Changing demands prove a boon for Lotto
The ongoing pandemic is a blessing for Lotto Sport Italia since it enjoyed increased sales in Bangladesh for the past several months carrying out a boom in the demand for low-cost, non-leather footwear products.
Since a lot of people are residing at home in order to avoid infection, they now prefer to get casual shoes at affordable prices, according to Kazi Jamil Islam, managing director of Lotto's Bangladesh operations.
The global outbreak forced Lotto Bangladesh to turn off its operations on March 23, three days ahead of a two-month nationwide lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19.
At the time, Lotto employed almost 1,300 persons at its local production facility and since that time Islam has recruited another 700 personnel at a fresh facility to improve production and meet up with the growing demand.
"When the lockdown was eventually lifted on May 30, many persons used jogging and other activities in an effort enhance their immune systems," Islam told The Daily Star in a recent interview.
This resulted in the increased demand for low-cost washable footwear, he added.
Lotto, which has 100 retail outlets and about 100 franchisee shops in the united states, then took this opportunity to expand its market share.
The Italian sportswear brand even started generating face masks considering the demand for such items amid the existing health crisis.
Islam, also the managing director of Express leather Products, the world's speediest growing Lotto licensee, now plans to create another factory in Tongi, where various sportswear such as for example jerseys and track suits will be produced.
He went on to state that whenever the pandemic began, individuals were puzzled about what to accomplish since no person had ever experienced such a predicament before.
Even through the nationwide shutdown, Islam continued to pay his employees and instructed them to stay available as work could have resumed anytime.
After finally reopening his operations, Islam observed that sales were little by little increasing.
Since washable, non-leather products were the brand new hot ticket item, he immediately increased its production but was still struggling to cope with the rapidly rising demand.
So, he opened another 11,000 square foot factory to compensate for the inadequate production capacity.
"Luckily, I had the recyclables for those items readily available and could do good business," he said.
With sales having gone up nearly 40 per cent year-on-year through the pandemic period, Islam increased the commission paid to retailers to 35 % and plans to open five more outlets in different parts of the country soon.
After realising that the ongoing pandemic would bring financial hardships for many, Islam started supplying some food items to his personnel in a bid to create things easier for them.
But like most other businesses, Lotto Bangladesh lost vital sales during Eid this season, when most customers were still stuck in the home in concern with the Covid-19 fallout.
In order to beef up his client base, Islam in addition has partnered up with Bangladesh Police to provide shoes.
Banks also helped the company to survive, turning non-profitable outlets into successful ones, he said.
Although the company's profitability transpired, Islam was still able to pay his staff, none of whom were terminated either.
Islam intends to further expand his business by increasing the quantity of its partners and franchisees instead of increase the number of his shops across the country.
Lotto Bangladesh produces 60,000 pairs of shoes and 1.50 lakh pairs of slippers on a monthly basis, he said.
Islam started his journey as a Lotto franchisee in 2011, when he opened a retail outlet in Dhaka's Uttara area.
After graduating from the University of Dhaka, Islam also studied at the Institute of Business Administration under the same university.
"I want double digit growth over another five years and I want to see my employees are incredibly happy," Islam said, adding that according to current statistics, his business growth is 25 % year-on-year.
