Apna Bazar

A REPORT ON APNA BAZAAR OUTLET

Submitted To: Prof. Pravin Patil Submitted By: Gunjan(08BS0001125) Joginder Singh(08BS0001297)

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Brief Profile: Apna Bazar, probably the oldest and largest consumer co-operative multistate society with a customer base of over 12 lakhs. The Rs 140-crore retail chain that, for over 55 years remained largely “middle-class”. The word “Apna Bazaar” means “Our Bazaar” and that is what they have been ever since their inception. The trend of shopping big and buying big started in the early 1990’s, a momentous time in Indian history. It was a ready-made platform for those aspiring to have a big shopping presence, big and modern, yet simple and accessible to people of all income barriers. The idea of Apna Bazaar came about more than a decade back.

Role of Apna Bazaar:

Apna bazaar plays a vital role by market intervention during the shortages of essential commodities. The distribution of these items is taken up by the Apna Bazaar at a loss to fulfill its social commitments. At times of need, Apna Bazaar has diverted its manpower and resources, even at the cost of its own commercial interest, for the public good.

Objectives of Apna Bazaar:

To undertake wholesale and retail distribution of consumer goods and essential commodities; and to establish department stores; To foster the growth products and new manufacturing units through market support and management advice

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To lower distribution costs and to introduce fair and better trading practices such as fixed prices etc; and Eradication of malpractices of traders black marketing, artificial scarcity, cheating in measurements, adulteration, etc. Necessity of time – public distribution of essential commodities in rural and urban areas. Elimination of middlemen.

Management and Organization: Apna Bazaar is headed by a management team comprising a chairman, vice chairman and Hon secretaries. The team largely provides direction to the organization and is not involved in the day-to-day affairs. The day-to-day affairs are managed by an executive team, which consists of a general manager, additional general manager and office bearers of the organization.

Outlet Apna Bazaar has a customer base of over 12 lakhs. Apna Bazaar has 80 outlets in Mumbai, Thane and the neighbouring Konkan region. It has recently opened its first shop outside the state in Goa.The breakups of the stores are:

Departmental stores

8

Medical stores

4

Supermarkets

7

Franchisee stores

37

Food stores

24

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Items Sold By Apna Bazaar

Apna Bazaar has the following three main categories of items: a. Agro products b. Branded products c. Rural products

Apna Bazaar sells an immense variety of items through its various departments/retail outlets. These are described below: -

Furniture: All type of wooden furniture, steel furniture library furniture, hospital furniture, revolving chairs, computer furniture, mattresses, pillows, sofa cushion

Household: Steel utensils, aluminum utensils, non stock, gas stoves, locks, mixer-grinder, juice-cum-mixer grinder, hot-cases, room heater, room convector, geysers, all type of fans, electrical goods, washing machine, air-conditioners, water cooler, voltage stabilizer, generator set, crockery, flasks, plastic items, electrical bulb/tubes and tube fittings, table lamp, emergency light, cell, torch, electric wire, desert cooler, exhaust fans.

Footwear: Shoes, sandals, ladies purse, belt, umbrella, school, bag, suit cases, brief cases, file box, file bag, luggage bag.

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Textile: Woolen suiting, tericot suiting and shirting, blanket, blazer, bed-sheets, pillow cover, dress material, all types of sarees, markein cloth, long cloth, voil, mulmul khadi etc.

Handloom: Towels, dusters, curtain cloth, bed-covers, carpets, quilt, durries, jute matting, blankets, pillow covers, door-mats, PVC flooring.

Ready Made Garments: Pants, shirts, undergarments, socks, sweaters, leather jackets, ladies suits, petticoats, children garments, rain coats, overcoats, mosquito mat, curtain tapes, machine oil, raxine.

Stationery: All types of duplicating, typing, photocopies paper, printing paper, all types of rules registers in different sizes peon books, dak pads, pens, pencils, pen stands, eraser, markers, sign pens, gumbottles scales, colours, art material, sealing wax, white fluid, sutle, stencil and carbon paper, all type of computer stationery, butter paper, crepe paper, glaze paper, graph paper, file covers, log books, all type of printed forms (Govt. offices), PVC sheet for binding purposes, transparency sheets, ledgers, cash books calculators, computer floppy, fax roll, typewriting ribbon, ammonia paper rolls.

Watches: Watches of reputed companies like Titan

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Grocery & Toiletries: Pulses, spices, atta, rice, oils, tea leaves, and various other edible

items,

insecticides,

disinfectants,

phenyle,

detergents, soaps, cosmetics, tissue rolls and napkins etc.

Medical & Surgical Equipment: All types of medicines, medical & surgical equipment etc

Facilities Offered By Apna Bazaar to Consumers:

Apna Bazaar provides the following facilities to consumers: Quality products at reasonable prices. Variety of items under one roof. 24 hours drugs outlets. Self-service counters Items of high quality tested by its quality- testing laboratory. Display boards and price lists at various counters to enable the customer to make his/her choice. Home delivery, but this facility is only available for purchase from branches. Discount sales periodically on various items Location: The location for the store is selected taking in consideration the residential population in the area, the standard of living of the people, the amount of business the other shops are doing and also future development that are likely to take place in that area in future.

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Area covered: Apna Bazaar has 80 outlets in Mumbai, Thane and the neighbouring Konkan region. It has recently opened its first shop outside the state in Goa. However the density of Apna Bazaar is high in Naigoan and Chembur Space required: The minimum requirement of area for setting up Apna Bazaar is1000 sq.feet. The biggest store is at Vashi, which is spread across 27000 sq.feet. Target segments: The store was started keeping in mind the lower middle class section of the society. But gradually it has moved up the consumer ladder with the inclusion of the middle class as its target consumer. Now slowly it is drawing the upper class towards it. It now caters to almost all the segments of the society depending on the location. In order to attract the upper class & to combat growing competition in the retail industry it is making changes in its product-mix.

Change in product Mix: Commodity

Tones (2002-03)

Tones (2003-04)

Rice

1420

1325

Wheat

1070

1050

Dal

1410

1360

Pulses

800

785

The above table indicates decline in the sales of Rice, Wheat, Pulses etc which shows the change in

the

food

culture/consumption

pattern

of

the

consumer.

It

indicates

that

the

consumer’s inclination towards ready-to-eat food is increasing. Taking this into consideration

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Apna Bazaar had made has made appropriate changes in its Product Mix. Slowly the Percentage of food grains, pulses has declined and that of FMCG products has increased. In a couple of years the percentage of poultry products in the product mix would increase whereas that of food grains pluses etc. would decline. This would further change the product –mix of Apna Bazaar. Store Layout: Layout of shop Apna Bazaar does not have any specific layout of shop. But in most of outlet the 1st division you would come out is Vegetable, Fruit, Medical product, food grains, and FMCG product. The only think that is kept

under

consideration

that

Heavy Product like 5kg Sugar, 10kg Wheat, 5 liter Oil is near cash counter for convenience of customer. In case of display they see to it that display at entrance is very colorful & attractive. Hence they display cosmetics & FMCG product. Besides product, which is new to the market, are also displayed to grab attention of consumer Product Display: The brands are displayed in a very attractive manner .The decision to place a Brand on a particular shall depends upon the Market share enjoyed by the company /Brand. Usually there are 5 Shelves. Out of which 2nd, 3rd & 4th shelves are most important ones on which the brand with high market share or high brand equity are placed. These products are always in demand by the customers.

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Footfalls: In big stores, like the departmental store at Andheri, there are 2000 to 3000 footfalls in a day (on weekdays) & on weekends there are around 3000 to 3500 footfalls. In small outlets there are around 100 footfalls on regular day’s .On weekends there are 200 to 250 footfalls. The footfalls are more especially on Sunday. The footfalls are more in evening between 6.30pm. & 8.30pm .Whereas the footfalls are comparatively low during the afternoon slot of 1.30-3.30 pm. Keeping this in mind stores are closed down during this time. In this time the staff are rearrange the merchandise in the store.

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SWOT Analysis: Strengths: GoodwillApna Bazaar has built its image over the years as a value for money store, which supplies good quality goods at economical price.

Number of OutletsApna Bazaar has 80 outlets spread all over Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and the neighbouring Konkan region, Lanza (Bombay-Goa road), among other places in Maharashtra. All these areas are easily accessible as public transportation is available, hence providing easy accessibility to the customers.

ModernizationApna Bazaar makes use of modern technology to maintain correct supplier bills and giving accurate bills to customers giving details of each purchase and most importantly showing him the savings he has made while purchasing from Apna Bazaar. They also possess total details of their sales and the percentage of sales in each category so they know where the sales are high and where they are lagging behind.

Genuine ProductsThe products of Apna Bazaar are genuine as they purchase it directly from the companies. Lots of imitations of consumables such as honey, oil, etc. are available in many stores. People get cheated, as it is not easy to identify them.

CRMApna Bazaar organizes a customer meet for their regular customers called MELAVDA at their anniversary to build stronger relations with their customers. On this day, the customers are offered purchase discounts which show that they have taken corrective steps towards customer satisfaction.

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Weaknesses CapitalRaising capital for expansion and improvement is also a constraint. Apna Bazaar is bounded by the laws of consumer co-operatives due to which they cannot raise funds from open market. There is also limit prescribed by the consumer co-operatives for number of shares issued by Apna Bazaar. This is a major drawback for Apna Bazaar.

Ageing societyApna Bazar started after World War 2 when there was need of essential commodities at lower prices. But, after liberalization many super markets and hypermarkets have opened up due to which there is explosion of choices. Moreover, people today have the money to go for convenience shopping, and hence, the purpose for opening the co-operative is defeated.

No online retailingApna Bazar does not have information about its products online. They should have their own website as it is very important in today’s world. They could even learn about customer grievances by the feedback.

Price fluctuationPrice Fluctuation is a major threat to Apna Bazar. If the product is bought at a higher price is has to be sold at that price only so as not to incur losses. For example, the price of oil fluctuates a lot. So if the price for oil is Rs. 820 for a can when it is purchased, it will be sold at Rs 820 per can even if the price falls to Rs. 800 per can. In this case the oil available from other shops will be cheaper.

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Opportunities Brand buildingApna Bazaar can take efforts to build its’ brand image. For this purpose, a marketing firm can he hired. This will attract more and more people to its outlets. Also, they have upgraded their outlets. This can be the base for attracting more customers as they will soon have all air conditioned stores.

ExpansionApna Bazaar can expand its outlets to other states. At present, they have discovered interests from Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The initiation is on the anvil.

Development in suburbsPeople are now moving in the suburbs; infrastructure is developing due to which there is huge potential to attract more customers.

Retailing boom: Retailing today is not only about selling at the shop, but also about surveying the market, offering choice and experience to consumers, competitive prices and retaining consumers as well. The establishment of supermarkets and convenience stores has been a great effort to communicate the advantages of organized retailing to customers.

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Threats:

MallsThere are a large number of malls that offer discounts the discounts offered by them are as good as those offered by Apna Bazaar because the malls purchase in bulk and can hence afford to give heavy discounts to the customers. The customer has an explosion of choices and will prefer shopping at these big malls because of the ambience. They get the complete shopping experience at malls. Hence, malls are a major threat for Apna Bazaar.

Competition from other stores in terms of-

Customer Centric Approach: Most other stores take feedback from the customers in form of grievances, opinions and suggestions. They can find out customer needs and ways to satisfy them.

Image: Image of a private retailer is more modern and advanced compared to that of Apna Bazaar. The display is also more attractive in other super markets and hypermarkets compared to Apna Bazaar.

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Recommendations: Government interference has had a major effect on the democratic setup of Apna Bazaar. Therefore, lesser dependence on government should be opted for.

Government should help stores like Apna Bazaar with credit at cheaper interest rates.

Apna Bazaar should improve their capital assets by enrolling more members and also introduce more product varieties.

In the coming years, the economy will be dominated by the retailing sector. Times are changing, organizations are changing. Changing according to times is inevitable. Apna Bazaar has to change its traditional viewpoints. It should adopt new techniques and accept change wholeheartedly. Bringing qualitative changes in their skill and especially mindset will help it to survive competition.

Apna Bazaar can open one outlet offering all the products it sells in the 80 outlets so that people get all products offered by Apna Bazaar under one roof.

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