We will keep making good shoes, we will democratise comfort: Bata CEO

It's my first visit to Bangladesh, and I had the chance to go and see the market. To me, I start with the consumer. I start to understand, in every market I go to, who the consumer is, who do we refer to, and what they want?

I think there are two different worlds. The world of Bata, which started in Bangladesh in 1962 and it means a lot. However, the world has moved on, and I am a believer that Bata did not move on as fast as the world, mostly in the last years. Meaning, yes, I know Bata, but do I consider buying it? Maybe not. And I'm not talking about every consumer, but there are many such consumers—that's what I see about Bangladesh.

But we had a very unique position when we started in Bangladesh. In fact, we taught people shoes, and we taught people how to make shoes. But we're not on our own, and in five to ten years from now we will definitely get more and more competition.

That means that, on that base—which is a very common base for me—is how we build the strategy for the future. Basically, we are thinking how can we be more relevant? How can we re-ignite Bata?

You said a very good word—‘without losing’. There are many brands, that have a long history. They have two distinctive options, very often. One is: They live in the past because they were good. They don't modernise, and they shrink. The other is they deny their past, and they try to become somebody totally different, guided by the market and by competition.

So, what I see in Bata is actually a combination of our heritage and legacy in the country, which goes, let's say, to 50 per cent. And from there on starts the aspect of relevancy to today—the consumer of today, the taste of today, the brand of today, the demands of today. All these from the two worlds, mean the heritage and the future, are actually connected by the same values.

And Bata will keep making good shoes and make them available to everyone. Bata will democratise comfort.

Our fundamental is that we want to make shoes for everyone. Everyone deserves good shoes, and when they deserve good shoes, they deserve Bata. Bata needs to make good shoes for everyone. It's not just words.

To do that, you need to make products that satisfy different demographics, different economics—lower, higher, middle—it doesn't matter. And you need to be available with your shops, with the distributors, online platforms, to different audiences.

Quality is undisputable. The shoes have to be unreasonably good for everyone. It doesn't matter the price point. Democratisation of quality means that I make quality products and they are available for everyone, not just for the elite. Very often, quality is considered to be more expensive, but not by us. So quality is everywhere.

Now, design is where things become slightly more subjective. We have two options on design. Option one is to follow the market, meaning the market defines who we are. Or option two, which is the option we take, is to be super clear about who we are and become relevant to the market. Meaning, of course, we see the relevancy, of course, we see the trends and we follow, but it's still a Bata shoe, and that's what we will do.

In practice, it means clarity. What does the brand Bata stand for? That's clarity for the consumer. We have to come with a clear message so that every consumer not only knows Bata because they were wearing it when they were kids or they saw a store and a big red logo, but also understands that Bata is this and that. So, clarity of the brand is first.

Second is clarity of the offer. What do we offer to people? And basically, we see two worlds: the world of shoes—leather shoes, non-leather shoes—and the world of sneakers. These are two different worlds. Still, the same consumer can buy both. On a festive day they will wear shoes, and then maybe in the afternoon they wear sneakers—it is more relaxed. So we need to be clear with our offer.

We did too many different things and too many mixed things. We want to clarify that. That's what re-ignite actually is. Re-ignite brings back clarity. It means being more clear, being more bold. It is to say, these are my shoes, and these are my sneakers. That's what we try to do for the product and for the brand.

Clarity is the most important thing, and it's also the most difficult. It's much easier to be unclear and do everything. Being clear means you know who you are.

A great product at Bata today is a product which is done well, meaning manufactured the right way with good quality. But that's not enough. A great product today has to have—and we are working on it hard—improved comfort. People today demand more comfort. They actually want the shoes to look more comfortable. In fact, the big increase in using sneakers is not just about the look—they are often more comfortable.

That's also not enough. A great product today has to be relevant. A great Bata product is relevant to a wider audience. So that means more people will say, when I wear this shoe, I feel modern, I feel I belong to today. It's not… I've heard that, that's why I'm saying it—it's not my grandpa's shoe.

So it's basically a combination of these things—done well, comfortable, and relevant.

Over the past years, Bata did not grow so much. We've seen a kind of stagnation. The main reason for the stagnation is that Bata lived in Bata. But we live in the world. Bata has been too much looking inwards instead of looking outside.

The re-ignite strategy actually is a growth strategy. We need to grow. It's very clear that if a brand like Bata which is available to a wider audience, doesn't grow, it will not survive. So, it's very important for a brand like us to have a big market share, and that's what we will do.

Bangladesh is important—it’s important in various aspects. First, I would say it is a country of 180 million people. You can't ignore a country of about 180 million people, which evolves, which grows. So, we have been here since 1962, and we are here to stay. 180 million people are about half the population of Europe, so it's a big scale. The size of a country is very important to us.

Second, Bata is a very unique global brand because it is actually very local also. Bangladesh is a very good example of this local aspect, because the taste in Bangladesh has some uniqueness—it is very much connected, very often, to local culture, and mostly, I would say, festive cultures. So it is somehow a proof for Bata that I connect with these cultures and I make products connected with these cultures, and Bangladesh plays a big role. It's like a muscle that you need to use—you cannot talk about cultures and not follow it, you cannot talk about relevance in a market and not be in the market with products which the market needs, in the Bata way.

Third, Bangladesh means a lot because we want it to be an export country, meaning manufacturing shoes in Bangladesh and exporting them. We want to manufacture good shoes, valued shoes, and not just something because it happens to be cheap, not at all. We want to manufacture value, and that will make us even better—when you export, you become local even better. And that's something that will help Bata to become better.

So these are the three aspects why Bangladesh is important I would say.

Bata needs to evolve as a brand. By 2030, I want to see that consumers have a very, very clear idea of what Bata stands for. It’s for shoes and sneakers both, because these two will be different. I want to see Bata growing. Growing means more people in the world will wear Bata shoes. Our growth ambition is to grow 50 per cent—which is a big ambition in a difficult market—but I'm a great believer. I want to see Bata being more relevant to the cultures and to the trends of consumers, and most of all, I want to see Bata being available to everyone, everywhere.

Actually, I have a very simple statement and that is ‘unreasonably good shoes’.

Thanks.