Customers' Perception of Discounts and Brands at Footwear Stores

A STUDY OF CUSTOMERS’ PERCEPTION OF DISCOUNTS AND BRANDS AT FOOTWEAR STORES

BATA INDIA LIMITED

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The modern day retail industry is often gauged by its per-day revenue. Retail sectors like footwear and apparel almost always get assessed by their per-day sales. Any disturbance in regular life has a profound effect on these industries

In the recent past, there were a lot of curfews and bandhs in Andhra Pradesh, owing to the “Telangana State” issue. Retailers closed their shops in anticipation of violence and strikes. Consumers reduced their purchases and frequency of visiting stores.

Bata India is the largest footwear retail chain in India. It has around 35% market share in the organized footwear market. It serves over 1 lakh customers per day and has more than 8000 employees on its rolls. Unfortunately, during these troubles times of riots and curfews, Bata faced the brunt of these disturbances. Their sales plummeted by a huge number. Sales targets were not met; too much inventory was piling up, hence stores could not receive fresh stock as they didn’t have enough space to store it. In order to fix this problem, Bata came up with varieties of promotional sales like –

• Anniversary sale

• Sale on aged stock

• Sales to vendor

• School season sale

These sales helped the company to salvage its prior loss. Sales started improving. But the intended target was not met. Discount periods were extended by several days. Huge discounts of 60% were offered to vendors. But the rate at which purchases were being made was still sluggish, especially at certain locations. Stores at a few locations did exceedingly well though. They made enviable profits on a per day basis. Various reasons could be held responsible for this reaction. Low awareness of sales, change in consumer tastes etc. could be cited as the common reasons. A lot of amount (figures moving into lakhs) was spent in the promotional activities of these sales....