EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Bata is a footwear brand in the country with a presence in almost 400 cities. The brand offers a range of stylish comfortable and trendy footwear at affordable prices ensuring that there is something for everyone in the store. This project report examines the distribution channels of Bata India ltd. It also gives a detailed representation of the supply chain management of Bata India ltd. The project report includes the distribution channel structure of Bata India ltd. It also throws light on the product form and logistics of Bata India ltd. The major key points on which the report focuses are: 1) Distribution channel structure of Bata 2) Structure of channel partners 3) Physical distribution, management 4) Information flow The above points have been further analysed and give information on the channel members of Bata, how is the product marketed and how is the channel managed. It talks about the channel conflicts that occur and the pricing strategies. The report also talks about other details of the supply chain management like the physical distribution management which includes who is responsible for designing and setting up the channel and various costs involved like the logistics cost and the distribution costs and what are the payment terms and debtors control and the management of warehouses if any. The project report also contains the critical analysis such as the supply management, demand management and the speed of processes for complaints regarding supplies.

CONTENTS
Topic Introduction 1. Distribution Channel 1.1 Structure 1.2 Product Form 1.3 Logistics 2. Channel Partners 2.1 Product Marketing 2.2 Channel Participants 2.3 Channel Structure 2.4 Channel Management 2.5 Channel Conflict 2.6 Pricing Strategies 3. Physical Distribution Management 3.1 Distribution Management 3.2 Logistics 3.3 Warehouse 3.4 Payment Detail 4. Communication/ Information flow 4.1 Inventory Data 4.2 Sales Data 5. Supply Management 5.1 Speed of processes for complaints regarding supplies CONCLUSION Page No. 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 11

INTRODUCTION
ABOUT BATA:
Bata India is a footwear manufacturing company incorporated in 1931.The Company was earlier known as Bata shoe Company which later in 1973 changed the name to BATA INDIA. The company manufactures footwear for men, women and children. The company manufactures shoes of various quality such as leather, rubber, canvas and PVC shoes. Bata Group has worldwide presence across 5 continents, serving 1 million customers per day and operating 4,600 retails stores globally. Prior to incorporation of Bata footwear were manufactured by handicrafts and small enterprise sectors. The company started with its small operation unit at Konnagar (near Calcutta) in 1932.

Currently it has five factories located at Batanagar (west Bengal), Bataganj (Bihar), Faridabad (Haryana), Peenya (Karnataka) and Hosur (Tamil nadu). VISION: Grow as dynamic, innovative and market driven manufacturer and distributor, with footwear industry while maintaining a commitment to the country, culture, and environment in which they cooperate. MISSION: To be successful as the most dynamic, flexible and market responsive organization, with footwear as its core business

Distribution Channel
Organisational Structure:

General Manager

AREA SALES MG Manager Operations Manager Finance Manager Sales

SALES EXECUTIVES

Product line
Deals in various products which includes Formal Shoes Causal shoes Slippers

But Our Main Concern is formal shoes. It has huge product line which includes products for middle age customer.

Logistics
If we talk about logistics then we can say we are doing our core business and this work is given to third party, we have done contracts with other companies who have done this business as their core job.

CHANNEL PARTNERS
There are no such channel partners of BATA, as all the stores are maintained by the company itself. But if talk about the stores of BATA then there are 300 stores of FLAGSHIP that covers premium segment, and 660 stores of FAMILY that contains all the segments of BATA To keep a check on these stores 25 members are employed on this work 9 members keep an eye on flagship and 16 members keep an eye on family products.

PRODUCT MARKETING
BATA has not taken care of all the marketing strategy of their product dealers dont have do much on marketing part all is done by BATA himself. BATA promote their product via advertising. There are different media through which BATA advertise their product they are: T.V. ADVERTISEMENT NEWSPAPERS MAGAZINES All this kind of promotion techniques is hold by the BATA Hoardings : BANNERS AMPHLETS DISTRIBUTION So the product is marketed by both manufacturer and the dealers. But the major difference is that the manufacturer markets the product in huge scale and dealers in a very small scale.

CHANNEL PARTICIPANTS
A channel participant in BATA is only the distributors. There is one level channel distribution which moves from manufacturer to dealer then to end customers. BATA selects there distributors under some terms and condition like:

 Location Space

CHANNEL STRUCTURE:

MANUFACTURE R
DISTRIBUTION CENTRE

RETAIL STORES
This is the simple structure followed by the BATA

CHANNEL MANAGEMENT
In the channel management main thing is the channel co-ordination so the BATA co-ordinate with their distributors, by understanding and resolving their problem in the channel. In general BATA deliver the product on time, so that the dealer doesnt have much problem with their customer and it also defines the good relation between the manufacturer and the dealers. Due to this the dealers are also motivated to sell the product efficiently to the customer.

CHANNEL CONFLICT
There is no such conflict between the BATA and the dealers, because all roles and responsibility is predefined by the BATA. The only problem which occured few time is the delivery process on time which is easily resolved by the company.

PRICING STRATEGIES

Pricing of the products and the dealers commission is predefined by the company, dealers doesnt have to do much on the pricing part of the vehicles. All the discounts and offer is pre defined by BATA, and if dealers want to give some discount to their customer then there is not concern of the company that dealer have to bear that.

PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT:

There is no such physical distribution management maintained by the BATA as they have the simple process of: MANUFACTURER DISTRIBUTOR CENTRE RETAILERS Every delivery is done by the company as they have hired the third party for this work and then when the product reaches to the retailer sale take place.

LOGISTICS OF BATA:
As we have discussed earlier also that they have the contract with the third party logistics company they have their contract on annual basis and they are liable to make delivery on time and are responsible for all dealing related to transportation and delivery. Important data is that there transportation cost is 3.5% of the turnover.

WAREHOUSING OF BATA
All the warehouses are maintained by the company itself; they dont hire any on the building for their warehouse. The company operates a number of warehouses across the country. It has regional warehouses in all over the India. Company has ware house management department for all the warehouses. They keep inventory for next 13 weeks.

PAYMENT DETAILS
As all the payment details are online and on delivery both bases but if talk about the payment period then it is 90 days max not more than that.

COMMUNICATION/INFORMATION FLOW

1ST information flows from:

MANUFACTUR ER
And then

DISTRIBUTION CENTRE

CUSTOMERS

CUSTOMERS

DISTRIBUTION CENTRE

MANUFACTUR ER

INVENTORY DATA
Inventory data is managed by both the manufacturer and the dealer Dealers of BATA maintain their inventory through software which is provided by the BATA and that software is directly connected to the server of the BATA so that the company can trace what actually the dealer is doing. It also shows to the company that which product is excess and which product is short to the dealers.

SALES DATA
Sales data is maintained by the dealer through software which is provided by the company. Any product is sale the entry of that product is done in the software. This sales data contains all the information about the customer and the dealer, information like: NAME, ADDRESS & TELEPHONE NUMBER OF THE CUSTOMER PRICE

PRODUCT CODE SALES PERSON NAME DEALER NAME AND OTHER INFORMATION

Supply Management :

Order Fulfilling Time As soon the order is placed then the company takes the time period of 7 10 days to make the delivery Minimum Order Quantity It depends on the retailers they have to work according to the company but they can go on their way also but it affects the profitability of the retailers. Period of Shortage There is never shortage of products in the shop as demand is always equal to supply. Period of Excess Mainly every product is kept with more pieces but if there is excess then it is sold out through sale.

Speed of Processes for Complaints Regarding Supplies:

As we have discussed with the dealer, the dealer said that there is no as such complaints regarding supplies from the company side. The main problem which we face in supply can be due to:

WEATHER CONDITIONS OTHER FACTORS LIKE MANUFACTURING PROBLEM TRANSPORT STRIKES

CONCLUSION:

Bata India is a family shoe store which manufactures shoes for Men, Women and children. It has a huge product line catering the needs of middle income customers. The company itself manages its stores minus any channel partner. Bata has used various promotional media to reach out to the customers. Distributor is the only channel participant in Bata that too one level distribution which moved from manufacturer to dealer and then to the final customers. Delivering product on time is what Bata has always considered important which has further strengthened their relationship with dealers. All the discounts, offerings and dealers commission is predetermined by Bata. The third party logistics are responsible for delivering products on time to various retailers. Inventory data is managed by both manufacturer and dealer through a software which is connected to the server of Bata. So, the supply chain management of Bata is simple which helps in delivering goods on time thus making happy to dealers. A company can always make it big when things are managed with a complete surveillance in every process which has proven in case of Bata.

Reference
www.bata.in Interviewed Person Mr. Shumir Oliver Abraham (Distribution Manager) Mobile No.- 9871092925 Address- Bata India Limited, Bata House, 418/02, Sector- 17, Gurgaon E-mail: oliver.abraham@bata.co.in

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