Project On Spencer

A

ON

“Brand awareness of Spencer’s & its comparative analysis with Big Bazaar & other retail organizations in Lucknow city”

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY

Submitted to:

Submitted By:

Miss Chanjyot Kaur

Mohd Fahad Roll No. B57

Section- 1802 Reg. no. 10809577

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I would like to thank the Management at Spencer’s Retail Ltd. for giving me the opportunity to do my 45 days project training in their esteemed organization. I am highly obliged to my project guide Mr. Shekhar Sharma (HR manager, Spencer’s Retail Ltd.) for granting me to undertake my training at Lucknow. I express my thanks to all Staff of the branch under whose able guidance and direction, I was able to give shape to my training. Their constant review and excellent suggestions throughout the project are highly commendable. My heartfelt thanks go to all the executives who helped me gain knowledge about the actual working and the processes involved in various departments. I have no words to express my feeling of deep gratitude, which I owe to SWATI OBEROI DHAM who extended me assistance, support and council without, which this project would not have been materialized.

PROJECT GUIDE: Mr. SHEKHAR SHARMA

MOHD FAHAD

PREFACE

I am lucky that, I got an opportunity for making the project report on “Spencer Retail”. I visited the various concerns for 45 days and I prepare my project report on the topic “Brand awareness of Spencer’s & its comparative analysis with Big Bazaar & other retail organizations in Lucknow city.” and the study is divided into various chapters to get knowledge. I also considered some published material on the particular topic as well as about the concern. This helps me in boosting up my confidence and determination which will help me to face the situation in coming years. This report is written account of what I learnt and experienced during my survey. I wish, those going through it will not only find it readable but also get as useful Information. The main limitation of my experience was that I did not get the full and correct Information from the market, as many of the respondents did not answer to my questionnaire correctly and completely.

INTRODUCTION

Date of Establishment

1996

Revenue

Rs. 10,913 crores (FY 2007) – RPG Group

Market Cap

Rs. 8,314 crores (2007) – RPG Group

Address

RPG Enterprises, CEAT Mahal, 463, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai 400 030, Maharashtra, India

Branches

Mumbai, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Calicut, Hyderabad, Vizag, Vijayawada, Aurangabad Durgapur and Kolkata

Management Team

R.P Goenka – Chairman Emeritus Harsh Goenka – Chairman Sanjiv Goenka – Vice Chairman S Bannerjee – President/Chief Executive Power Sector P.K Chowdhary – President/Chief Executive Tyre Sector Subroto Chattopadhayay – President/Chief Executive Entertainment Sector P.K Mohapatra – President/CEO, Technology Sector Arvind Agrawal – President/Chief Executive Corporate Development and HR Ramesh Chandak - President/Chief Executive Transmission Sector P. Sampath Group CFO

Overview

Spencer’s Retail is a part of the RPG Companies that deals with food, apparel, fashion, electronics, lifestyle products, music and books. It operates through over 350 stores. It also offers services such as gift vouchers and easy loans in association with CitiFinancial Consumer Finance India Ltd. It consists of Spencer’s Hypermarkets, Spencer’s Super, Spencer’s Daily and Spencer’s Express.

Company History YEAR

EVENTS

1987 - The company was established in the year. The main objects of the company are marketing and distribution manufacture of Pharmaceuticals-Aerated waters and other food products- Marketing of consumer durables- Trawlers and marine products processing- Travel and shipping- Imports and Exports - Hotels and Catering- Tea estater-Chain departmental stores-computer and computer services- Real Estates. - M/s Kellner Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Vulcan Electricals Ltd., Spencer International Hotels Ltd., Spencer, Furnitures & Furnishing, Spencer Estates Ltd., Spencer Consumer Products and Services Ltd., Spencer Pharmaceticals Ltd., G.F.Kellner & Co. Ltd., Fiesta Restaurant Ltd., Kartik Pharmaceuticals Ltd., and Spencer Information Services are the subsidiaries.

1995 - Spencer Industrial Fund Ltd has become a Subsidiary of Spencer International Hotels Ltd under provision of Section 4(1) (a) of the Companies Act, 1956 and accordingly a Subsidiary of this Company also from 24th January. 1996 - The Company has entered into a Technical Assistance cum Joint venture options Agreement with M/s. Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd., a major International retailing force operating in several countries. 1997 - During the year the company has entered into a Joint Venture agreement with DFI Mauritius Limited to enter yet another Retail Format. A chain of retail drugstores, dealing in Medicines, Cosmetics, Toiletries and allied Health and Beauty products, is proposed to be set up on a nation-wide basis. - A new company has been named as RPG Guardian Private Limited and is on a mission to lop a highly regarded retail business in India by offering excellent service and value to customers. The company has been set up on a 50 : 50 equity partnership basis. The total paid up capital of the company will be Rs. 450 lakhs consisting of 45,00,000 of equity shares of Rs. 10/- each. 1998 - Mr P.K. Mohapatra appointed as Managing Director w.e.f. 1st April. - The Company's expansion into Food Retailing through the chain of Food World Supermarket started during 1996 made significant progress during the year. - Foodworld has became a household name in three cities enjoying high patronage from its customers and suppliers. 2000 - Spencer & Company, an RPG group outfit, has signed a joint venture agreement with Dairy Farm International Mauritius (DFI) to launch a chain of large distribution infrastrucutre, essentially meant to serve the small retailer. - The Company will form a joint venture company, as a subsidiary of Spencer’s.

Spencer's Retail Based in Kolkata, India, Spencer's Retail is one of the country's fastest growing retail companies with approximately 2 million square feet of retail space and more than 400 stores in 65 cities. Products include food, apparel, electronics, lifestyle products, music, and books. Spencer's Retail is a division of RPG Enterprise, a business group with more than 20 companies in industries such as power, technology, retail, and entertainment. Established in 1979, RPG Enterprises has annual revenue of $3.25 billion. Customer Challenges 1. Enable rapid business expansion 2. Improve performance 3. Add room for growth 4. Ensure IT systems' availability

Solution Spencer's Retail based its production environment on Sun SPARC Enterprise servers that run SAP ERP software. The infrastructure includes Sun storage solutions and a remote disaster recovery site with Sun SPARC Enterprise and Sun Fire servers. When implementation is complete, more than 350 stores will connect to the new system. Business Results 1. Improved performance 2. Increased scalability 3. Ensured IT systems' availability 4. Reduced space and power requirements

Products and Services 1. Sun SPARC Enterprise M5000 Server 2. Sun SPARC Enterprise M4000 Server 3. Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 Server 4. Sun Fire V490 Server 5. Sun Storage Tek 6540 Array 6. Sun Storage Tek 6140 Array 7. Sun Storage Tek SL500 Modular Library System 8. Solaris 10 Operating System 9. Solaris Cluster 3.2 10. Sun Storage Tek Data Replicator Software

Related Customer Success Stories 1. Out spark Increases System Uptime and Performance, Cuts Power Consumption and Costs with Sun Server Solution 2. Sun Unified Storage Helps Elanders Reduce Costs and Increase Performance 3. Ivan Smith Furniture Deploys a Java-Based Reporting System from MCM Software 4. View all Customer Success Stories

Story Details Spencer's Retail in India is in an enviable but challenging position instead of trying to generate new business, it is struggling to keep up with explosive growth. Approximately two years ago, the company had approximately 60 stores and 4,000 employees; today, it has more than 350 stores and 15,000 employees.

By 2004 the retail industry was growing rapidly in India, and Spencer's Retail decided to pursue an aggressive expansion strategy. The company had the customers, the products, and the employees to make it happen. It just needed an IT infrastructure that could support rapid growth. Current servers were at capacity, and the company needed to upgrade before adding new stores. Amit Mukerjee, Group CIO of the RPG Group, describes the challenge as part of the learning curve for retail development in India. “Retailing is a new business in this country. As the business matures, the process matures, and IT systems must evolve accordingly.” " One benefit for us with Sun Microsystems is its understanding of retail and its ability to architect a solution for this type of business. The second benefit is that Sun has the technology to support a transaction-intensive environment, and it can provide us a solution that can handle large amounts of data so that business runs smoothly. " — Amit Mukherjee, Group CIO, RPG Group The company also needed an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to handle critical processes such as supply-chain management. It decided to implement mySAP ERP, now called SAP ERP, and realized the solution needed to run on high-performance servers. Spencer's Retail evaluated several possibilities, including servers from HP, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. It decided to build its IT infrastructure on Sun systems for several reasons. Sun SPARC Enterprise Servers had the performance and scalability needed to sustain its business, and they delivered higher performance at less cost. Sun's knowledge of the retail space in India, as well as its long history with RGP Enterprises, were also deciding factors. Spencer's Retail chose Sun SPARC Enterprise M5000 servers with four dual-core 2.1 GHz SPARC 64 VI processors as the center of its production environment. Designed for consolidation and virtualization, Sun SPARC Enterprise Servers bring mainframe-class utilization and efficiency levels to the open systems market. Supporting hardware partitions and Solaris Containers, these systems deliver deliver 24/7 mission-critical services while reducing power, cooling, and space requirements. After an eight-month testing period beginning in early 2005, the company installed the SAP ERP database software on two Sun SPARC Enterprise M5000 servers in a high-availability cluster with Sun Cluster 3.2 software. The disaster recovery solution ensures business continuity with advanced failover protection.The cluster is connected to a Sun StorageTek 6540 array through a Dell Brocade SW200E Switch. ASun StorageTek SL500 Modular Library System is used for data backup as well. The solution also includes Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120, Sun SPARC Enterprise M4000, and Sun Fire V490 servers used to support both production and quality assurance functions. Spencer's Retail has rolled out its SAP solution to approximately 160 stores and expects to complete deployment to more than 350 stores by October 2008. The company purchased the SunSpectrum Enterprise Service Plan to help support the ambitious project. Indranil Guha, head of the ERP data center at Spencer & Co. says, “We are always in touch with Sun; we work with it as a partner. Good customer service is very important to us, because we run our entire business on Sun servers.”

The company is meeting its initial goals for a high-performance solution with room for growth. It has already observed that data transactions run as much as five times faster on the new systems. And it estimates that its current solution can easily handle up to 1,000 stores. The company also appreciates that the more energy-efficient and compact design will reduce space and power requirements. Spencer's Retail plans to enhance its IT environment further with a new disaster recovery site, which will include Sun Fire V890 servers and Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 servers running Solaris Cluster software connected to a StorageTek 6140 array. It will also use Sun StorageTek Data Replicator Software software to mirror data between the production environment and the remote location. Together with its new server infrastructure, the disaster recover installation will provide the high-performance, high-availability solution the company envisioned. With its business processes running on Sun infrastructure, Spencer's Retail can meet business growth with confidence.

SPENCERS RETAIL LIMITED Company Profile Company Profile Spencer's retail is the largest* supermarket chain in India. We offer a complete range of products & durables, from bread to bed cover; from toothpaste to even television sets. Today Spencer's has 100 stores spread across 25 cities with a retail trading area of more than half a million square feet, and we're growing rapidly. Spencer's is the shopping choice for millions across the country, 2.8 million to be exact, who frequent our stores every month. Today Spencer's offers its customers a customized and convenient shopping experience in 5 different formats. Each format, namely the Spencer's Express, Spencer's Fresh, Spencer's Daily, Spencer's Super and Spencer's Hyper is differently sized and caters to the various needs of our consumers. We at Spencer's offer a pleasant and delightful shopping experience by ensuring convenient store locations, trusted quality, great value for money and a wide array of products. And these qualities characterize all of our 100 stores, across the country. Technology in Retail: The ERP Initiative at Spencer's Retail Ltd. Over the years, during the turn of twentieth century as the consumer demand increased and the retailers geared up to meet this increase world over, technology evolved rapidly to support this growth. The hardware and software tools that have now become almost essential for retailing can be classified into 3 broad categories: Customer Interfacing Systems •

Bar Coding and Scanners Point of Sale (POS) systems use scanners and bar coding to identify an item, use prestored data to calculate the cost and generate the total bill for a client.

•

Payment Payment through credit cards has become quite widespread and this enables a fast and easy payment process. Electronic cheque conversion, a recent development in this area, processes a cheque electronically by transmitting transaction information to the retailer and consumer's bank. •

Internet

Internet is also rapidly evolving as a customer interface, removing the need of a customer physically visiting the store. Operation Support Systems •

ERP System

Various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors have developed retail-specific systems which help in integrating all the functions from warehousing to distribution, front and back office store systems and merchandising. An integrated supply chain helps the retailer in maintaining his stocks, getting his supplies on time, preventing stock-outs and thus reducing his costs, while servicing the customer better. •

CRM Systems The rise of loyalty programs, mail order and the Internet has provided retailers with real access to consumer data. Data warehousing and mining technologies offers retailers the tools they need to make sense of their consumer data and apply it to business.

•

Advanced Planning and Scheduling Systems APS systems can provide improved control across the supply chain, all the way from raw material suppliers, right through to the retail shelf. They enable consolidation of activities such as long term budgeting, monthly forecasting, weekly factory scheduling and daily distribution scheduling into one overall planning process using a single set of data.

Strategic Decision Support Systems •

Store Site Location Demographics and buying patterns of residents of an area can be used to compare various possible sites for opening new stores. Today, software packages are helping retailers not only in their locational decisions but in decisions regarding store sizing and floor-spaces as well.

•

Visual Merchandising The decision on how to place and stack items in a store is no more taken on the gut feel of the store manager. A larger number of visual merchandising tools are available to him to evaluate the impact of his stacking options

To manage this kind of growth, it was necessary to move out of legacy systems, as they didn't provide the scalability that was needed. Plus, some of its stores are currently working on as many as four different legacy systems, managing which was very difficult. It needed a solution to manage everything under one umbrella. So it engaged a team of experts to evaluate various solutions in the market. Spencer's found that SAP came closest to fulfilling its needs. Project Shakti has been operating for the last two years out of Chennai and it has already gone live in seven States – Andhra Pradesh (Vizag since 17 November 2006), Haryana (Gurgaon, since March 08, 2007), Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Karnataka (Bangalore, since 1 July 2008). Spencer's Retail has rolled out its SAP solution to approximately 207 stores and expects to complete deployment to more than 350 stores by October 2008. While 53% stores run on SAP, 28% stores run on Oracle and 18% stores run on FoxPro.They are using the latest MySAP ERP IS Retail ECC 6.0 for their operations in Books & Beyond, and are gradually migrating the rest to SAP.

At RPG, the businesses are divided into three entities (Spencer's, Music World and Books & Beyond). Spencer's business is basically procurement of articles from respective distribution centres (DC) and selling to customers. The DCs in turn would be procuring articles based on the site's need from different vendors. The business processes covered under this are purchase, sales, inventory controlling along with financial accounting. The challenges faced during the implementation are managing the different pricing procedures which change very rapidly, managing the promotions; automation of the POS information, high volume of information to be processed, GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Investment) etc. They have followed SAP Methodology during the course of this implementation. The Project leader from SAP India gathered the necessary KPI's, Dimensions and reports from the functional consultants. Based on these inputs he prepared a Data Model and the Blue Print. Taking this Blue print as input the team at RPG was responsible in preparing the technical specs and also realize/develop the objects. With ERP, high-availability is a challenge as the network over which the data travels from, say, a datacenter to the store is not within its control and belongs to an external agency. Spencer's ERP datacenter is based out of Kolkata along with the business warehousing servers. For data processing, they have 'staging servers'. These are intermediary servers to store data temporarily before moving it to the SAP Production server. Eventually, all stores and warehouses across all locations will be integrated with its datacenter and shall be working on a real-time basis, except for the PoS billing system. At the end of each working day, the data is sent to the parent datacenter for processing and analytics. In its legacy systems, they have deployed solutions like SAS and SAPZone. They use them to do bill-value and time analysis. They are also using MySAP Business Warehousing BW 7.0 for analytics. While their aggregated sales data goes to the SAP production server, the non-aggregated data goes to the business warehousing server for analytics at Kolkata. The latter helps them analyze customer buying patterns. The former data helps them manage inventory, stock keeping, etc. While some basic infrastructure is in place already, they are gradually implementing business intelligence into their system in due course. An important pillar of retail business is ERP, which has three elements – People, Process and Technology. The People part is most difficult to manage as it needs to recruit, train and motivate people constantly, generate awareness and do change management. This makes the task more challenging, as it needs to manage deployments in such a dynamic environment keeping pace with the company's exponential growth plans.

Operations Spencer's has retail footage of over 1 million square feet and over 275 Spencer's stores in 50 cities. The company operates through the following formats: •

The Spencer's Hyper stores are destination stores, of more than 15,000 sq. ft in size. They offer everything under one roof. The merchandise ranges from

fruits & vegetables, processed foods (Ready to Eat, Ready to Cook, FMCG products),specialty foods including international, sugar free, organic foods, etc...groceries, meat, chicken, fish, bakery, chilled and frozen foods, garments, consumer electronics & electrical products, home care, home décor & home needs, office stationeries, soft toys. Besides, the stores also comprise book & music retailing, electronic gadgets and IT accessories. On an average, a Spencer's hyper stocks 70,000 SKUs across 35,000 items. •

The Spencer's stores are neighborhood stores ranging from 1500 less than 15000 sq. ft. These stores stock the necessary range and assortment in fruit and vegetables, fmcg food and non-food, staples and frozen foods and cater to the daily and weekly top-up shopping needs of the consumer. Some of these stores which have floor area of more than 10,000 sq ft sometimes offer home care products; personal care products, bakery, chilled and frozen food; baby care, basics in garments and limited range of electronics and electrical.

New Ventures ➢ Spencer’s Retail has announced a tie-up with British retailer Woolworths Plc for

exclusively selling its famous toy brand Chad Valley through its outlets. ➢ Besides the Chad Valley range of toys (available at prices Rs.49 upwards).Woolworths is also planning to introduce the Ladybird range of Kids wear.

Vision To “build Spencer’s as the most professionally managed retail business in the country through: ➢ Excellence in all operating process; ➢ Nurturing and facilitating a learning and growth culture; ➢ Building a unique retail experience for the customers”.

Mission Strives to exceed the aspirations of its customers for a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle by providing:  The most innovative customer goods and delectable taste experience.  The ultimate shopping experience.

 Unbeatable value.  The “next” place away from home or office to relax and indulge themselves.

Major Investment plan 1. It will be going in for a public issue within the next 12 months to raise capital for expansion. 2. The company will be investing Rs.10 billion over the next three years using both internal sources and an IPO. 3. The company has already reserved 1 million sq ft of space all over the country and will be creating close to 10,000 jobs in its different formats. 4. Spencer’s Retail currently employs 4,500 people and has 6 million sq ft of space.

Formats of Spencer’s outlets

Spencer’s has retail footage over 2 million square feet and over 400 Spencer’s stores in 65 cities. The Company operates through the following formats: 1. Spencer’s Hypermarkets: A fast growing retail network of hypermarkets with

large format stores in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Calicut, Hyderabad, Vizag, Vijaywada, Aurangabad, Durgapur and Kolkata. 2. Spencer’s super: One of the largest supermarket chains in the food and grocery

segment in India. 3. Spencer’s Daily: Small format stores conveniently located with a range of products

to meet daily household needs. 4. Spencer’s express: Food and grocery store next door.

Spencer’s Daily

Fresh Fruit Stall

Market stall

Manton Market

➢ The Spencer’s Daily store is a friendly neighborhood store, which caters to the entire daily shopping needs- from regular groceries to fresh food and also weekly top-up shopping. ➢ It is about 4000-7000 sq ft in size and with a bright and friendly atmosphere; Spencer’s Daily saves the hassle of bargaining with the local kirana shop owners (because it offers the lowest possible prices).

Spencer’s Express

➢ Spencer’s Express is a store next door for the fresh needs at arm’s length. ➢ These stores are around 1000 sq ft in size. They are open from 7 am to 9 pm and also provides with home delivery. ➢ The Express stores stock dairy, fruit and vegetables, bread and bread products, cut vegetables/ready to cook, fruit juice, fresh batter, fresh coffee/tea, fresh masalas, fresh pickles, fresh Ghee, fresh Fish and meat.

Spencer’s Fresh

➢ Spencer’s fresh stores provide with an enjoyable and convenient shopping environment in very own neighborhood. These 2000 sq ft. air conditioned stores are well stocked with Fresh food of very best quality, such as fresh farm produce, vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, breads and much more. With an impressive range and a clean, bright and hygienic ambience, Spencer’s Fresh is far better the regular sabzi mandis or local vegetables markets and at Spencer’s. ➢ Fresh consumers not only do get fresh, clean and tasty farm produce but also the lowest possible prices in the locality, yes even lower than sabziwala!

Spencer’s Super

➢ The Spencer’s Super is the place to go for the monthly shopping. ➢ About 8000-15000 sq ft. in size, the Spencer’s Super not only caters to the daily needs but also stocks home care products; personal care products, Bakery, Chilled and frozen food; Baby care besides groceries & staples, Fresh fruits and vegetables.

Spencer’s Hyper

➢ The Spencer’s Hypermarkets are huge destination stores, more than 25,000 sq ft. in trading area. Shoppers come here looking for fantastic deals across all categories.

➢ Hypermarkets ensure a comfortable, clean, bright and functional ambience to shop along with the convenience of finding everything under one roof at the best value for money.

India’s first modern format hypermarket was opened by Spencer’s in Hyderabad in January 2001. Located over an area of 1,20,000 sq.ft., the store has a trading area of 36,000 sq.ft. The Spencer’s hypermarkets, located across the country, are open throughout the day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Spencer’s already employ over 9000 employees across 60 cities. Roughly 1/3rd of the team are women. Spencer’s began its operations in India way back in 1863 and since then has remained a part of the lives of Indian consumers. 145 years later, the Spencer’s name still evokes special memory of authentic quality at affordable prices. Currently, RPG’s Retail activity comprises Spencer’s Retail, RPG Cellucom, Books & Beyond and MusicWorld. RPG’s total retail outlets are more than …… The total area of all Spencer’s stores across the country is over ….. sq.ft. Spencer’s currently has a national consumer base of over 48 million people, who walk into the store every year.

Snapshot Different Formats of Spencer’s

Format

Stocks

Minimum Trading Area (sq. ft.)

Spencer’s Express

dairy, fruit and vegetables, bread and bread products, fruit juice, fresh batter, fresh coffee/tea, masalas, pickles, Ghee, Fish and meat.

1000

Spencer’s Fresh

vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, breads

2000

Spencer’s daily

regular groceries

4000-7000

Spencer’s Super

home care products; personal care products, Bakery, Chilled and frozen food; Baby care products

8000-15000

Spencer’s Hyper

Miscellaneous

More than 25000

Big Bazaar Big Bazaar is not just another hypermarket. It caters to every need of your family. Where Big Bazaar scores over other stores is its value for money proposition for the Indian customers. At Big Bazaar, you will definitely get the best products at the best prices - that’s what we guarantee. With the ever increasing array of private labels, it has opened the doors into the world of fashion and general merchandise including home furnishings, utensils, crockery, cutlery, sports goods and much more at prices that will surprise you. And this is just the beginning. Big Bazaar plans to add much more to complete your shopping experience. The Big Bazaar is the discount store which offers a wide range of products under one roof. The products include apparels and non-apparels such as utensils, sports goods and footwear. The Food Bazaar provides a range of food and grocery products ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, FMCG products and ready-to-cook products. The Central offers a chain of stores including books and music stores, global brands in fashion, sports and lifestyle accessories, grocery store and restaurants. The Group's other formats include, Depot, Shoe Factory, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, Fashion Station, aLL, Top 10, mBazaar and Star and Sitara. It also operates an online portal, futurebazaar.com.

Other Retail Stores

What started as a humble one store enterprise in 1986 in Kolkata (erstwhile, Calcutta) is today a conglomerate encompassing 180 showrooms in 100 cities / 24 states. India’s first hyper-market has also been opened for the Indian consumer by Vishal. Situated in the national capital Delhi this store boasts of the singe largest collection of goods and commodities sold under one roof in India. The group had a turnover of Rs. 1463.12 million for fiscal 2005, under the dynamic leadership of Mr.Ram Chandra Agarwal . The group had a turnover of Rs 2884.43 million for fiscal 2006 and Rs. 6026.53 million for fiscal 2007. The group’s prime focus is on retailing. The Vishal stores offer affordable family fashion at prices to suit every pocket. The group’s philosophy is integration and towards this end has initiated backward integration in the field of high fashion by setting up a state of the art manufacturing facility to support its retail endeavors. Vishal is one of fastest growing retailing groups in India. Its outlets cater to almost all price ranges. The showrooms have over 70,000 products range which fulfills all your household needs, and can be catered to under one roof. It is covering about 29, 90, 146 sq. ft. in 24 states across India. Each store gives you international quality goods and prices hard to match. The cost benefits that is derived from the large central purchase of goods and services is passed on to the consumer.

Reliance Retail, Ltd. operates retail outlets in India. Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel and footwear, lifestyle and home improvement products, electronic goods, and farm implements and inputs. The company’s outlets also provide vegetables, fruits, and flowers. It focuses on consumer goods, consumer durables, travel services, energy, entertainment and leisure, and health and well-being products, as well as on educational products and services. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Mumbai, India. Reliance Retail, Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, Ltd.

Subhiksha was an Indian retail chain with 1600 outlets selling groceries, fruits, vegetables, medicines and mobile phones. It was started and is managed by R Subramaniam, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus. Subhiksha plans to open 1000 outlets by December 2008.[1] He also plans to invest Rs.500 crore to increase the number of outlets to 2000 across the country by 2009.its turn over was 2305 crore in financial year 2008. The name Subhiksha means prosperity in Sanskrit. It opened its first store in Thiruvanmiyur in Chennai in March, 1997 with an investment of about Rs. 5 lakhs. The retail chain has seen a considerable growth by offering goods at cheaper rates and there by increasing its customer base. It is also dubbed as India's largest retail chain.vision to deliver consistently better value to Indian consumers, has guided Subhiksha to deliver savings to all consumers on each and every item that they need in their daily lives, 365 days a year, without any compromise on quality of goods purchased. Subhiksha now has the pan Indian presence with stores across Delhi, UP, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, AP, Karnataka and TN. It has recently commenced operation in Kerala also. Today, it is a multi-locational, professionally managed and vibrant organization.

Subhiksha now has even opened Specialised Mobile shops called Subhiksha Mobile where mobiles are sold at a discounted price. As of January 2009, Subhiksha has been facing severe financial crises pertaining to liquidity. This has led to the shutting down of a large number of stores across the Nation.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY This project is based on the comparative study of consumer behavior towards Brand awareness of Spencer’s and its comparative analysis with Big Bazaar & other retail organizations in Lucknow city. Objectives of the study are:  To study about the Brand awareness of Spencer’s.  To analyze the organized retailer’s profitability drivers on the basis of Garments, Gifts, Cards & Music Department.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY As learning is a human activity and is as natural, as breathing. Despite of the fact that learning is all pervasive in our lives, psychologists do not agree on how learning takes place. How individuals learn is a matter of interest to marketers. They want to teach retailers in their roles as their roles as consumers. They want retailers to learn about their products, product attributes, potential consumers benefit, how to use, maintain or even dispose of the product and new ways of behaving that will satisfy not only the consumer’s needs, but the marketer’s objectives. The scope of my study restricts itself to the Brand awareness of Spencer’s and its comparative analysis with Big Bazaar & other retail organizations in Lucknow city. The scope of my study is also restricts itself to Lucknow city only. The scope of my study restricts itself to analyze the organized retailer’s profitability drivers on the basis of Garments, Gifts, Cards & Music Department where as in the recent trend it's seen that the

key players in retail industry are more emphasizing on the Garments, Personal grooming, Home furnishings, Life style and footwear Department in their Stores.

Research Methodology This chapter describes the methodology of the study. This project is based on information collected from primary sources. After the detailed study, an attempt has been made to present Brand awareness of Spencer’s and its comparative analysis with Big Bazaar & other retail organizations towards the people. The data had been used to cover various aspects like price of various commodities available at Spencer’s and Big bazaar. In collecting requisite data and information regarding the topic selected, I went to the outlets of Spencer’s, Big Bazaar & Vishal Mega Mart of Lucknow city and collected the data.

Survey design: The study is a cross sectional study because the data were collected at a single point of time. For the purpose of present study a related sample of population was selected on the basis of convenience.

Sample Size and Design: A sample of 100 peoples & 3 stores was taken on the basis of convenience. The actual customers were contacted on the basis of random sampling.

Research Period: Research work is only carried for 3 weeks.

Research Instrument: This work is carried out through face to face survey &self-administered questionnaires. The questions included were open ended, dichotomous and offered multiple choices.

Data Collection: The data, which is collected for the purpose of study, is divided into 2 bases:  Primary Source: The primary data comprises information survey of “Brand awareness of Spencer’s and its comparative analysis with Big Bazaar & other retail organizations ”. The data has been collected directly from respondent & with the help of structured questionnaires.  Secondary Source: The secondary data was collected from Company’s website and price list of the companies.

Data Analysis:  The data is analyzed on the basis of suitable tables by using mathematical

techniques. The technique that I have used is pie graphs, Bar graphs, with MS Excel & SPSS.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In attempt to make this project authentic and reliable, every possible aspect of the topic was kept in mind. Nevertheless, despite of fact constraints were at play during the formulation of this project. The main limitations are as follows:

 Due to limitation of time only 100 people & 3 stores were selected for the study. So

the sample of people & stores was not enough to generalize the findings of the study.

 The main source of data for the study was primary data with the help of selfadministered questionnaires. Hence, the chances of unbiased information are less.

 Retailers were hesitant to disclose the true facts.

Survey on Spencer’s retail What is the thought of people about Spencer’s retail? 1.

Have you heard of Spencer’s? Yes

93

No

7

2.

3.

4.

Have you visited Lucknow city Spencer’s earlier? Yes

90

No

10

Visited Lucknow Spencer’s once, twice or more? Once

12

Twice

19

More than Twice

69

Peoples not visited to local retail stores? Local shops

10.0

Big Bazaar

20.0

Any other stores

70.0

5.

6.

7.

Spencer’s products range available to customers? Spencer’s

3%

Big Bazaar

5%

Vishal Mega Mart

15%

Others

77%

Spencer’s in FMCG? Spencer’s

67%

Big Bazaar

25%

Vishal Mega Mart

8%

Spencer’s in garments? Yes

8

No

92

8.

Spencer’s in F & V?

Yes

22

No

78

Findings  Spencer’s have good brand awareness among the consumers.  Big Bazaar has better product range than Spencer’s.  Big Bazaar have greater acceptance among the consumers in comparison to Spencer’s.  FMCG products have major acceptance of all offerings of Spencer’s among consumers.

 The consumers are not much satisfied of the offers introduced by Spencer’s.  Big Bazaar has better promotional schemes than Spencer’s.

Data Analysis and Interpretation ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY ON SPENCER RETAIL Types of Customer: Spencer is a major player in the Indian organized retail industry. They have a good customer base in the high class level income group. Mainly they are focusing on the Men-WomenKids Apparel, gifts and also in the home furnishing products. They have huge music, cards or cookery departments. TYPES OF TARGET CUTOMER HIGH GRADE INCOME LEVEL

75%

MEDIUM GRADE INCOME LEVEL

20%

AVEREGE GRADE INCOME LEVEL

5%

From the above the analysis it’s revealed that though a very few numbers of low grade income level customers are visiting the garment section but in the gifts section we have found that the products are unreachable for the average level income groups.

Flow of customer in different departments: Here we have analyzed the flow of customer’s per day basis. For this reason we have studied customer flows on an average of high customer flow days. Inter-Department Customer Flow DEPARTMENT

NUMBER OF CUSTOMER

GARMENTS DEPARTMENT

350

GIFTS DEPARTMENT

700

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

900

In Spencer we have found that the average customer flow lies between 650-700 on average high customer flow day. The main products categories in Spencer basically the Music and home furnishing products related to gifts items. We have found that in the case of garments department customer flow is 350 per day bases and in the case of gifts departments its 600 to 700 per day basis. It’s noted that the gifts department consists of exclusive products. Value of Stock in the different department:

VALUE OF THE STOCK DEPARTMENT

GARMENTS DEPARTMENT

(Rs)

760000

The garment section is divided MUSIC DEPARTMENT 8060000 into Men, women and kids section as well as lifestyle accessories and shoe wears. They have all the major brands like Blackberry, Louis Phillips, Lee Coopers, Van Hausen, Parx, Lee for in the men category, Melanga, Code, Ginger in the women category and for the kids section they have brands like Bossini, Benetton, Orchestra, Juniors, Teeny Tiny, Artex etc. GIFTS DEPARTMENT

5050000

The garments section includes: 1. Watch section for the brands like Fast track, Zodiac, Hugo-boss, Nautica, Marie Claire, Casio, Guess, GC, Kenneth Cole, Aspen, Skagen, Levi’s, Adidas etc. 2. Sunglass section for the brands like Ferrari, Mojo, Mont blanc, Scott, Guess etc. 3. Fashion accessories for the brands like Tribal Zone, Sarah, Fire Fly, Adrika, Earrings, Necklace, Bracelet, Anklet, Bangles, Hair Clips, Bra Straps, Scrunges, Men’s Jewelry, Kids Fashion. All these product range are exclusively for the High grade income level customers.

The gifts section is consisting of high class home furnishings and personal grooming products. They are introducing it by the name of “Home Centre”. It’s a one-stop destination for furniture, home ware and home furnishings that enterprises elegance, luxury and individuality. Home Centre houses a wide range of contemporary and classic furniture, linen as well as other home accessories, thus providing customers a high range product.

Revenue generated by the different department: REVENUE PER DEPARTMENT

In 2007-08 (Rs)

GARMENTS DEPARTMENT

2000000

GIFTS DEPARTMENT

4000000

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

6500000

TOTAL

12500000

The average revenue earned per customer basis is more Rs.15000. Comparison of revenue generated by the each department is taken into consideration on an average of high customer flow days. From the above analysis it’s found that the average customers in the all departments are basically high grade income level customers. Garment Department: Overview: In Garment department the products are mainly the major international readymade brands and price ranges lies between Rs.800 to Rs.2000 averagely which is meant for a few Indians customers. Findings: The products exclusively for a certain income level customers. Maximum products are unreachable for the medium and average income level customers.

Suggestions: They are focusing a very few Indian customers and the most of the Indian consumers can’t afford this price range. So if they want to increase their market share in the Indian retail Industry they should introduce such product range also which can be affordable for the medium level income groups and the main customer in the retail industry lies within it.

Gifts Department Overview: Gifts department is consisting of various product categories from home furnishing products to personal grooming products. Findings: In the Spencer we have found a wider range of glass made and metal products which are exclusive and also the quality isn’t up to the price levels. Whatever, the stock is sufficient to satisfy its customers but the price range is found very high as a gift product in this department.

Suggestions: Again the Indian retail industry is targeting the medium level income group people as its increasing day by day but the products in the Spencer store is meant only for the high class consumers which is very low in population in India. Also an important point is noted that though the volume is sufficient but the variety in product categories as a gift isn’t sufficient. Music Department Overview: Music section consist of Music CD;s, Game CD & DVD’s and also Movie DVD’s. Findings: Spencer has introduced very low range cd & dvd’s like “Moserbear” music and movie cddvd’s and price range lies in between Rs 30 to 100. Basically they are gaining a competitive business at the age of piracy products in this industry. Also they have a very good collection in games cd-dvd categories at a low price range of Rs 100 to 200 whereas if anyone go to the open market the average price range is Rs 300 to 400 for the copyright product. Suggestions:

Spencer is earning more revenue by its music section. In the music it’s found that the collection of cd’s and educational cd’s low than the music games cds. They are emphasizing on the low price mp3 and game cds where as there is also a demand for educational and movies cd-dvd’s.

Analysis of the study on Big Bazaar In the Indian Retail Scenario Big Bazaar has a great success to create a revolution. Basically they have differentiated their customers on the basis of customers rather than their income level. Later on we will analyze these aspects. Here we are analyzing which income level of customers are generally tended to purchase the products in Big Bazaar department wise: Percentage of customers flows department wise Type of customer

Garment section

Gifts Section

Music section

Cards section

High grade income level

10%

15%

50%

7%

Medium grade income level

50%

55%

40%

53%

High grade income level

40%

30%

10%

40%

From the above details it is found that the garment section they are targeting the middle and average level of customers. They are not promoting any major brands and they have their own brand towards the major brands in garments industry. Flow of high level of customers I music section is better than the other department. Generally upper middle and medium class and also a good percentage of average income level customers visits their old departments. Flow of customers in different departments: Here we have analyzed the flow of customers per day basis. For this reason studied customer flows on an average of high customer flow days.

Inter-Department Customer Flow Department

Number of customer

Garments Department

1600

Gifts Department

600

Cards Department

250

Music Department

800

With the study of customer flow in Big Bazaar on an average of high customer flow day we came to know that it’s basically lies between 2000-2500 customers per day. Here we talking the customers who are generating revenues for these departments. From the above figures its executed that flow of customers in garment department is relatively higher than the other departments. One significant difference is noted than the others retail is that they have placed their music department at the front of cash counters and introduced low range of music cds’ and game dvd’s for the all category customers which increased customers the flow in the music department.

Value of stock in the different departments: We have chosen 4 departments from Spencer’s store and estimated the valuation of average stock with the assumption details provided by the branch operation stuffs. Department

(Rs)

Garments Department

163000000

Gifts Department

7500000

Cards Department

150000

Value of the stock

The garment section is divided into men, women and kids section. They have also a discount section only for the garments. In this section they are selling the old or rejected stocks of major brands at 40-50 % discount rate. The value of stock in garment is being overflowed at the time of winter season and tends to double the value of stock. Normally they are maintain a stock value of 16.3 to 17 crore value of stock bus it increase at the time of winter to more than 40 crore. Music Department

580000

Value of stock of the others departments:

In some big retails its seen that they are including some cookery, home furnishings and life style products in their gifts section. Big Bazaar is maintaining a low stock but more product categories in their gifts section and generating remarkable revenue from this. Stock of music department is overflowed with low products. Their stock have a potential to earn revenue from all categories as prices of products in this department lies between Rs 30, to Rs 400 approximately.

Revenue generated by the different departments: To find out the profitability drivers we have compared the revenue generated by different departments on the basis of 2004-2005 to 2008-2009.For this study we have considered average revenue of a high customer flow day by the income level customers. Revenue per department

2004-2005

2007-2008

Garment department

90000

300000

Gifts department

42000

180000

Cards department

2000

1800

Music department

19000

40000

Total

153000

521800

From the above study its revealed that at the time of inception of the organized retail in India in the year of 2004-2005, only the high grade and upper medium grade income level customers were tends to go the retails. So the maximum portion of revenues generates from these two groups only in the year of 2004-2005. The change in revenue of garment department and in the gifts department from the year 2004-2005 to 2007-2008 is significant because Big Bazaar is shifted products towards the own manufactured brands and they became successful to establish their own brands in the garment retail industry. A measurable changes found in the cards department is the revenues as well as the stock is decreasing day by day because of changing customer preferences towards information technology enabled services like SMS, MMS & E-mails.

Facts and findings From the above analysis it’s found that the average customers in the all departments are the all income level people in Big Bazaar. Meanwhile their main customer base is upper, middle and average level income customers.

Garment Department Overview: In Garment department the products are mainly their own brands an price range lies between Rs 99 to Rs 800 averagely which is very reasonable for the middle class, average and also low level income group peoples. The stock in this section is fair to satisfy its customer needs and attracts window shoppers to become a potential customer. Findings: The main facts that we have found in the garment section is that Big Bazaar mainly focusing on the low range products with their own brands. All the times they are giving special discounts on all the garments products. They have adopted tricks like “Buy 2 get 3”, Buy 3 get 5” which looks like as if you buy 2 will get more 3 but the actual fact is that if you buy 2 products will get 1 free as total you will get 3. It’s a very strategic and attractive offer specially adopted by Big Bazaar. They have also a section they are selling the branded high class garments at a high discount rate of 50 to 60 percent. Suggestions: After discussing all the profit factors it can be suggest that as they have a good high income level customer level flow in the others departments like in the furniture and grocery

department they can introduce a wider range of branded products in the garment section as this income is conscious about the brand that they are using. Gifts Department Overview: Gift department is consisting of various product categories from home furnishing products personal using products. According to Big Bazaar now a days no one can define which section should be referred as a gifts section. Customer preference is changing day by day with the increased product categories. Findings: In Big Bazaar we have found that they are also referring home furnishing products, personal care and low range electronic products as gift products and basically it depends on the customers need and choice. The whole gift section is able to satisfy the all level of income groups as they have a large collection of product categories but with a limited stock of same products. A noted strategy is taken in gifts department is that they are selling a large varieties of products with a limited stock which helps them to implement a good stock turn over ratio and generating good revenue from this department. Suggestions: Big Bazaar can focus on stocks of gifts though the stock varieties is remarkable but within the same category the stock is not appreciable. Music Department Overview: Music section consist of Music CD;s, Game CD & DVD’s and also Movie DVD’s. Findings: Big Bazaar has introduced very low range cd & dvd’s like “Moserbear” music and movie cddvd’s and price range lies in between Rs 30 to 100. Basically they are gaining a competitive business at the age of piracy products in this industry. Also they have a very good collection in games cd-dvd categories at a low price range of Rs 100 to 200 whereas if anyone go to the open market the average price range is Rs 300 to 400 for the copyright product. Suggestions: In the music its found that the collection of cd’s and educational cd’s low than the music games cds. They are emphasizing on the low price mp3 and game cds where as there is also a demand for educational and movies cd-dvd’s.

Analysis of the study on Vishal Mega Mart Types of customer: There are three types of consumer in the Indian retail market. Vishal mega mart is a firm believer of that the middle class and upper middle class are the potential customer in their product categories. Here we are analyzing which income level of customers are generally tend to purchase the products department wise: Percentage of types of customer department wise Type of customer

Garment section

Gifts section

Music section

Cards section

High grade income level

10

40

60

0

Medium grade income level

60

50

30

50

Average grade income level

30

10

10

50

Type of customer

From the above details it’s found that the customer flows in the garment section is relatively high rather the other sections. The focus customer group is basically medium level income group of customers. Flow of customers in different departments: Here we have analyzed the flow of customer per day basis. For this reason we have studied customer flows on an average of high customer flow days. Inter- Department customer flow Department

Number of customer

Garments Department

900

Gifts Department

250

Cards Department

100

Music Department

300

From the above figures its executed that flow of customer in garment departments is relatively higher than the others departments. To determine the above study we have considered who are spending their money on purchase of products of above said departments. Its revealed at the time of study that they have 10 cash counters and they are making bills of more than 280 bills per day per counter on the above said days.

Value of stock in different department: We have chosen departments from Vishal Mega Mart and establish the valuation of average stock with the assumption details provided by the branch operation stuffs.

Value of the stock Department

(Rs)

Garments Department

10340000

Gifts Department

250000

Cards Department

75000

Music Department

200000

Value of the stock in the Garment Departments:

The garment section is divided into men, women and kids section. The value of the stock in the garment department is relatively much higher than the others departments is relatively much higher than the other departments. The value of stock in winter season jumps to 18 to 20 crore and its 3 times higher than others season as normally they are maintaining a stock of 6 crore in the others time.

The value of the stock of the other department are relatively lower than garment department. The stock maintained in the gifts section, basically maintained for the high and medium level income customers. In the cards department the stock increases at the time of Christmas an New Year eve as it’s seasonal business according to the Vishal Mega Mart. Music department is consisting of Music, movie and game cd & dvd’s. Its found that the stock of game cd & dvd’s is higher than the others.

Revenue generated by different departments: To find out the profitability drivers we have composed the revenue generated by different department on the basis of 2004-2005 to 2008-2009. For this study we have considered average revenue of a high customer flow day by the all income level customers. Department

2004-2005

2007-2008

Garments

50000

180000

Gifts

5000

10000

Cards

2000

1800

Music

1800

5000

Total

58800

196800

From the above study its revealed that at the time of inception of the organized retail in India in the year of 2005-2005, only the high grade and upper medium grade income level customers wear tends to go to the retails only. In the case of garments, gifts and music departments as the stock is increased, the revenue is also increased with the market demand study of the year of 2004-05 to 2007-2008 and also its seen that product category in the gifts and music department is relatively changing with the increasing demand of new innovated products. A measurable changes found in the cards department is that the revenues as well as the stock is decreasing day by day because of changing customer preferences towards information technology enabled services like SMS, MMS & E-mails.

FACTS AND FINDINGS From the above analysis its found that the average customers in the all departments are the middle grade income level customers as Vishal is mainly focusing in this segment of customers. Garments Department Overview: Product lines and the quality of the products in the Garment Section are basically for the medium and average grade income level people and price range in this section is averagely lies between Rs.250 to 600. Findings :

In the garment section we have found that products categories are not focusing the high grade income level customers as the brand consciousness not presents in the floors. The high grade income level people are very conscious about the brand that they are using. Basically they are very conscious about the brand rather than the quality which isn’t present in this department. Suggestions: Vishal is strategically targeting the middle class customer but there is also a rash of high grade income level customers in their stores. They should focus on this aspect that they can turn mob into potential customer by introducing a various range of high class products in the garment department. Gifts Department Overview: Product lines and the quality of the products in the Gifts Section are basically for the high and medium grade income level people and price range in this section is averagely lies between Rs.500 to 800. Findings: In the gifts we have found that stock of gifts items is very low and also products categories are not focusing to low grade income level customers and the gifts department is referred to high class products. Suggestions: They should focus on this aspect by introducing more stocks and also a lower price range products in the gifts section that they can also generate revenue from lower grade income customers. Music Department Overview: Music section consist of music cd’s, game cd & dvd’s and also movie dvd’s. Product lines and the quality of products in the music section are basically for the high and medium grade income level people and price range in this section is averagely lies between Rs.150 to 500. Findings:

In the music section we have found that they are mainly focusing on the game cd’s and dvd’s and also the price range is also high. Again the collection of game cd and dvd’s is considerable but in the case of Indian music cd’s the stock level is not also upto the customer’s satisfactory level. Suggestions: Vishal should concentrate on that the music industry is passing through a high competitive market with piracy world so the range should be such as the customer feel free to buy original cd’s. Another point is that there should be a balance between the stock of their product lines in the music department.

COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS OF THE STORES On the basis of customer flows:

We have considered the average of the high customer flow days. Flow of Customer per Day Store Name

No. of Customer

Vishal Mega Mart

1600

Spencer Retail

1200

Big Bazaar

2300

Vishal Mega Mart: From the study its revealed that the average customer flow is medium grade income level customers and average grade income level customers. Spencer Retail: The customer flows in this store is basically refers to the high and upper medium income level customers. Big Bazaar: They are focusing on the all income level customers but it depends on the departments wise also. On the basis of stock value: Comparison of stock value Store Name

Garments dept

Gifts Dept

Cards Dept

Music Dept

Vishal Mega Mart

65000000

250000

77500

175000

Spencer Retail

760000

5500000

175000

8060000

Big Bazaar

163000000

75000000

150000

575000

Garments Department: The value of stock depends on the season. At the time of winter season it increases upto 2 to 3 times than the other seasons as the price of winter garments is relatively higher than springs-summer collection.

Vishal Mega Mart: The product in the garment section isn’t exclusive and meant for the medium to average grade income level customers. Also they aren’t focusing on major brands in the garment industry. All the products are unbranded and semi branded and don’t attracts the high grade level income groups. However brand consciousness not present but the stock volume is able to met customer satisfaction. Spencer Retail: Product ranges are very high and meant for the high class consumers. In Spencer there is very low stock turnover ratio. Big Bazaar: They have their own brands in the garments department with a reasonable price for the upper medium, medium and average class income groups. Though brand conscious people will think at the time purchasing but customer are satisfied with the stock and as well as quality related to price. They have high stock turnover ratio. Gift Department: Vishal Mega Mart: They are not focusing on the gifts stock for the result customer flow and revenue from this section is very low and no point is gaining for the customer satisfactory level. Spencer: A wider range of products is found in gifts section for the all income level people. Though the variety in the product categories is high but the volume of stock in the same product is low. However customers are happy with the large number of collection of gifts items. Big Bazaar: A very large investment in the gifts section is found at the time of study. They are basically emphasizing on introduction of personal grooming products and home furnishing products in the gifts section. This department is solely for the upper class consumers and customer’s satisfactory level is remarkable.

Cards Department:

Vishal Mega Mart: Stock in the department is taken care as relatively low and it’s considered as a seasonal business. Big Bazaar: Stock in this department is taken care as relatively low and it’s considered as a seasonal business. Spencer: It is having highest value in gift department.

Music Department: Vishal Mega Mart: Music department is consisting of music, movies amd games cd-dvd’s. the stock of game cd-dvd’s is higher than the others and price range is relatively not for the medium and average income groups though they are focusing on this income group only and a result they failed to satisfy their customer needs. Big Bazaar: Their music department is also consisting of music, movies and games cd-dvd’s and they have maintained a good balance between the stock level in all the categories. And also a remarkable change is noted that they selling very low range products within this copyright product categories. They customer satisfaction level is high with the fulfillment of their needs. Spencer: Spencer is earning more revenue in this department than Big Bazaar & Vishal Mega Mart in music because it is of RPG group.

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS  In order to improve its business, Spencer’s should introduce more competitive promotional schemes such as those in Big Bazaar.

 The product range of Spencer’s should be improved in order to match that existing in Big Bazaar.  For promotional offers, company should go for free gifts rather than going for other ways.

SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT Stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths & weaknesses are internal factors. opportunities, and threats are external factors.  Strengths • • •

Spencer’s have good brand awareness among the consumers. Spencer’s in FMCG sector. Spencer’s retail specialist marketing expertise.

 Weaknesses •

The consumers are not much satisfied of the offers introduced by Spencer’s.

• •

Big Bazaar has better product range than Spencer’s. Big Bazaar has better promotional schemes than Spencer’s.

 Opportunities • • •

To become better in the business of garments. To be accepted by the consumers in comparison to other retail stores. To develop better marketing strategy than retail outlets.

 Threats •

•

Big Bazaar & Vishal Mega Mart are huge threats to Spencer’s. Big Bazaar have greater acceptance among the consumers in comparison to Spencer’s.

Bibliography

Author’s Name

Book Name

Place of Publication Year

Kothari, C.R.

Research MethodologyMethods and Techniques

Wiley Eastern Ltd., New Delhi

Brown, F.E.

Marketing Research, a structure for decision making

Addison-Wesley Eastern Ltd.

Dunn Online Jean and

Applied Statistics

John Wiley and Sons

Virginai A Clarck Hooda, R.P.

Statistics for Business and Economics

Macmillan India, New Delhi

Green Pant E and Donald S. Tull

Research for Marketing Decisions

Wiley Eastern, New Delhi

Philip Kotler.

Marketing Management

Prentice Publishing Co., New Delhi.

Shenoy, GVS et al.

Quantitative Techniques for Managerial Decision Making

Wiles Eastern New Delhi

.

Websites www.Spencersretail.com www.rpggroup.com www.scribt.com

Magazines India today. Business world. Business india. Material profile of company. Surey. Search engines. www.google.com www.search.com www.yahoo.com www.alvista.com

QUESTIONNAIRE PERSONAL DETAILS

NAME: Address: Gender: Phone Number: Marital status: Education: Profession: Questionnaire (General) 1. Store name: 2. Location of the Store: (a) Mall (b) General (c) Densely populated area

1. Which kind of customers generally visit at your store? (a) High grade income level (b) Medium grade income level

(c) Average grade income level

1. Flow of customer per day in your store: (a) Below 500

(b) 500 to 1000

(c) 1000 to 1500

1. In which department stock is being taken care comparatively in a lightly way? (a) Garments

(b) Gift items

(c) Cards

(d) Music

1. Does the brand consciousness of customers divert them to the different departments?

Yes No

2. Does the brand consciousness of customers divert them to the different departments? Yes No If yes which type of customer? Young

Old

Child Beauty conscious people

3. Is the Information Technology helping in ROI of the store? Yes

No If yes then which features is/are

motivating?

ERP Online Adv SAP/Tally Informational Security 4. Does the good atmosphere in the store pick the sale up?

Yes No

Questionnaire (Garment Department) 1. Which kind of customers generally visit at flow? (a) High grade income level (b) Medium grade income level (c) Average grade income level

your garment section and their

1. Revenue generated by Garment section in your store? (a) High grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-2005 Revenue in 2008-2009

(b) Medium grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05 Revenue in 2008-09

(c) Average grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05 Revenue in 2008-09

1. Is your stock efficient to revamp

the customer satisfaction in your store?

Yes No Questionnaire (Gifts Department) 1. Which kind of customers generally visit at (a) High grade income level (b) Medium grade income level (c) Average grade income level

your gifts section and their flow?

1. Revenue generated by Gifts section in your store? (a) High grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-2005 Revenue in 2008-2009

(b) Medium grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05 Revenue in 2008-09

(c) Average grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05 Revenue in 2008-09

1. Is your stock efficient to revamp

the customer satisfaction in your store?

Yes No

Questionnaire (Music Department)

1. Which kind of customers generally visit at flow?

your Music section and their

(a) High grade income level (b) Medium grade income level (c) Average grade income level

1. Revenue generated by Music section in your store? (a) High grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-2005 Revenue in 2008-2009

(b) Medium grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05 Revenue in 2008-09

(c) Average grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05

Revenue in 2008-09 1. Is your stock efficient to revamp the customer satisfaction in your store? Yes

No

Questionnaire (Cards Department) 1. Which kind of customers generally visit at flow?

your Cards section and their

(a) High grade income level (b) Medium grade income level (c) Average grade income level

1. Revenue generated by Cards section in your store? (a) High grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-2005 Revenue in 2008-2009

(b) Medium grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05 Revenue in 2008-09

(c) Average grade income level:

Revenue in 2004-05

Revenue in 2008-09

1. Is your stock efficient to revamp

the customer satisfaction in your store?

Yes

No