Shoe store chain Bata invests 5 million USD in Colombian market

New York –Czech shoe stores chain Bata is bidding strongly on Colombia’s growth with a 5 million dollars investment. The funding will be dedicated to boosting its presence in the country over the next year.

Justo Fuentes, president of the Czech footwear company in Latin America explained in a recent interview with the Colombian newspaper 'La República' his intention to invest 5 million dollars in Colombia in 2019.

Of that total, Bata would have already disbursed 1 million dollars in the first quarter, dedicating 200,000 dollars to the expansion of its store network and the remaining 800,000 dollars to reinforce its technology stack.

"We want to continue expanding. This year we plan to open between 32 and 35 stores in Colombia, which would join the 313 that we have throughout the country. In addition, we will have two new store concepts this year. One is North Star, aimed at the youth segment, and the other is Weinbrenner, more than casual outdoor concept, "Fuentes told the Colombian newspaper.

Bata's revenues in Colombia accuse the increase in taxes

The income figure of Bata in Colombia amounts to 25 million dollars in the first quarter of the year. Year-on-year growth was 4 percent.

In 2018 the chain of shoe stores billed a total of 122.7 million dollars in the country, which represented a growth of 10 percent compared to 2017.

Bata's executive explains that they have accused the "significant fall in the traffic of people to stores", a fall that is estimated is around 9 percent. In addition, "the attendance to commercial centers in Colombia suffered a fall of almost 11 percent in the traffic of people, then that evidently impacts in the level of invoicing of the retail and for that reason the growth of the first trimester is of hardly 4 percent ", Summarizes Fuentes in statements for 'La República'.

"There is an issue that has to do with the Colombian economy directly, and that is that people are very concerned about factors such as tax rates, and when that index of consumer confidence tends to fall, what is affected is the consumption in the short and medium term, and that is what is happening ", concludes the director of Bata for Latin America.

Bata's new projects include the program to digitize its physical stores for a greater omni-channel offer, the automation of its warehouses and the creation of a new e-commerce platform.

Image:Bata Colombia’s e-commerce platform