„Nasz klient – nasz pan” – organizacja nowoczesnego handlu obuwiem firmy „Bata” w Polsce międzywojennej

The present article discusses the issues connected with shoe-trading in Poland between the two World Wars, carried out by the Polish Shoe Company BATA, based in Krakow –a branch of the Czechoslovakian concern set up by Tomas Bata. The subject matter is the establishment of the first fully automatized large shoe-making factory in Poland in early 1930s,organized according to Bata’s model. As a result, a dense network of company stores was created, in which the shoes produced in Chełmek were sold, using carefully planned, practically verified and efficient methods, introduced on the Czechoslovakian pattern. For the customer, it meant a new quality of goods and service, and for the existing producers and traders – a serious threat, but at the same time, a motivation to modernize their activities. It is Tomas Bata to whom the slogan “The customer is our master” is attributed.The article presents the mechanism of distribution of shoes and other products, starting with the principles of functioning of the headquarters in Chełmek, to methods of ordering, tothe means of delivery. The paper describes the principles of functioning of shops and their normalized interior, the role of the manager in the organization of work in the unit, methodsof remuneration and efficiency control. A large section of the article is devoted to the methods of modern marketing, used successfully by Bata, including the treatment of the customers,who took part in an extraordinary ceremony that accompanied the purchase of an ordinary pair of shoes.