Bata India to expand its accessories offer

In a bid to optimise opportunities from new fashion categories, leading footwear chain Bata plans to expand its accessories range, including ladies handbags and belts.
Bata is reportedly buoyed by the rising demand for the existing accessories range and is expecting sales from the category to expand at double digits this fiscal year.”The idea is to offer a complete solution to our consumers and hence the products are kept in coordination with shoes within the existing space,” Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, Bata’s managing director for South Asia, was quoted as saying.
The accessories collection at Bata ranges from bags and belts to sunglasses, scarves, socks and mobile wallets, and occupies almost 5-10% of the space in its stores. Keeping in mind the increasing demand for accessories, the company plans to give more space to display accessories at its new stores.
“The average size of our stores is 3,000 sq ft. We are now also looking at opening bigger destination stores at key locations like high streets, highways and shopping malls. A larger store space gives us an opportunity to display more number of lines with a wider range of offering,” Gopalakrishnan said.Bata India reported a turnover of Rs 2,201.08 crore in the year ended December 31, 2014.