The company, a step-down subsidiary of global shoe retailing giant Canada-based Bata Shoe Organization (BSO), will now shift its focus to women to power its business. The twin reasons: the growing population of Indian women joining the work force and, hence, becoming financially independent and that, globally, such women have a bigger fancy for footwear than men. Bata India will open ‘women’s only’ concept stores from next year to cater to and whet this fancy.

Rajeev Gopalkrishnan, the group managing director of Bata India, said the company is putting more thrust on ladies footwear as the segment has a robust growth trajectory. “We shall introduce concept stores for women in India shortly. These will be spread over 600-800 square feet. We are also introducing a new ladies footwear brand called Sundrops in India,” he added. Bata has women footwear brands like Marie Claire, Scholl, Sparx and Foot, along with other unisex brands.

The women’s footwear segment is growing at 30% a year while the overall growth of Bata India stands at 20%. The company feels that Indian women will soon catch up with their counterparts in the developed world whose footwear fancy makes female footwear account for 40% of the footwear market. In India, this segment is at a much lower 22% to 25%, but growing.

Gopalkrishnan pointed out that while the existing ‘Footin’ stores of the company is targeted towards young males and females in the 15-20 age group, the new concept stores would address the entire women footwear segment. Bata India chairman Uday Khanna said, “Globally, and specially in western markets, women footwear segment is bigger than other segments and in India too that trend is catching up. Men’s footwear segment in India still has the biggest market share of 40%, while sports and kids’ footwear has a 15% market share, while the rest is made up by accessories such as handbags, belts, socks, footwear accessories and shoe care products.”