Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, Bata is one of the world’s leading footwear manufacturers and distributors, selling nearly 150 million pairs of shoes annually. Founded in 1894, the family-owned business operates in over 56 countries across five continents. Its global supply chain includes 19 manufacturing sites and more than 6,000 retail locations. Bata’s diverse product line spans high fashion to athletic and industrial footwear.
Success Story
Bata
Merchandising Planning, Assortment Planning, Demand and Replenishment Planning, Store Insights and Data Management Services
- Bata
Bata Optimizes End-to-End Supply Chain Planning and Merchandising with Blue Yonder
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pairs of shoes sold annually
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in-store availability for all shoes and sizes
The Company
The Business Challenge
Bata’s demand, replenishment, assortment, and merchandise planning processes required an evolution given the fast-moving nature of consumer demand. The footwear leader aimed for an updated planning process and improved access to near real-time data, to respond to demand changes during the end-to-end merchandising, assortment management and replenishment cycle. Other aspects of stock management such as demand-supply accuracy, inventory turns, margins, among others, were key for the success of the organization.
The Solution
Today, Bata is supported by Blue Yonder’s cloud-native solutions in merchandising, assortment, demand, and replenishment planning. Bata’s digital transformation positions the company to better understand consumer demand, evaluate product characteristics and tailor distribution strategies to individual stores. This journey is setting the stage for Bata to continually enhance its offerings and deliver exceptional shopper value. The implementation of four Blue Yonder planning solutions was supported by both Blue Yonder’s global professional services team and its regional platinum-level partner, Infosys Limited.
“Blue Yonder’s merchandising and supply chain planning capabilities enable us to plan customer offers, forecast demand and execute more efficient inventory strategies that lead to higher availability and shorter product life cycles. With a modern platform we’re able to access a unified view of data, streamline our processes and enhance decision-making across our network.”
–Barbara Franceschetto, Chief Global Product Officer, Bata Group.
Bata steps up its planning approach via digitalization
Across a diverse product line and 6,000 retail stores, Bata faced challenges in accurately matching supply with demand — especially since consumer demand for footwear is ever-changing. The company required an evolution and further standardization on supply chain and merchandising planning processes.
Along with a seamless end-to-end planning, supported by advanced technology, Bata was able to improve its understanding of consumer demand and trends, and ensure timely replenishment. Bata recognized the need for a global transformation to streamline processes, improve decision-making, and better serve its customers with precision and consistency.
“We knew we needed a comprehensive solution to address these pain points. That’s why we partnered with Blue Yonder,” says Franceschetto. “Blue Yonder’s supply chain planning and merchandising planning solutions address all our needs and span the end-to-end planning cycle at Bata.”
A digital planning footprint produces early wins
Today Bata can accurately match product distribution to store-specific customer needs, elevating the shopping experience for consumers. Bata has also streamlined operations and optimized processes, resulting in more efficient product delivery. And it has driven higher levels of product availability by proactively restocking fulfilment locations, whether in stores or across e-commerce channels.
“Since implementing Blue Yonder, we’ve seen significant improvements,” points out Franceschetto. “In India, our in-store availability has increased to 72%, and we’ve been able to shorten product cycles, allowing us to introduce and replenish new collections more quickly. These early wins are just the beginning of our journey to provide the best possible offerings to our customers.”
Bata now has an optimized process that supports a faster, more responsive supply chain, driving better business decisions and a more rapid, accurate response to changes in consumer demand. Bata can effectively distribute merchandise, seamlessly produce seasonal assortment plans, and build an intelligent distribution plan over time.
“At Bata, we’re dedicated to providing quality footwear, and this collaboration with Blue Yonder aligns perfectly with our commitment to excellence. Together, we’re redefining our landscape, while setting new standards in innovation, sustainability and customer satisfaction,” notes Franceschetto.
Francesco Verde, Director of IT Solutions, Bata Group concluded: “It has been an interesting journey, we leverage Blue Yonder to explore how we’ve been working and how we could improve. With the right team and right change management in place we’ve been able to reach the results we targeted. Technically it has been a very effective collaboration with Blue Yonder. We run all the modules and by suggesting better way to integrate them, we’re making the system even stronger and more efficient.”
