Shoe Maker to Diversify Products - The Standard

Published on 23rd August 2010

Bata Shoe Company has opened a new branch at Uchumi Hyper along Langata road in Nairobi. This brings to 97 the number of branches it operates in the country.

The Limuru-based shoemaker said it would make use of the retail chain’s clients to grow its income stream besides introducing more fashionable shoe designs targeting a new market segment.

"To keep up with the change in trends, we will use Uchumi’s network to introduce products for the middle-class market. This would go well with a shift from our traditional product range of school shoes, canvas, safari boots and slipper lines," said Bata Managing Director Nasir Rafiq.

Changing trends

He said trends in the market are changing fast prompting the Company to keep pace by rolling out new brands with the growing middle class being the target.

In recent months, the shoe firm has been busy growing its business by opening new stores at strategic locations, changing its layout and rollout of stylish shoes at competitive prices, notably for women. "We seek to increase branch count this year from 96 to 111," Rafiq said.

He said the firm will continue to distribute its flagship brands. Uchumi Supermarket Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ciano said they would continue looking for more partners interested in operating specialised shops.

Bata Counts On Fashion to grow cash - Daily Nation

Published 26th May 2010

Bata Shoe Company is betting on the roll out of more stores and introduction of fashionable shoe designs for the middle-class market to grow its income stream.

This is particularly so following new demand brought by optimism over the recovery of Kenya’s economy.

The Limuru-based shoe maker is in the midst of a delicate rebalancing act of trying to attract a sophisticated consumer through trendy products without losing its traditional product range of school shoes, canvas, safari boots and slipper lines.

Still sell

But while these brands still sell, newer and more fashion designs are also helping to grow its profits and revenues.

The brand evolution is being supported by a wide distribution channel from high-end stores to the corner shop as it seeks to increase its branch count this year from 96 to 111.

“Trends in the market place are changing very fast. We want to keep pace by rolling out new brands every 15 days with growing middle class our target,” said the chairman of Bata Shoe Company Mr Thomas Bata.

He was in the country last week on a business review of the African operation of the Switzerland headquartered firm.

“Our reach will also increase significantly over the next three years because we intend to cover the entire breadth of the market,” said Mr Bata.

In recent months, the shoe firm has been busy growing its business by opening new stores at strategic locations, changing its layout and rollout of stylish shoes at competitive prices, notably for women.

Get more

As women get more shoe hungry than men, Bata is focusing on them as a primary market with its flagship Marie Claire brand to keep at bay competition coming from Chinese imports.

It has also rolled out new men brands targeting Kenya’s growing middle class who are developing taste for trendy shoes egged on by proliferation of new media that has brought the Western fashion trends to the country’s door-step.

New demand

With the economy expected to grow at 4.5 per cent in 2010 up from 2.6 per cent last year, Bata shoe is positioning it self to tap the new demand brought home by the creation of more jobs and improvement of household incomes.

Where would Bata be without this cobbler? - The Standard

Published - 14th April 2009

The founder of the largest and most successful family-run business in the world, Tomas Bata first worked as a cobbler in Czechoslovakia and was lauded for his enterprising spirit and commitment to his workers.

From its beginning more than 100 years ago, the Bata Shoe Company is reputed to have sold more than 14 billion pairs of shoes-greater than the number of pairs of human feet that have walked the earth.

According to Life and Times Biography series of Canada, Bata started the company in a small town called Slin in former Czechoslovakia on August 24, 1894 with $320 (Sh25,600), which he had inherited from his mother.

His brother Jan Antonin Bata and sister Anna were partners in the firm then referred to as T&A. Bata Shoe Company.

Gained control

The company has sold more than 14 billion pairs of shoes since it was established in 1894.
"Though the organisation was newly established, the family had a long history of shoemaking, spanning eight generations and over three hundred years.

This heritage helped boost the popularity of the new firm. With the introduction of factory-style production and long distance retailing, Bata modernised the shoe-making industry and the company surged ahead in production and profits right from its nascent years," states the Wikipedia.

Eventually, Bata obtained sole control over the company in 1908 after his brother Jan died from tuberculosis. Information from various web sources indicate that World War I helped to create booming demand for military shoes, and the company quickly became one of the prime brands.

Bata also exhibited his business acumen, with initiatives aimed at producing low-cost shoes for the general public, whose purchasing power had been significantly reduced in the aftermath of the war.

He also set up factories and companies in other countries like Poland, Yugoslavia, India, the Netherlands, Denmark, UK and the United States.

The factories were self-sufficient and autonomous in their design, production and distribution strategies-a move Bata hoped would enable them cater to the local population.

This worked out well and by early 1930s, the Bata enterprise was the world’s leading footwear exporter.

Bata is widely regarded as a businessman with an acute sense of social consciousness. He is said to be one of the first pioneers of employee welfare and social advancement schemes. He was also credited with efforts to modernise his hometown, providing the people with employment and housing facilities.

These made him very popular in the town and he eventually became its mayor.

"We are granting you the profit share not because we feel a need to give money to the people just out of the goodness of the heart. No, we are aiming at other goals by this step.

By this measure we want to reach a further decrease of production costs. We want to reach a situation where shoes are cheaper and workers earn even more.

We think that our products are still too expensive and workers’ salaries too low," Bata once told employees at the shoe factory in Czechoslovakia.

Social consciousness

Bata died in a plane crash as a result of a broken rib, which pierced through his heart in 1932 near Zlin airport. He was trying to fly to Switzerland on a business trip under bad weather. There are conflicting accounts of what really took place after his demise, but some sources have claimed that the family of his brother, Jan briefly engaged his only son Thomas J. Bata in a tussle for the company.

In 1947 Thomas J. Bata and his mother Marie, as the heirs of Bata started legal proceedings to confirm their ownership rights. The legal proceedings, which continued until 1962, resulted in decisions in favour of the heirs.

During the same year, Jan’s family waived any claims to the Bata companies.

In a scholarly study of Tomas Bata as a leader and business innovator, Dr Myron Tribus states: "The record shows that Bata did indeed precede modern ‘quality management’ practices by at least half a century.

If we look only at that side of the man, we must conclude that he was the first to use quality as a way to lower cost at the same time as he created customer delight."

Bata is said to be the first business leader to invent what is today referred to as Bata price. The method gives a price ended almost always by number nine.

Bata Kenya spruces up popular Safari Boot brand to boost sales  - Business Daily

Published : July 8th 2009

Three weeks ago, Bata released 300 fresh pairs of Hair On, a variant of the Safari Boot, into the market to test the waters.

The original version of the loose-fitting indigenous shoe with a rough finish that exudes the promise to endure a rough terrain was designed in 1966.

Today, the boot continues to command a formidable market, both in Kenya and abroad.

Originally designed for an emerging tourist market, it went on to dominate that segment and then to cross over in its appeal and to capture part of the local shoe market.

The Safari Boot, whose Swahili names literally suggests a shoe on an escapade, has had an adventurous life.

It has been to the top of Mount Kenya and across many a valley.

Kenyan tour guides on safari and Kenyan tourism officials on international marketing campaigns will almost always have a pair of Safari Boots close by.

Kenyan icon
Whether dominating the view on an overhang billboard or perched patiently on a shelf waiting for a suitor, Bata’s Safari Boot is an undisputed Kenyan icon. Wherever it travels, it easily conjures up the image of Kenya.

To leverage its success, Bata brands the Safari Boot as the shoe that says you have been to Africa.

“This is one of the brands that have kept Bata Kenya afloat through the years,” says Agnes Murila Bata’s Merchandising Manager.

“Anyone walking into any Bata Kenya outlet will easily notice the shoe.”