Bata ties up with Malini Ramani, focuses on e-retailing

Footwear retailer Bata India has for the first time tied up with

a fashion designer to launch a special designer footwear collection at select stores in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. The company has tied up with Malini Ramani for the endeavour and plans to rope in more designers in future to offer exclusive designs.

As a part of the plan, the company is looking forward to create a niche in the designer shoe market by associating with designers. The new elegant and feminine footwear line is priced from Rs 1,999 onwards. It is targeted at the modern woman following an active lifestyle. The company retails through 1,250 Bata shoe stores located in over 500 cities across India.

The footwear major also has plans to perk up its presence through the e-platform, which is emerging as the next big retailing avenue. The company, now sells nearly 1,000 pairs a week, through its 10-month-old online format, and is aiming to triple sales and sell 3,000 pairs per week within a year.

Bata India, currently, is one of the few companies amongst consumer goods majors to have its own online platform selling its licensed products that include brands such as Hush Puppies, Oxford Street, Reebok, Scholls and Marie Claire — for kids, men and women. The company has also decided to form tie-ups with other known e-shopping websites like myntra.com, yebhi.com and bestylish.com, who have been successful in making the e-commerce platform work in their favour achieving over 100 per cent growth in 2011. Bata would decide upon launching new brands and tie-ups, once the policy prescription on multi-brand retail is cleared.

Currently, the company has entered into tie-ups with two e-commerce sites — ebay.com and rediff.com — for sale of shoes. In 2010, Bata registered a gross turnover of Rs 1,277.08 crores.