Bata to Open 13 More Power Stores by December, Retail Expansion

New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) Leading shoemaker Bata would open 13 more stores of its athleisure brand 'Power', taking the total count to 15 by the end of 2024, Managing Director and CEO Gunjan Shah said on Wednesday.

The company, which opened its second EBO (Exclusive Brand Outlets) in Delhi in the June quarter, has plans to add five more in the current quarter.

"We will take it step by step. We will most probably have about another five stores this quarter and should exit December with about 15 stores," Shah told PTI.

All the Power stores would be company-owned, he said, adding the company would keep focusing on its casualisation strategy, which is working well for Bata.

Besides, Bata would also continue to expand its apparel range, which are currently sold at 70 stores. The apparel business is "behaving overall well", he added.

"Apparel has been basically a pilot in only about 70 stores. We started it about a year back. Our feedback as well as the kind of understanding that we are getting of it is now giving us confidence that we should be in the next six months, expanding it 200 plus stores now," Shah added.

Besides, Bata which has a network of 1,916 stores as of June 30, 2024, would keep expanding its retail footprints further by adding more stores in its network.

"We are pretty bullish on the opportunity that stares ahead of us, overall, across India, and especially in the rapidly aspirational and urbanising India. Therefore, we have been adding almost about 120 to 140 stores from last two years, and that base will only gather momentum going forward," he said.

The company expects 60 to 70 per cent of new stores coming from smaller markets.

Besides, Bata is also taking steps to grow its sales from online channels, which includes its own platform.

Shah expects e-commerce to drive its growth further.

"E-commerce has been the fastest growing business of us for almost three to five years and continues to grow faster than the overall business. So it is now in low double-digit contribution, and my sense is that it will keep growing faster than the overall business, so it will drive our growth," he said.

On Tuesday Bata had reported an increase of 62.84 per cent in its consolidated net profit at Rs 174.36 crore for the June quarter. However, its revenue from operations was down 1.41 per cent to Rs 944.63 crore.