Way Finders Brands to manage Bata’s wholesale and B2B biz

Bata India is focusing on reviving its business model amid stiff competition from home-grown footwear labels, new global entrants and ecommerce. As part of its evolving marketing strategy, the company to strengthen its wholesale and business-to-business (B2B) segment has formed a new wholly-owned subsidiary - Way Finders Brands.

Way Finders Brands, incorporated on December 26, 2014, will trade in footwear, apparel and accessories like caps, socks and belts in wholesale and B2B segment, states the latest annual report of Way Finders Brands. The May 2015 report mentions that the subsidiary was in the process picking relevant vendors, customers and e-commerce service providers for the same.

As per Bata annual report, the urban wholesale division of Bata India consists of 11 depots across the country that sell brands like Remo, Batatech, Macho, Comfortina, Kool Kids, Sandak and Batalite. The vertical sells Bata products through 340 distributors and 45,000 independent footwear dealers.

On the other hand, the company’s renewed marketing strategy includes opening bigger stores in quality retail spaces like malls and high-streets as well as ecommerce, where it plans to launch web-only exclusive products.