Big Bazaar Vs Spar : Gaurav Kumar_08pg304

11/30/2009

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON

SPAR & BIG BAZAAR

Gaurav Kumar 08PG304 Marketing- B

Spar Hypermarket:

Address: 39/4&44, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore- 560029 Landmark: Near HSBC Bank ATM SPAR Bangalore Location: Near Dairy Circle on Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore, India (Drive from Diary circle towards Bannerghatta Road, after Oracle you can find it on the left side of the road)

About SPAR:  Netherlands based  75 years old  Spread across 34 countries  6 million shoppers per day  SPAR comes from the Dutch word DESPAR meaning "We all benefit from joint cooperation"

WEBSITE: www.spar-international.coM "SPAR was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by Adriaan van Well, as a voluntary chain of grocers under the name "De Spar". His purpose was to secure cooperation between independent wholesalers and retailers as a response to the emergence of grocery chains in Europe." Max Hypermarkets India Pvt. Ltd tied up with SPAR and Max Hypermarkets is a part of Dubai based Landmark Group. Spar Hypermarket is a great retail concept.

Spar’s Products: Spar fulfils all your household needs from detergent to imported cheese, utensils to electronics and lots more. Spar is a one-stop shop for all your daily needs. Processed food, fresh fruits and vegetables, personal care products, crockery and cutlery as well as confectionary, fine liquors and delicious cooked food line the surroundings of this hypermarket. It offers varieties of Garments, groceries, meat items, fruits, vegetables, home appliances, electronic goods and liquor items etc.

In house brands: Max, Maxx garments are some of the in house brands tht spar has. The quality is pretty good along with the look of the farments.

Arrangement of the products: All in all, it has two floors/levels. Once customers cross via middle entrance way, customer will find right side huge garments for kid’s price ranging from Rs 100 to 1000 onward, and the right side may find varieties of Chocolates and biscuits items shelf apart from that the shelf contains hundreds of national and international magazines with different titles and different states newspaper. The inner length of the showroom is around 100 meters for each level. If you move ahead at right side, you will then find varieties of Men garments from Pants, shirts, T-Shirts, varieties of Shoes, chappals, Sandals and casual wear etc. and at the same opposite, you will find varieties of stationary items, books, pen, pencil and travel bag varieties etc. including writing desk and sitting chair for children. As in any retail outlet the products targeted towards different segments are clubbed together like here products related to men are arranged nearby for ease of search. End of this hall you may find lots of branded electrical and electronic goods where we can find many choices to compare and select them with discounted prices. Left side at the end of this hall, you may find electronic items most of them related to Computer, IPOD, DVD, Television etc. varieties of branded laptop and desktop displays are there, different IPOD available with discounted price and branded DVD are ready to purchase with warranty and Television has many choices to select such as Flat TV to normal one and from 14” TV to 110” home theatre TVs along with verities of Amplifier. Also right side at the end of this hall, you may find electrical items such as Refrigerator, Oven items, branded Stoves, Iron boxes, Air-condition, Fans, other barbeque grill items etc.

You may find varieties of Digital cameras, Pen Drive items and branded mobiles show room at right corner that near stairs toward 1st level. In the ground level itself if you move at left side dead end, you may find mini-restaurants, different branded mini-show rooms and (Duetsche) ATM centre etc. When you reach 1st level, you will find almost half hall with grocery items along with home and kitchen appliances. There is a separate corner is meant for varieties of sea food, mutton and chicken items. Another corner is only for liquor items. It is really helpful for monthly groceries from SPAR. Verities of rice, grams, branded teabag, tea, sugar and salt etc. also, varieties of fruits can be found at any day in a year regardless of fruit season. It also helps in buying varieties of vegetable with quality and fewer prices. When you reach 2nd level, you will find almost all items related to home furniture such as varieties of single and double Bed, many designs of Dining table and chairs, restaurant and home chairs, children’s bed, wardrobe, curtain, cushion, extra accessories for house and car decoration etc.

Billing: When you enter SPAR from middle entrance, you will find at left side around 5 cash counters and 7 cash counters at the right side. For fruits and vegetables, you have to pick a plastic cover/bag and get the required items and fill in it and weigh at the relevant counter to electronic tag the price which cashier scan them before payment at cash counter.

Ambience: the ambience at Spar as mentioned before is of international feel. The shopping experience itself is very appealing. The shop has well kept look with a fresh fragrance with uniform light everywhere.

Signage: There are directions and guidelines for the ease of movement for the public.

Attractions at SPAR what I felt: Ample shopping space Parking space Quality products Freedom to Choose Trollivator: Hassle free trolley drive moving around in different floors Very attractive prices

Friendly staff Good offers Kids Play area in a reasonable price tag for shopping with kids. Just name the product you want and you will get it what you want from here. Even banana leafs and tender coconut (wrapped ~Rs 8 at SPAR, Street Vendor price is Rs 10).

Service at Spar: The outlets are spacious and even though they have over ten cash counters, you can’t avoid the wait at billing on weekends. Service is attentive and the staff takes your purchases right up to your car. But I have noticed that the staff standing at the billing counters do not even have the slightest idea about the promo offers and when we pick something that is on promo and come to the billing section, people there are not aware of the promo offers. And even if we tell them about it, the price they come to is totally different than the price mentioned on the placards placed near the products. This makes our experience a bad one. I myself have left the product after picking it up. The store is clean and range of products is good but when it comes to prices, it is not so great compared to Big Bazaar. Almost all kinds of vegetables are available and that too very fresh and clean. Lots of billing counters that goes at a better pace than all the other stores. It has a kid's play area also but they charge Rs. 50 per hour or so. There is plenty of parking though paid one. Overall the outlet provides a good shopping experience.

Positive points about SPAR:  You can find anything in this place, a great variety and assortment of products.  Spar has sections called "everyday low prices"-EDLP  The floors are divided according to products, on the first floor a few independent retailers have stores and on the second and above floors, a super - hyper market exists.  Grocery, cutlery, confectionaries, electronic items, food, vegetables, meat, and plastic ware you name it and its there at spar hypermarket.  The place kind of gives me the feeling of being abroad – i.e. provides international experience.

Negative points about SPAR:  Most of the time, long queue will be there at each cashier counter to bill for their customer.  Problem in finding products as there is less assistance available during peak hours.  It is crowded, especially during the weekends it's a really busy place. SPAR’s brand proposition revolves around the four pillars of: Freshness Service Choice Value SPAR offers a truly International shopping experience and customer satisfaction.

Big bazaar

Address: 22,Salarpuria Tower,Koramangala Industrial Layout,Hosur Road, Bangalore, 560095 Big Bazaar is a chain of hypermarkets in India, with more than 100 stores in operation. It is a subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd's, Future Group, and follows the business model of United States-based Wal-Mart. With a slogan of "Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi!" ("Nowhere cheaper or better than this!"), the Big Bazaar targets itself directly at the average Indian's love of following the crowd and scrambling for a good discount. However, the chaos and crowds often make shopping there a challenge.

WEBSITE: bigbazaar.futurebazaar.com

Description The Outlets are spread in 60 locations across the country. It sells furniture, electronics, clothes, cookware, cosmetics, household items, food, gifts, jewelry and books. Also have special Food Bazaar outlets. Most stores open from 10 a.m. until 9.30-10 p.m. daily.

Products: Men's Clothing, Women's Clothing, Furniture, Home Decor, Electronics and Appliances, Malls and Super Markets, Music and Movies, Kids' Shopping, Accessories, Shopping, Entertainment Big Bazaar claims to offer over 1,70,000 products under one roof. These include clothes, home furnishings, crockery, books, computer accessories, groceries and the like. Big Bazaar gives a variety of options under the same roof starting from kids cloths to electronics items to cosmetics and vegetables. The Big Bazaar is a useful place to find cheap household items, clothes, and food all under one roof.

In house brands: Koryo, Dj&c, Fresh & pure, Sarapolo, Renuka, Clean mate , Star sitara, Sensei,Care mate, majithia etc. The in house brands are not that good when it comes to quality and style.

Arrangement: It has helpful for me to choose products and browse them because all the products are categorized in a uniform way as the electronics on 1st floor , furniture is on 2nd floor ,clothings and dressings are on 3 rd floor and vice versa. The store is neatly arranged and well stocked with various items. Every thing is kept so well arranged that you will never find it difficult to locate anything. The sales staff are also very professional and welltrained. If you dont know where a particular item is and they will be delighted to help you find the place where you can find things of your choice. We spend hours there and felt so nice. You can get almost everything here. You won't find neatly ordered aisles at the Big Bazaar. Instead, stores are laid out to replicate a market environment, with items all thrown in together. Promotions such as "Sabse Saste Teen Din" (Cheapest Three Days) and "Purana Do, Naya Lo" (Give Old, Take New) result in shoppers flooding the stores, to the point that some stores have become so overcrowded they've had to close.

Ambience: There is no specific theme as such. The ambience is more of a generalized form with uniform lighting everywhere. There are continuous announcements going on about the discounts and the offers the outlet provides. There is no specific fragrance.

Signage: There are signages but being a customer myself I have hardly noticed them easily. I have always asked for help from the sales people.

Billing: The waiting line model in big bazaar is not so efficient comapared to spar because the counters are lesser in number and the crowd is huge. Especially during festivals it’s very difficult to get the products billed.

Service: The sales persons in big bazaar according to me are not that efficient in directing people towards the products. Often they are not aware of the products present in the outlet. The space is not properly utilized. Personally I find it very messy because of the crowd. Toilet facilities etc are available for the public. Pros: •

Low prices.

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Great sales and promotions.

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Wide range of products under the one roof.

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Many stores.

Cons: •

Overcrowded.

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Checkout can be extremely slow.

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Poor customer service and overcharging.

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Quality is variable.

Attractions at BIG BAZAAR what I felt: The biggest attraction as I feel with Big Bazaar is its continuous discount offers. It always says that you cannot find a product cheaper than what they are selling. I think this is a legit claim. They really sell with less price tag than what I buy sometime from other stores. However, it applies only to general home based products

Another great thing about this market is the shopping experience that one is bound to get here. Everything is there under one roof. This is a novel experience at least in India. Then the support to the customer is perfect with every section is equipped with a knowledgeable sales man. This market is best for home based general items like FMCG products.

Table showing the comparison between Spar and Big Bazaar SPAR

BIGBAZAAR

Format

Hypermarket

Hypermarket

Target

Upper middle class to upper

Middle class to upper middle

class

class

Variety and assortment

Very good

Good

Ambience

International

Indian

Lighting

Constant

Constant

Arrangement

Organized

Less organized

Prices

Cheap

Cheaper

Billing

Quick

Comparatively slow and messy

Parking space

Ample

Not adequate

Products

Better quality

Quality not so good

Service

Good

Average

Conclusion: Being a customer of both the retail outlets I have personally felt that spar hypermarket is better than big bazaar in the following aspects Better Range Better Convenience Better Parking Better Experience Hence, Spar gives a better shopping experience for me compared to Big Bazaar.