The History Of Bata Shoes In Indonesia: Authentic Czechoslovak Products Often Considered A Local Brand

Brick Outlet. (Photo: By courtesy)

JAKARTA - For people who grew up in the mid-90s, they must be familiar with the Bata shoe brand. However, do you know that this brand is actually a foreign product that has long been in the footwear industry in Indonesia.

Quoting the Wikipedia page, Bata is a business entity founded by two brothers from Czechoslovakia named Tomáš, Anna and Antonín Bata in 1894. This family-owned shoe company operates four international business units, each of which is centered in Europe, Asia Pacific-Africa, Latin America, and North America.

The company's products are present in more than 50 countries and have production facilities in 26 countries. Bata claims that it has managed to sell as many as 14 billion pairs of shoes to this day.

In Indonesia alone, sales are authorized by PT Sepatu Bata Tbk. as a representative in the country. In an information, it is stated that Bata has started trading activities in the archipelago since 1931, or during the Dutch colonial period.

In its journey, before the 1978 period Bata's status in Indonesia was a foreign investment company (PMA), so it was prohibited to sell directly to the market. Bata then sells through special distributors on a consignment system.

The company's expansion steps became more flexible when on January 1, 1978, when the Bata trade license was changed to a domestic investment company (PMDN).

Bata's modern history in Indonesia occurred on March 24, 1982. At that time, the company took a strategic step by listing on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) through an initial public offering (IPO) mechanism. Bata is listed as releasing 1.2 million shares with a nominal value of Rp1,000 per share.

Then, in 1984 the company issued 1.92 million bonus shares to the Company's shareholders, so that the issued and paid-up shares increased from 8 million shares to 9.92 million shares.

Then, in 1986, the issuer with the ticker code BATA took another corporate action by releasing 3.08 million bonus shares to shareholders, increasing it to 13 million shares.

During the pandemic, BATA's performance was corrected quite deeply. Based on the financial statements revealed by the company, it was stated that until the first semester of 2020, the company's net sales were recorded at IDR 230.9 billion or a drop of 53.9 percent compared to the same period the previous year. The unsatisfactory achievement was due to the relatively depressed domestic and export sales.

As a result, BATA's gross profit is said to be only Rp. 56.06 billion, far down from the gross profit in semester I / 2019 which amounted to Rp.

Today, the company produces a wide variety of footwear including leather and canvas sandals, casual sports shoes, injection molded sandals, and sandals. The company's licensed brands, in addition to major brands, include North Star, Power, Bubblegummers, Marie-Claire and Weinbrenner.

Apart from these brands, BATA has also opened Bata Industrials for business to business market needs.