors, by understanding and resolving their problem in the channel. In
general BATA deliver the product on time, so that the dealer doesnt have much problem with
their customer and it also defines the good relation between the manufacturer and the dealers.
Due to this the dealers are also motivated to sell the product efficiently to the customer.

CHANNEL CONFLICT
There is no such conflict between the BATA and the dealers, because all roles and
responsibility is predefined by the BATA. The only problem which occured few time is the
delivery process on time which is easily resolved by the company.

PRICING STRATEGIES
Pricing of the products and the dealers commission is predefined by the company, dealers
doesnt have to do much on the pricing part of the vehicles. All the discounts and offer is pre
defined by BATA, and if dealers want to give some discount to their customer then there is
not concern of the company that dealer have to bear that.

6
PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT:
There is no such physical distribution management maintained by the BATA as they have the
simple process of:

MANUFACTURER

DISTRIBUTOR CENTRE

RETAILERS

Every delivery is done by the company as they have hired the third party for this work and
then when the product reaches to the retailer sale take place.

LOGISTICS OF BATA:
As we have discussed earlier also that they have the contract with the third party logistics
company they have their contract on annual basis and they are liable to make delivery on time
and are responsible for all dealing related to transportation and delivery.

Important data is that there transportation cost is 3.5% of the turnover.

WAREHOUSING OF BATA
All the warehouses are maintained by the company itself; they dont hire any on the building
for their warehouse. The company operates a number of warehouses across the country. It has
regional warehouses in all over the India. Company has ware house management department
for all the warehouses. They keep inventory for next 13 weeks.

PAYMENT DETAILS
As all the payment details are online and on delivery both bases but if talk about the payment
period then it is 90 days max not more than that.

7
COMMUNICATION/INFORMATION FLOW

1ST information flows from:

DISTRIBUTION
MANUFACTURER CUSTOMERS
CENTRE

And then

CUSTOMERS DISTRIBUTION MANUFACTURER

CENTRE

INVENTORY DATA
Inventory data is managed by both the manufacturer and the dealer

Dealers of BATA maintain their inventory through software which is provided by the BATA
and that software is directly connected to the server of the BATA so that the company can
trace what actually the dealer is doing. It also shows to the company that which product is
excess and which product is short to the dealers.

SALES DATA
Sales data is maintained by the dealer through software which is provided by the company.
Any product is sale the entry of that product is done in the software. This sales data contains
all the information about the customer and the dealer, information like:

NAME, ADDRESS & TELEPHONE NUMBER OF THE CUSTOMER

PRICE
PRODUCT CODE
SALES PERSON NAME
DEALER NAME
AND OTHER INFORMATION

Supply Management :
8
Order Fulfilling Time

As soon the order is placed then the company takes the time period of 7 10 days to make
the delivery

Minimum Order Quantity

It depends on the retailers they have to work according to the company but they can go on
their way also but it affects the profitability of the retailers.

Period of Shortage

There is never shortage of products in the shop as demand is always equal to supply.

Period of Excess

Mainly every product is kept with more pieces but if there is excess then it is sold out through
sale.

Speed of Processes for Complaints Regarding Supplies:

As we have discussed with the dealer, the dealer said that there is no as such complaints
regarding supplies from the company side.

The main problem which we face in supply can be due to:

WEATHER CONDITIONS

OTHER FACTORS LIKE MANUFACTURING PROBLEM

TRANSPORT STRIKES

CONCLUSION:

9
Bata India is a family shoe store which manufactures shoes for Men, Women and children. It
has a huge product line catering the needs of middle income customers. The company itself
manages its stores minus any channel partner. Bata has used various promotional media to
reach out to the customers. Distributor is the only channel participant in Bata that too one
level distribution which moved from manufacturer to dealer and then to the final customers.

Delivering product on time is what Bata has always considered important which has further
strengthened their relationship with dealers. All the discounts, offerings and dealers
commission is predetermined by Bata. The third party logistics are responsible for delivering
products on time to various retailers. Inventory data is managed by both manufacturer and
dealer through a software which is connected to the server of Bata. So, the supply chain
management of Bata is simple which helps in delivering goods on time thus making happy to
dealers. A company can always make it big when things are managed with a complete
surveillance in every process which has proven in case of Bata.

Reference
www.bata.in

Interviewed Person

Mr. Shumir Oliver Abraham (Distribution Manager)

Mobile No.- 9871092925

Address- Bata India Limited, Bata House, 418/02, Sector- 17, Gurgaon

E-mail: oliver.abraham@bata.co.in

10