Bata

Bata is indeed one of the most well known and well established footwear brands in India that is highly trusted by a significant percentage of the Indian population. It is majorly recognized for offering great quality and comfort, that too, at a very reasonable price range. Apart from a robust online presence, the brand has numerous physical outlets within the geographical boundaries of India that aim at providing shoppers with a smooth and pleasant retail experience. However, to strengthen the entire store management system and help the staff seamlessly manage daily tasks, Bata was looking forward to creating and establishing a clear and reliable system that could facilitate regular maintenance and quick support.

Bata collaborated with D’Art to support this initiative. We focused on establishing a well defined maintenance approach that helped the footwear brand ensure clarity in operational procedures, accountability, and coordination.

Operational Requirements

As per the brief provided by Bata and considering the brand’s scale and geographic spread within the Indian retail markets, the following things were needed.

• A standardized store maintenance approach for all retail formats and locations.
• Clearly defined preventive maintenance schedules.
• A responsive mechanism for seamlessly handling urgent and breakdown-related maintenance needs.
• Structured workflows that supported reporting, documentation, and approvals.
• Systematic alignment between brand teams, field teams, and local vendors.

Solutions Provided!

The team at D’Art developed and executed a comprehensive retail maintenance program that seamlessly aligned with Bata’s operational needs. Our approach revolved around executing two types of maintenance programs, which were preventive maintenance, one based on AMC (annual maintenance contract), and reactive maintenance, also known as the break-fix approach.

Talking about preventive maintenance first, we introduced a hub and spoke execution model and shared the detailed route plans in advance. The assigned teams conducted scheduled visits and carried out systematic checks (audits). They further addressed minor repairs and documented all the work through pre and post visits photographs. Exclusive stores and experience centers were audited on a quarterly basis, that supported regular reporting and updates.

The aspect of reactive maintenance revolved around following a clear step by step procedure from the starting phase to the ending one. The team at D’Art created and utilized a customized CRM system that helped in receiving all issue calls in a single place. They further verified the genuineness of those issues, and then they assigned them to the respective/right regional team.

The next step included assigning ground teams and sending them to the respective stores within a limited time frame. The teams then fixed the issue and shared photos and the final report as proof of work.

The D’Art team regularly updated Bata’s central team. We defined all the standard operating procedures (SOPs), service level agreements (SLAs), and approval matrices in order to bring consistency across different maintenance categories. In addition to this, all the cost structures were aligned on the basis of warranty status, agreed rate cards, and scope of work.

Outcome and Impact

D'Art's idea of implementing a centralized and structured maintenance system allowed the footwear brand to significantly transform its retail environment management across different geographical locations.

There were various major improvements involved in this respective project. Moving from an unplanned, on demand maintenance system and instead opting for one that was planned and regular was indeed one of the most notable improvements.

This initiative helped achieve the following overall results:

• Store maintenance became more consistent across locations.
• There was effective coordination between the brand, partners, and on-ground teams.
• Regular reports and records helped in establishing higher visibility.

Teams could now respond faster to both regular and urgent maintenance issues.