FINAL DISSERTATION

Enhancing the profitability of electronic retail business through new and

effective marketing strategies.

A

case study of Currys

SUBMITTED BY

ARUN SANAL

BITE ID: 42196

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the

MBA Innovative Management

In collaboration with Coventry University

and the British Institute of Technology & E-commerce

1

Dissertation Statement of Originality

Statement of Originality

Except for those parts in which it is explicitly stated to the contrary, this work is my own. It

has not been previously submitted for assessment at this or any other institution.

Checklist

Please check the following statements are true, tick the appropriate box and sign the

declaration

.

I have included a full reference list using the Harvard style of referencing

I have provided Harvard style references for all the ideas, empirical evidence and other materials I have used.

I have referenced all passages from my source material.

Wherever I have copied someone else’s words (a quotation), I have clearly shown in the text how much was copied by using speech marks.

I have not committed any falsification. This means I have not presented invented data, by for example claiming that I have conducted interviews or sent out questionnaires when I have not, or altering or making up my results.

I can make available evidence of originality, including notes, photocopies, drafts, primary data and computer files.

Student name: ARUN SANAL

Student ID: 42196

Student signature:

Date: 09/01/12

2

TurnitinUK Originality Reportdesrtn by Arun SanalFrom Dissertation (MAY 2011 - GROUP J (Organisation Management))

Processed on 09-Jan-2012 11:59 AM GMT ID: 14060878 Word Count: 13024

 Similarity Index

10%

Similarity by Source

Internet Sources:

9%

Publications:

8%

Student Papers:

8%

sources:

1 7% match (Internet from 17/10/10)

http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/faculty/kusum.ailawadi/research_articles/JR-Retail%20Branding.pdf

2< 1% match (student papers from 23/12/11)

Submitted to London School of Marketing on 2011-12-23

3< 1% match (Internet)

http://www.kuhngroup.com/PDFs/Whitepaper%20The%20Effects%20of%20POS%20Implementation%20and%20Retail%20Tech.pdf

4< 1% match (publications)

Merlin Stone. "The effect of retail customer loyalty schemes — Detailed measurement or transforming marketing?", Journal of Targeting Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 02/01/2004

5< 1% match (Internet from 10/10/09)

http://www.covweb.com/blog/2009/05/04/brand-asset-management-strategy/

3

6< 1% match (Internet from 1/2/10)

http://www.allbusiness.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-indicators/12695838-1.html

7< 1% match (student papers from 19/07/08)

Submitted to University of Leicester on 2008-07-19

8< 1% match (Internet from 4/9/10)

http://www.fences.fr/index.php/content/download/19402/289855/version/1/file/Fences-News-102.pdf

9< 1% match (Internet from 2/5/10)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SGVRP5X

10< 1% match (student papers from 18/05/10)

Submitted to University of Wales College, Newport on 2010-05-18

11< 1% match (Internet from 1/1/11)

http://www.chinakdd.com/portal.php?mod=list&catid=30

12< 1% match (student papers from 20/03/11)

Submitted to Kensington College of Business on 2011-03-20

13< 1% match (Internet from 20/10/10)

http://zindagitrust.org/e-updates.asp

14< 1% match (publications)

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1 (2006-09-19)

15< 1% match (Internet from 3/6/09)

http://www.ooz.nu/Volvo_SwedishExperience_Stefan_Karl.pdf

16< 1% match (Internet from 19/4/10)

http://retailreflexionz.wordpress.com/

17< 1% match (Internet from 21/7/10)

http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/bitstream/1812/917/5/Chapter%202.pdf

18< 1% match (Internet from 25/7/10)

http://eprints.utm.my/6543/1/jacquelinesimphekkimmp041177d06ttt.PDF

19< 1% match (Internet from 18/5/10)

4

http://www.slideshare.net/cirving/the-role-of-information-literacy-in-addressing-a-specific-strand-of-lifelong-learning-the-work-agenda-2729283

20< 1% match (Internet from 23/8/11)

http://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/5201/vanderlinde_magazines_2010.pdf?sequence=1

21< 1% match (student papers from 30/08/10)

Submitted to British Institute of Technology and E-commerce on 2010-08-30

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am sincerely expressing my thanks to my research supervisor Mr. Hector Dela

Victoria for his guidance and support to complete this dissertation. His vast

knowledge and experience in the marketing field has helped me a lot in collection of

literature, conducting a research, data analysis and writing the dissertation thesis.

Without his interest and support it would have not been possible to complete this

dissertation. Thank you very much Sir.

I take this opportunity to thank MBA programme manager, academic staff members

and also administrative staff members.

5

DEDICATION

I dedicate this dissertation to my parents who have supported and encouraged me for

the education, development and success in my life. I have to be always thankful to my

parents for their love and affection, motivation and inspiration in building up my

character and personality.

6

Abstract

This project deals with the ways on how to improve the profitability of retail business,

particularly in electronics store: Currys. What all new strategies (marketing) the company can

implement in order to improve its performance, what all tactics the company have developed

so far, how they have manage to float their business in this highly competing ,market etc... In

short this project should also help in identifying the SWOT of the concerned sector i.e. the

Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of the company.

The need for a research in this project is to have a clear cut understanding of the various

strategies implemented by retail business particularly electronics business in order to improve

its overall performance. And how it takes new innovative ideas to compete from its close

competitors in the same sectors and also chance of competition from new markets. It should

also help the business to identify the market segment for which it should concentrate. The

research has to be done through carefully analysing the existing strategies implemented in the

company, the various brands with which the company have tie-ups the offers they provide for

the customers, how they attract new customers, and how they retain the existing customers etc...

7

Table of contents

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction...............……………………………………..1

1.2 Research aim…………………………………………….....2

1.3 Research objectives………………………………………...3

1.4 Research question…………………………………………..3

1.5 Conceptual frame work………………………………….....4

1.6 Important of study……………………………………….…5

1.7 Operational definition of terms………………………….…5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Literature review..…………………………………………6

2.2 Retail business.......…………………………………….…..6

2.3 Retail Marketing.............……………………………….…..6

2.4 Marketing concept.....................…………………………….6

2.4.1 Marketing environment………………………………….....7

2.4.2 Micro and Macro environment.....……………………….....7

2.5 The concept of retail marketing.…………………………....7

2.6 Retail Theory of wheel......................………………………...8

2.7 Marketing strategy.……………………………………………8

2.7.1 Functional strategies..............……………………………….8

2.7.2 Analysing the market.............…………………………….....9

2.8 Customer relationship management……………………….....9

2.9.1 Customer…………………………………………………....10

2.9.2 Relation with consumer brand and seller.……………….......11

2.9.3 Customer loyalty schemes…………………………………..11

2.10 Retail branding...............……………………………………..12

2.11 Retailers as brand...…………………………….…………….12

2.12 The dimension of retail image...........................……………...13

2.13 Retail Branding: advantages…………………………………13

2.14 Retail modernization………………............…………………..13

8

2.14 Pricing….........................….…………………………………14

2.15 Pricing strategy……………..………………………………...14

2.17 Advertising……………….….…………………………….....15

2.17.1 Advertising its types......…..………………………………..17

2.17.2 Dynamic advertisement……………………………………..17

2.17.3 Innovative methods....………………………………………17

2.17.4 Push and pull strategy………………………………………18

2.17.4 Customer perception decision making………………………19

2.18 Technology in retailing…………………………………….....20

2.19 Interactive kiosks....……………………………………………20

2.19.1 Point of sales…..……………………………………………..21

2.19.2 Customer data base……………………………………….......21

2.19.3 Online technologies……………………………………….........21

2.19.4 Automatic vending….....……………………………………….22

2.20 Effect o private brands on retailers……………………………...22

2.21 Store location......………………………………………………..23

2.20.1Types of Store location………………………………………....23

2.20.1 Understanding retail branding…………………………………23

2.20.2 Store atmosphere........…………………………………………..23

2.22. dimension of retail image.......................…………………………..24

2.7.5 Types of location……………………….........…………………….25

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research approaches…………………………………………26

3.1.1 Qualitative research………………………………………….26

3.1.2 Quantitative research………………………………………...27

3.2 Research design……………………………………………..27

3.2.1 Descriptive method…………………………………………..28

3.2.2 Survey method……………………………………………….28

3.3 Data collection………………………………………………..29

3.3.1 Primary data collection……………………………………….29

3.3.2 Secondary data collection…………………………………….29

9

3.4 Sample size and sampling.…………………………………….30

3.4.1 Population……………………………………………………..30

3.4.2 Sample size……………………………………………………31

3.4.3 Sampling technique……………………………………………31

3.5 Treatment of data……………………………………………...31

CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction……………………………………………………...32

4.2 Analysis and findings……………………………………………32

4.3 Summary………………………………………………………....44

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION

5.1 Conclusion of the study………………………………………….45

5.2 Discussion on the evaluation of strategies……………………….45

5.3 Recommendation………………………………………………....47

5.4 Research limitations……………………………………………....47

5.5 Limitation of research….......………………………………………47

CHAPTER 6 REFERENCES…………………………...46

APPENDIX

Copy of the Questionnaire……………………………………………52

10

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

According to Roger Cox (3), ‘Retailing is the sale of goods and service to consumers for

personal, family or household expenses’. In all over the world retail firms are growing day by

day. The rate at which they are growing is really fascinating. The competitions between these

firms are increasing at a much faster rate. In such a competing market the firms have to plan

properly, effectively and efficiently in order to stay afloat in the market.

11

United Kingdom or the Great Briton as it is always known is famous for its highly recognised

retail brands such as Currys, Argos, Tesco, Asda, Bright House etc... All these are retail firms

which specialises in selling a variety of products which includes the grocery items, kitchen

appliances, furniture’s etc... Apart from these big names there are various other retail firms

which have only one or two stores but still have a high name in their particular area. And

hence the competition between these super stores themselves and between them and the

conventional stores are highly aggressive. And in order to compete in these markets every

retailer has to adopt various innovative marketing strategies to improve its overall

performance.

(Source:http://www.uksharenet.co.uk/Currys/curryshtml,httpwww.pcronline.biz/news/read/

pc-world-and-currys-trial-joint-store).

The aim of this project is to understand how to enhance the profitability of retail business

particularly in electronic sector through an effective marketing strategy. The study also

includes analysing the existing marketing strategy of the concerned retail sector and also to

analyse the marketing strategies in the concerned sector and there by identify their potential

market and growth of the firms sales of their competitors, their advertisement tactic etc... The

research also includes conducting a SWOT analysis of the sector or the company i.e. to

identify the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats of the sector. The project also

focuses on the strategies of the retail sector to improve its overall financial performance by

means of implementing new marketing strategies.

The firm selected for this purpose is “Currys” an electronic retailer in United Kingdom,

which specialises in electronic home appliances such as computers, laptops, cameras, mobile

phones and various other kitchen appliances. Currys is one of the leading electronic retail

stores in United Kingdom which is owned by Dixons Retail Plc. Apart from U.K it also have

stores in Ireland and some other European countries. It sells over a variety of products

especially electronic appliances of all the famous brands such as Samsung, Dell, Nokia,

Apple, Sony etc... It has nearly 200 stores within the U.K. The firm have many strong

competitions across the country from various established brands as well as sole proprietors’

the main competitor of Currys is Argos, another retail electronic agent.

Apart from the retail stores these giants also have online trade or online shopping facility.

These stores have their own websites where the customers can select for any particular

12

product and can even buy these products online and make the payment also online and can

even book the products in advance. It also helps them in getting all the information’s

regarding offers and gifts the stores are providing them.

1.2 Aim

Every research or project has certain aims which need to be satisfied or answered. The aim of

this study is to explore the marketing strategies of the retail firms particularly in electronic

and home appliance sector. The aim of the research also includes applying various marketing

and strategic management theory to these retail sectors in order to improve its all over

performances and also to enhance the overall profitability of the firms.

This research as mentioned earlier is based on electronic store Currys for doing its research

on retail electronic sector. The main aim of this research is to identify the ways on how

profitability can be enhanced in electronic retail sectors. And also as to what are the new

marketing strategies to be included in this research.

1.3 Objectives

Every research has some objectives and it is all done to satisfy that particular objectives. And

the researcher should prepare the project in such a way that it should satisfy the answers of

the objectives. The objectives of any research are things which the researcher should keep in

mind while preparing the project, based on these objectives the researcher have to formulate

an efficient way to formulate strategy.

And the objectives for this research are as follows:

1) To research into the practical application of marketing and its strategy in an

organisation.

2) To explore how marketing decisions are taken in an organisation (retail)

13

3) To analyse the business in a retail firm sector

4) To differentiate between the marketing strategies used in the pros and cons of Currys

in its retail sector

1.4 Questions

Every research involves certain questions which need to be answered. And the objective of

every researcher is to find an answer for these questions. This can be done only if the

researcher undertakes a detailed study of a particular research he has done; which sometimes

includes preparation of questionnaires, conducting surveys etc... And the main question in

this particular research which needs to be answered is as follows:

1) How to develop new and exciting marketing techniques for the retail sector?

2) What are the existing marketing strategies that are followed by those firms?

3) What are the ways for improving the financial performance?

4) What are the influences of new marketing tactic in improving the performance of

these stores across the country?

5) What are the drawbacks the firms are facing with the existing marketing strategies?

1.5 Conceptual frame work

14

1.6 Importance of study

15

Enhancing the profitability of electronic retail business

Every research or study have its own importance, the importance of this study is to identify

the ways to enhance the profitability in retail sectors. And the retail business sector selected

in this particular research is about electronic industry. The study tells us about various

marketing strategies through which the firm can improve its overall financial performance

and that too within a short period of time. And the industry selected for this purpose is Currys

Electronics which is a famous superstore in London.

1.7 Operational definition of terms

Evaluation- it means to identify, to evaluate, about the quality, nature, significance etc.. of the work.

Retailer – it is a person who sells goods to the public, it have stores or other building and they

generally sells at a fixed price called the retail price

Profitability- profit is the amount a firm or business receives in excess of its total cost of production.

And profitability is the amount of quality of affording gain.

Consumers- are the persons who buys or purchase products from the retailers or manufactures at a fixed price, they can either be a individual or a group of person or an organisation.

Manufacturers – are the persons who makes and sells goods to the public or the consumers. They are generally a large organisation which generally composes of more than one or two person.

Kiosks. It is a machine, software or an operating system which provides all the details about a

product which the customer need to get from a store or staff members of an organisation

without directly interacting with the staff but buy the use of certain computers etc...

16

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

Literature reviews of a particular research or project have some main functions with in itself.

It helps in understanding the details or assumptions in the research questions which the

researcher is suppose to answer and it helps the researcher in getting some basic knowledge

regarding the subject he or she have undertaken. And most importantly it helps in answering

the research questions as set by the researcher. Literature review can be said to be the

exchanging of ideas between researcher and the related literature (Marshall and Rossman,

2006)

2.2 Retail business

This is the sale of goods and other products from a building, store, department etc...for

personal, household or farm consumption (Paul, 1979). The retail sectors often have the

highest number of employers. The number of retail stores is also more than the number of

wholesale or manufacturing units present.

2.3 Retail marketing

It can be defined as a set of activity, which occurs approaching within existing retail firm

location.(Richard: 2010). The products that are generally available with a retailer can be

categorised into three different sets or types:

I. Branded products

II. Retail products

III. Marketing and branding by the retailers and their stores in the marketplace.

In simple terms it can be defined as the task of planning, executing, buying, and selling goods

or ideas in order to achieve the goals of the organisation (David Loudon et al: 2005).

2.4 Marketing concept

The main concept of marketing itself is to achieve the goals of an organisation while giving

the consumers a better satisfaction than their competitors. (Philip Kotler: 2010). The basic

rule of business is to get profit and the rule of marketing is to make profit for the business

with satisfying the customers as well.

17

2.4.1 Marketing environment

Richard J. Varey (2002: 96) “The marketing environment of a business or organisation

comprises of a interacting people, process, techniques and various other situations”. These

factors are outside the control of the business, organisation or its management. The changes

in the marketing environment are continuous as well as rapid. And hence every management

have to try to cope up with the changes in its environment. And this is done with the help of a

marketing research and formulating a marketing plan. The marketing environment has to be

constantly monitored and studied, as a slight change in a firms marketing environment can

cause a huge change in its overall financial performance. The marketing environment are

generally categorised or differentiated into two types: Micro environment and Macro

environment. (Kotler, 2010)

2.4.2 Micro Environment and Macro environment

The micro environments of a company or organisation are factors which closely affect a

companies’ ability to serve its customers, competitors, markets etc...(Kotler: 2010). The

macro environment on the other hand includes factors such as demographic, technical,

political etc... these are generally not close to a company or organisation.

2.5 The concept of retail marketing

The concept of retail marketing can be defined as the selling of products and commodities

directly to the consumers. These markets are extremely competitive in nature and hence there

is often high risk involved in these types of marketing. Supermarkets, super stores,

cooperative stores etc... are all a part of retail marketing. Retail marketing can be defined as

the activities that occur within a retailing location. ( Dick Blatt et al...:2010).

18

2.6 Retail theory of Wheel

Patrick Dunne (2002:120) tells that new retailers enter into the existing market with a low

profile, and offers the customers products at a considerably lesser rate than their competitors

and there by tries to capture the market. Once the presence of new retailers is felt to the

customers they start investing more and more money onto the business in order to capture

more and more market share. These retailers may sometimes give new and exciting

promotional offers to the public to gather their attention. And gradually they establish their

business, but once the business it also faces the potential threat from the new firms, who are

trying to expand their business. During the initial years of retailing or retail business the

retailers used to sell all products in one store alone, but during the years that followed owing

to the rising number of competitors in the market and the changing marketing environment; it

gave rise to retail shops that specialises in each items (Michael Levy, 2005). These shops

include shops which specialises in garments, dress, food items, electronic items, household

appliances etc...

2.7 Marketing strategy

Marketing strategy can be divided as set of activities or process in an organisation, where the

organisation should use its resources to the maximum to increase sales of the firm.

(Baker:2008). These are the main underlying factors which stimulates a firm to form its

marketing plan and also to achieve the objectives of organisation. There are various types of

marketing strategies which are present in an organisation.

2.7.1 Functional strategies

Every organisation or firm should have a strategy for its future establishment and

development. The strategies of every firms should be prepared in such a way that all its

resources should be utilised. The resources of a company include the human resources,

financial resources, manufacturing department research and development department

etc...these activities are generally done by the mangers of each respective sections or

departments. Functional strategy of any firm or organisation aims at achieving the results of

an organisation by working in a team. (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005:29).

19

2.7.2 Analysing the market

It involves the analysing the market for an organisation in order to identify to identify its

potential use in terms of its competition, pricing, promotion, etc... the managers often need

statistical data for analysing the things. This is a hideous task for any managers or leaders as

it involves a lot of research work, assumptions etc...The main reason behind its difficulty is

due to the fact that the data to be collected is spread among a lot of area. SWOT (Strength,

Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis and PEST (Political, Economical, Social and

Technological) analysis are some of the common and important tools of analysis of

marketing. The former comes under the external environment and the latter comes under

internal environment of an organisation (Ferrell and Hartlin, 2005:34).

2.7.3 Retail market segmentation

Segmentation is simply dividing the larger and complex market into simple and smaller ones.

Segmentation is mainly done by the managers to identify their potential customers i.e. to

identify in which group or category does their customers fall into. It helps in wastage of

resources and thereby it also helps in increasing the profit of the business. Once the company

or firm have segmented the market it is easier to identify the area or market they need to

concentrate. The markets are generally segmented on the basis of location, age group, gender,

social status, etc....Once the target customers are identified then the firms can start making

strategies to attract customers in that particular group or segments. This in turn saves both

time and money for an organisation (Chetan Balaji et al, 2005).

2.8 Customer relationship management

Customer relationship management or commonly known as CRM is another tool of

marketing which keeps tracks of the relationship between the customer and the management.

It helps in identifying the customers and also the potential customers of an organisation. It

20

uses various tools and software’s for selecting and identifying the customers. CRM also

stores the buying pattern of each customer. And there by it helps in identifying the potential

customer of every organisation (Kracklaurel et al, 2004). It unlike othe marketing strategy is

based mainly on after sale services, feedbacks etc... of the customers. It is a comparatively

newly developed business strategy of an organisation. (Shanmugasundaram:2008)

2.9.1 Customer

Customers or consumers are the person who consumes or uses the products produced by the

organisations. And that is the reason why they are the called the end users of every product.

(Tim Hannagan:2002). The customer can be an individual, a group of person or even an

organisation. Every company or organisation can have success only if the company is

benefited from its customers. And in order to capture the customer and also to add up the

potential customer the firms and their management have to attract the people and for that

purpose they need to give attractive offers, benefits etc.. to the customers. Satisfying a

customer should be the main objective of every organisation. And this is because an

organisation can become successful only if it is able to satisfy its customers properly. This

has a dual aspect as well an i.e. if a customer is satisfied then he becomes the regular buyer of

the product and such behaviour of a company induces other customers also for the products.

Customer satisfaction should be the prime task or duty of every organisation or company.

The company management should make a proper planning for satisfying the customers, and

this comes under formulating a marketing strategy. The main reason why customer

satisfaction is considered important is because of the fact that all that the number of

competitors in every organisation or product is high, and hence there is a number of choices

among the customers. And hence the choice of every organization is to satisfy the customers.

(Narver and Slater, 1990).

Every company or organisation should and must give importance to their customer

relationship management, this is an important aspect of every organisation where

participation of organisation is proved to be worthy in their future. There should be a mutual

understanding between the customers and the organisation. The relationship between both

these parties should be a friendly one it often goes in a circle i.e. the producer sells their

products to the consumers and the consumers buy them, the manufacturers or producers then

21

give them after sale services and the customer again return for purchasing new products. The

manufacturers then invest a part of money from these products for the customers in order to

make profit for the business and also for future expansion (Patrick Dunne, 2002:454).

2.9.2 Relation with consumer brand and reseller

Brand is a name, term, symbol of an object which helps in identifying a particular product or

product from its competitors. Companies try to create brand name of their products in the

minds of people. This is done in ordered to capture the market of a product and also to create

a name of the product and organisation in the mind set of the people. It helps in creating

product recognition. Study proves that there is nearly 70% rise in the sale of products in a

company is because of the high growth in retail sectors. The researcher states that the not all

the customers look for cheap products, the customers prefer quality as well a value.

(Frederick, 2000).

2.9.3 Customer Loyalty schemes

Customer loyalty means the loyalty of customer towards a particular product or service. As

the customers are loyal to a particular brand or product the same rules apply with retailers as

well. The retail program has come into practice in the late 1990’s and has been proved to be

one of the most successful tools of business. Now days they acts as key link of a marketing or

a business. And ever since its huge popularity quite a large number of firms have started their

own retail shops which sells product to the customer and that also provides services and there

by makes the customers loyal to them. Such retailers often use brands of a products to

capture the customer and make them loyal to their retail shops (Pressey and Mathew, 1998).

Stone (2003) is quoting that ‘IBM research shows that increasingly discerning customers are

demanding more services and information, heightened competition in mature saturated

markets is making it more difficult for retailers to sustain differentiated brands and value

propositions, rapid evolution and adoption of new technologies present both opportunities

and risk for companies seeking to innovate’. The research also tells that majority of the store

people are using more and more technologies in order to attract more and more customers to

their stores. And in this way the retailers are trying to create a bond between the firms and the

management. This can be also quoted as building a customer relationship between the firms

22

and the management. When there is a good relationship or rapport between the customer and

the management then the person or the customer continuous to visit and purchase from the

same shop or retailers or the same brand even though there are various brands or products

available i.e. the number of competitors are high.

2.10 Retail Branding

Brands are a firms, most valuable assets, this have gained importance recently i.e. during the

past decade. As already mentioned brand and branding are highly competitive in nature and

hence they influence customers greatly in buying products. The brands if not influence,

induce customers to buy a product. If a brand is popular then automatically the customers

prefer that particular product only over the traditional ones. And there by it increases the sale

of stores or super stores where this product is available. From the brand image created by this

already established brands it can be noted on how retailers can create a brand image for their

products and also on how their private labelled products can be established and created a

brands in the minds of the people. This also helps in also highlighting areas which needs

further improvement and research.( Kusum L:2007)

2.11 Retailers as brands

During the last couple of years there have been a high rise in retailers; it was evident from the

sales of firms in U.S grocery and other merchandise industry. The growth of retailer was

evident from the high rise and growth of promotions of private labelled products in all

retailing industries across the world. At the same time the high rise in the growths of certain

warehouse clubs have forced a rise in competition in retail sectors within themselves and also

within among themselves. Majority of the sales or revenue of every retailer comes from

brands or branding i.e. from the sale of branded products. As these brands are well

established in nature it is extremely difficult for new and traditional retailers to compete in

these market. Majority of the revenue of every retailer comes from selling these already

established branded products, the competition between these firms are also high. Though

there are many principles of branding, the retailer brands are entirely different from other

application of retailers. Retailers need to depend on various unique technique to sell their

products to the customers. They create their brand image by creating various associated

product, offers, packages etc...to the existing customers.

23

In all the industries the image of retailer and his or her brand depends on the image of

manufactured brands as well .The reason why the retailers use manufactured brands is

because of the facts that it generate consumer interests i.e. it induces the customers to buy

their products and there by create a loyalty of the products.

2.12 The dimensions of retailer image

With regard to the American Marketing Association’s definition of a brand, helps in

identifying a retail business, goods and service of retailer of its competitors. The brand equity

of a retailer is shown when consumers react favourably to a product and their marketing

reactions.(Keller 2003). The researcher have got a list of attributes which can influence the

overall influence brand image of products, services, the build or look of the stores etc...

Lindquist (1974) and Mazursky and Jacoby (1986) suggested that these can be subdivided

into smaller categories. In order to understand the important aspects of image research the

management agree to this categorisation but at the same time they make slight modifications

in it The five dimensions we use to review past research are: 1) access, 2) in-store

atmosphere, and 3) price & promotion, 4) cross-category product/service assortment, and 5)

within-category brand/item assortment.

2.13 Retail modernization

Ever since the 2000’s the effect of retail modernization on food systems have been an area of

major focus. It is considered that super market is the result of these types of researches. They

were in existence a early as 1960’s but got popularity only during the economic boom period.

Soon after that there has been a huge growth of the super market in rest of the world

(Reardon et al, 2004). The growth, of these supermarkets along with the growth of the

retailers have given the researcher new techniques of study and also to draw policy on the

existing technologies used.

Although there are various differences between the geographical location; which includes

countries, regions, revolutions etc... There is difficulty on behalf of the retailers to compete

with the supermarkets. (Reardon et al, 2004).

24

2.14 Retail branding: Advantages

Many researchers have conducted various researches and studies to explain the relationship

of branding with the customers and also the advantages of branding for retailers. Boyett

(2003:43) mentions about branding and customer in his book that ‘72 percent of customers

say they will pay a 20 percent premium for their brand of choice, relative to the closest

competitive brand. 50 percent of customers will pay a 25 percent premium. 40 percent of

customers will pay up to a 30 percent premium’.

Any products which satisfy the requirement and also meets the demand of a consumer can be

sold out in a relatively in a relatively quicker manner. Branded products take comparatively

lesser time to be sold in the market compared to the traditional retailer brands. Another main

advantage of branded products is that these products have created a goodwill in the mind set

of the people and hence any retailers selling a brand product do gain these goodwill for his

firm as well. As the branded products have a huge reputation in terms of its quality, price,

nature etc... these products are expected to be more durable in nature. The branded products

are supposed to have a better quality compared to the traditional ones and hence they are are

more preferred by the customers (Pillai and Bagavathi, 1987:160).

2.15 Pricing

It can be defined a process or activity which a company or organisation can receive in return

of its ideas, beliefs, service or products. It is one of the most important aspect of any

organisation or business. The price for any particular product is set by the management only

after a detailed calculation or research. This is based on various factors such as the cost of

raw materials, production units, cost of production, market of operation, marketing

techniques, profit of business etc... Another aspect to be considered for fixing the pricing for

a product by an organisation is that the price should be such that there is a difference between

retail price and wholesale price of every organisation as there are various middlemen within

these parties. (Pillai and Bagavathi, 1987:145)

25

2.16 Pricing Strategy

Every firm or organisations have certain strategy for fixing the price of a product. Some of

the popular strategies of the firms are the following

Price skimming: in this method of pricing strategy the firm introduces a new products at a

higher cost and then gradually decreases its price as the products gain more popularity among

the costumers. This is done when the company aims to achieve the profit of its organisation

within a short span of time. Once the product has gained some market among the customers

then its price is slowly reduced. By doing this particular strategy the firm is able to get the

revenue it had invested for the business in a short time and also it is able to capture the

market.

Market penetration pricing: It is another pricing strategy adopted by the firms where the

price of products introduced is fixed at a comparatively lower rate compared to its

competitors. It is done to capture a large market share of people and that too in a shorter

period of time. This strategy helps in capturing a very large market at a faster rate in a short

time. Once the firm have captured the market with its low pricing strategy then the

organisation slowly starts increasing the price of the products. Relatively lower prices of a

product attract more customers and hence often this strategy is tending to have more success

compared to the price skimming strategy. The wholesalers i.e. the customers who purchase

the products in bulk quantity prefers the low price strategy (Bell an Latin, 1998).

Price promotion induced store switching. The third research area studies whether retailer

price promotions result in store switching by consumers. Kumar and Leone (1988) and

Walters (1991) find a significant impact of promotions on store switching/traffic. However, it

is unlikely that consumers would keep track of weekly promotions on a multitude of

categories in all the stores in their neighborhood. Bucklin and Lattin (1992) show that retail

promotions in any one category do not directly influence a consumer’s store choice decision,

but they indirectly affect where the category is purchased. Consumers typically shop in more

than one store. They may purchase a promoted product in the store they happen to be visiting

whereas they would otherwise have purchased it in another store. This also reiterates the

important moderating effect of in-store atmosphere.

26

2.17 Advertising

Advertising is an important marketing tool of every organisation. It is an important tool for

the promotional of business in the marketing world. It is tool of marketing which gives

information about the products and services of a firm to the customers. It helps in customer

retention as well as in capturing new customers. Advertising is an efficient tool of marketing

as it helps the organisation in the promotion of its products.

A successful advertising means a successful profit for an organisation. If advertising becomes

successful then that particular product or service has gotten into the mindset of the people.

This in turn means that the demand for that particular product also increases. And there by

the profit of the firm also rises. Thus advertising creates demand among customers and this

demand in turn induces the customers to buy or purchase new products (Pillai and Bagavathi,

1987:186).

Murthy and Bhojanna (2007:4) define advertising as ‘advertising promotes ideas, goods and

services of an identified sponsor’. The first and foremost task of advertising is to maximise

the profit and increase the sales and revenue of an organisation. And keeping in mind these

things every firms spend huge amount on advertisement. It considered by the managements

as an efficient way of communicating the products services etc to the customers. The

advertising often carries information such as the name of the product, its logo, brand name,

price etc... Sometimes it is also used to inform customers about a new product a firm had

launched or a new offer or benefit the company provides etc...And hence it is often quoted

that advertising helps in the spreading and distribution of knowledge to the customers for

business promotion and various other activities. Majority of the large organisations and

multinational companies have their own department or sections for advertisement; some

firms outsource these things as well to various agencies.

Creativity is something which is required in advertising. And this is done by all the firms

with the help of using certain technologies and information’s and data. With the rising use of

technology advertising has reached new levels and the costs of advertisement have also been

reduced. There are various methods of advertising which are present in an organisation. Some

of the common methods of advertising which a firm follows are as follows

Print advertising- this is the type of advertisement where the organisation gives information

about their products or service in newspapers, magazines or other sources of print media.

27

This is a popular method of advertisement. Another mode of print advertisement is the

advertisement in which the organisations give away brochures; booklets, notices etc...of the

company or the organisation. This is comparatively a cheaper mode of advertisement as it

doesn’t require a huge amount for its work.

Outdoor advertising- these are the types of advertisement are also very popular in nature. It

is the types of advertisement where the companies or firms uses billboards, signs etc... to

make use of advertisements these types of advertisements are a bit more costly compared to

the traditional ones but at eh same time they are more eye catching. The main limitations of

these type of advertising is that it is costly and difficult to erect and build billboards etc for

the sake of advertisements.

Broadcasting advertising- these are the types of advertising which uses various mediums of

technological and electronic medium to advertise about the products or services of a firm.

These various mediums of advertisements include internet, radio, television etc...these are the

most popular and most attractive means of advertisement. Advertisement through internet

radio and televisions etc...have the advantage of showing the customers a three dimensional

image of their products, and as these types of advertisement includes either audio or video or

both, it have a upper hand in inducing the customers. And because of these reasons these

types of advertisements are gaining more popularity in today’s world.

2.17.1 Advertising functions: its types

Social function: social function of advertising is an important and efficient way of

advertising. This is the type of advertising which uses advertising to communicate effectively

with the social group or public. These types of advertising are generally non profit oriented as

these will be mostly related to the information to the public, regarding their health, safety,

diseases, threats or any other source of vital information that needs to be communicated.

Psychological function: advertising passes information about the need of people and also

about the products of the organisation. The customer gets attracted to the product

psychologically and there by buys the product.

Economic function: this particular function of advertising brings the relationship between

the organisation and the customers in order to help the business to increase tos total volume

28

of sales and production. Advertisement is often a trick or magic which forces the customers

to buy a product (Murthy and Bhojanna, 2007:13)

2.17.2 Dynamic advertisement

Simester et al (2009) stated that ‘retail advertising focuses on influencing where the

customers purchase rather than simply what they purchase. The content of retail advertising

typically provides information about multiple items and specific details about how much to

purchase’. Advertisement helps in making the customers loyal to a particular product by

inducing them; advertisement creates an image of a product in the minds of the people. All

these activities there by lead to a rise in the profit of a firm or an organisation.

2.17.3 Innovative methods: Advertising

The international company IBM have suggested the following types of advertisement. This

type of advertisements includes the following: Consumer innovation, Business model

innovation and Business design and infrastructure innovation.

Consumer innovation- it is the type of innovation which brings the advertisement into an

interactive manner. It merges the professionals and develops materials required and there by

induces the customers to buy the products. This type of advertisement gives sense of

satisfaction to the customers and thereby it encourages the purchase and use of those

products.

Business model innovation- this type of innovation are of the opinion that each distinctive

managers or leaders should formulate an advertising strategy which provides or acts as a

solution to the problems faced in the business world. Broadcasting advertising have brought

out a new diversified and changed fashion from the old traditional ones and it attracts more

number of people compared to the traditional ones. And because of this new and eye catching

trend; it catches the minds of the customers in a much faster rate compared to the older ones.

29

Business design innovation- this is the type of innovation which tells us on how products are

manufactured and from where it is produced. It means nothing expect for the fact that the

advertisement should include the ways or process on how the products are produced. The

advertisement should contain some sort of information which shows how it is done. It can be

either a pictorial representation, a voice statement, or a visual one. Such activity also induces

a customer in purchasing a product, as they may be of the opinion that these products may be

of a better quality (Berman et al, 2007).

2.17.4 Push and pull strategy: Advertising

This is a strategy which helps in persuading the retail people to gain more on their products

and it also induces the customers to purchase more and more goods. Sometimes due to

various obvious reasons the firms may resist certain brands as they are having certain

difficulties with broadcasting or advertising, in such situations the firms promote these

products by a pull strategy; i.e. they put in more and more money for the advertisement and

also by giving a lot of offers and benefits, gift vouchers etc...which in turn stimulate the

customers to buy more of their products. And as such it results in the retailers selling more

goods to its distributors or wholesalers. There are certain manufactures who asks the

distributers to hold more stock of their materials in order to make the maximum sales. Most

of the organizations uses this pull and push strategy thing considering their availability of

funds for production capacity (Murthy, 2007:33).

2.17.5 Customer perception decision making

The perception of customer is one thing that forces the customer in deciding about a product

or services. The buying behaviour of the customer starts with the perception of the product.

Every advertisement is designed to induce the perception of the customer’s mind about the

product. That is the main principle of the advertisement. The three types of the perception of

advertisement are as follows: selective attention, selective retention and selective distortion.

Selective attention: in this the people have seen the advertisement on a daily basis and hence

the advertisement is registered or stored in the minds of the people. The advantage of such a

advertisement is that the customers can easily recall what they had already seen from the

advertisement and can remember almost everything from the visuals. And because of this

reason most of the advertisements are based on attractive, colourful objects.

30

Selective retention: the human beings have a tendency to remember those items which have

their desire and thoughts. And hence the advertisements should be designed in such a way

that the customers are able to remember all the attractive things that are present in that

particular add. The main advantage of preparing such advertisement is that it stimulates the

customers to choose their product ever their competitor’s product. This method is often used

in selected targeted markets where it is often repeated.

Selective distortion: This is a type of advertisement where the organisation changes the

information so that it will suit the products of the organisation. In this the advertisements are

designed in such a way that the customers will notice the messages as soon as the add is

broadcasted. Such messages are stored in the minds of the people and it often resemble an

emblem or a symbol, color or an object (Murthy and Bhojanna, 2007:82).

2.18 Retailing: technology

This is about retailing and the technology used by these retailers for the business, for its

promotion and expenses. In this era of business the customer is the king as they have a lot of

choices for their tastes and preferences. And technology is one of the important aspects which

helps in inducing customers for a product or a retailer. And this also helps in maintaining the

customer relationship.

Piyus Sinha (2007:510) states that ‘consumers are increasingly using tech-driven tools when

the shop. In a study conducted in the US, it was found that 18 percent consumers searched for

the product information on the internet and 13 percent used it to make purchase’.

There are various typoes of technologies that are used in retailing. The two main technologies

which are used in the retailing is: in-store technologies and online technologies. These

technologies are used for displaying product information, for identifying the products, their

sign boards, the individual barcode of the product scanning etc...

31

2.19 Interactive kiosks

Kiosks is a technology is used to check the availability of products in store or with a retailer.

It uses computers and software’s to check the product availability. With the help of this

facility the customer do not have to search the entire shop to find if an item is available or not

they can search it with an ease with the use of these computers. Certain products have some

tags around them, which helps the customers in getting the details of the products as where

was it made, where was it produced etc...(Piyus Sinha, 2007:513). It helps the customer in

saving time as they do not have ask for a staff or even wait for a staff to give out the

information about the products they want to seek.

2.19.1 Point of sales

It is the point or place or location where the producer sells his or her product to the

consumers, this is the place where the goods of the customer are exchanged for money. And

to serve the customers in a better and faster way the managers have done many a things such

as recruiting a n efficient staff, payment through debit or credit cards, better payment

machines etc... This is all done with the aspect of making the customers do the shopping

quickly and conveniently without frustrating. (Jon Green, 2007).

The rises in technology and development have seen tremendous improvements’ in the field of

billing as well. Earlier the billing system was manual, then it was changed to electronic

machines and later it was modified to computer controlled business. And recently it the

facility of debit and card is also being used.

Dion (2003) states that ‘data from a 1998 technology study indicates that on average store

experience minimum sales increase of 16%, with some stores experiencing up to 23% thanks

to deployment of technology. The expense savings in the study were an average of 13% after

deployment of POS and slightly higher for merchandise system (14.3%) and customer data

base (15.7%)’.

2.19.2 Customer database

Now a day’s most of the retailers have started recording the buying behaviour of customer’s

which is constantly monitored with the use of computers, and with the help of this the

retailers are able to understand the tastes and preferences of the customers. And they can

32

create a huge data base on a number of customers. With the help of customer database the

retailer can predict the purchase behaviour of the customers in the future. They can be

informed about the new arrivals of products which match their tastes, and it also helps in

identifying the regular customers and they can be give special offers or benefits or gifts

vouchers etc... Based on the data from the database the retailer are able to find loyal

customers of the product (Dion, 2003).

2.19.3 Online technologies

Now a day’s the customers can shop with the help of using computers and internets. Through

shopping online the customers are able to select products of their choice, their make, their

model, their colour, brands price etc... They can select the products based on their individual

specifications and taste. Customers can do the shopping by sitting in home an can even get

the products delivered to their home. Yet another new technology is 3D virtual store; it gives

the customers a real store like purchase experience, they can virtually walk around the stores

and can also see the products in stores, their prices details and other packaging details.

Through this details the customers can find details about the nearest store available, the

direction to reach these stores etc...the customer can even check if the item he or she booked

or preferred is available in the store next to where he or she lives an if necessary can even

book these items (Williams and Larson, 1999).

2.19.4 Automatic vending

Automatic vending simply means the purchasing of goods or products from stores without

the help of any of the staff members of the stores. These methods of purchases are very

helpful for customers as they look for a faster purchase of goods and also for those who

prefer privacy for their consumer behaviour. These machines are mainly used in big retail

firms or supermarkets, and in case of an emergency there are technical staffs present as well.

(Pillai and Bagavathi 1987:392).

2.20 Effect of private brands on retailers

As is known, the structure of the assortment of retailers can be composed as to include

different types of brands: the manufacturer's or a national brand, private brand or store brand

33

and generic brand. The manufacturer's or a national brand products are manufactured and

controlled by the manufacturer. They are well known, supported by the manufacturer -

sometimes before the actual sales to customers, retailers require limited investments in

marketing, often represent the maximum quality for customers, and dominate in sales of

many product categories. Retailers who prefer manufacturer brands are small firms, web

firms, discounters and others who want to have a well-known manufacturer brands and

strategies that have lower prices (customers are able to compare prices of different retailers

for items of the same name brand). (The Effect of Private Brands on Business Performance in

Retail ;Radojko LUKIĆ)

2.21 Store location

This tells or mentions about selecting a location a place for stores. This is an important factor

for the sales of product as the customers prefer stores that are located at convenient places,

where they can shop effectively and conveniently and quickly. The availability of transport

facility to the locations, the area of choice, parking facility etc... are some of the factors

which the customer considers for selecting a retail shop. And hence every retailer should

keep in mind these things for selecting a location for their retail shops. Mazze (1972)

expresses the ‘a common cause of business failure among retailer is the selection of the

wrong store location. Store location can be used as a competitive advantage since each store

location is unique’.

Another factor to be considered by the retailer in selecting location for products are the area

they have chosen, the value of building, the taste and preference of people. The density of

population in that particular area, the life style of people their habitat etc...

The location of a store and the distance that the consumer must travel to shop there are basic

criteria in their store choice decisions. Beginning with gravity models (e.g., Huff 1964) store

choice and the optimization of retail site location attracted a lot of research attention in the

eighties (e.g., Achabal, Gorr, and Mahajan 1982; Ghosh and Craig 1983; Donthu and Rust

1989). Today, suburban sprawl, greater driving distances, the appearance of new warehouse

retail formats that are often located in large spaces away from residential areas, and online

retailing have made location somewhat less central as a store choice criterion.

34

2.20.1 Types of store location

Free standing location: These are the types of stores that are located in areas where there are

not much retail outlets or shops around them. And hence these stores will attract a lot of

customers to it. Such stores are popular in rural areas. As there is no competition in those

areas it can be concluded that these retailers will have a huge profit as all the customers in

that area will throng on to their particular product for shopping. It has some other advantage

such as lesser amount of rent and property cost. And this area does not have much other

locations it will also have the facility of lesser traffic, convenient parking facility etc...

Although these stores have various advantages they have some disadvantages as well. It is

that due to the lesser availability of traffic number of customers may be less, and also the

density of population in these areas will also be less.

Neighboring stores: This are the stores which is located in areas near to residential

complexes and homes. They are mainly products which sell items such as groceries and other

household items.

Highway stores: These stores which are located in the highways the main buyer of these

stores are people which passes through that road or highway. The main items of these stores

are food items and other necessary items which are required for a customer who is traveller

(Balaji, et al 2005:303).

2.21 Understanding Retail Branding: Conceptual Insights and Research Priorities

With the growing realization that brands are one of a firm’s most valuable intangible assets,

branding has emerged as a top management priority in the last decade. Given its highly

competitive nature, branding can be especially important in the retailing industry to influence

customer perceptions and drive store choice and loyalty. We integrate lessons from branding

and retail image research to provide a better understanding of how retailers create their brand

images, paying special attention to the role of the manufacturer and private label brand

assortment. We also highlight some important areas that deserve further research in the form

of three sets of research priorities.

2.20.2 Store Atmosphere

35

Mehrabian and Russell (1974) note that the response that atmosphere elicits from consumers

varies along three main dimensions of pleasantness, arousal, and dominance. This response,

in turn, influences behavior, with greater likelihood of purchase in more pleasant settings and

in settings of intermediate arousal level. Different elements of a retailer’s in-store

environment, e.g., color, music, and crowding, can influence consumers’ perceptions of a

store’s atmosphere, whether or not they visit a store, how much time they spend in it, and

how much money they spend there (Bellizzi, Crowley, and Henderson 1983; Milliman 1982;

Eroglu and Machleit 1990; Grewal et al. 2003). Baker et al. (2002) provide a good review of

this research and categorize the elements of in-store atmosphere into physical features like

design, lighting, and layout, ambient features like music and smell, and social features like

type of clientele, employee availability and friendliness. They note that atmosphere can affect

consumers’ perceptions of the economic and psychological costs of shopping in a store and

find that pleasing physical design lowers both economic and psychological costs while music

lowers the latter.

Store atmosphere mediates consumer perceptions of other dimensions of store image. For

instance, Baker et al. (2002) find that store environment factors, particularly physical design

perceptions, significantly affect consumers’ perceptions of merchandise price, merchandise

quality, and employee service quality. Schlosser (1998) argues that, since store atmosphere

has a social identity appeal, a pleasing atmosphere in the store should influence perceptions

of socially communicative products in the store, not so much intrinsically rewarding

products. This logic can be extended to argue that store atmosphere would have a greater

impact on perceptions of products with higher perceived (social) risk. Indeed, Richardson,

Jain, and Dick (1996) do find that consumers’ ratings of the private label’s quality are higher

when the store is aesthetically pleasing than when it is less attractive, although there is no

significant difference in their ratings of national brands’ quality.

Store price perception- A retailer’s price image should be influenced by attributes like

average level of prices, how much variation there is in prices over time, the frequency and

depth of promotions, and whether the retailer positions itself as EDLP or HILO. Decades ago,

however, Brown (1969) highlighted the difference between consumers’ perceptions of price

levels in various stores and reality, showing that consumers may use non-price related cues

like service offerings and quality levels to form their price perceptions. That consumers may

not form valid perceptions of actual prices in a store is supported by Dickson and Sawyer’s

(1990) widely cited work, but consumers do develop some general price perceptions of

36

products in a store, and can evaluate their expensiveness in relative terms (Monroe and Lee

1999).

2.22 The dimensions of retailer image

Following the American Marketing Association’s definition of a brand, a retail brand

identifies the goods and services of a retailer and differentiates them from those of

competitors. A retailer’s brand equity is exhibited in consumers responding more favorably to

its marketing actions than they do to competing retailers (Keller 2003). The image of the

retailer in the minds of consumers is the basis of this brand equity.

37

Chapter 3 Research Design and Methodology

This section helps in the conducting a research about a particular product or subject. Every

individual research should have its own individual pattern or mode of doing research. This

particular pattern is decided by the individual researcher. The researchers are generally

classified or categorised based on the following approaches i.e. qualitative and quantitative

approaches.

Based on the researches done the researcher is able to obtain a clear cut idea regarding the

work or question or task he or she have in his or her mind.

3.1 Research Approaches

Research helps in solving various operational and functional problems in a business and

industry. It is something which is necessary for every organisation or individual to make

some new changes in them. There are various modes and ways of doing a research, taking the

decisions based on a case study of an organisation is one among them. The organisation

selected for this particular project is Currys, an electronic retail chain in the entire United

Kingdom which sells over a variety of products especially electronics and various other

household expenses. It is vast electronic store giants which have been in established for more

than hundred years and have more than ten thousand employees. The study of this

organisation is based on the data of the particular organisation collected through internet and

various other sources of information.

Jick (1983) says that qualitative and quantitative research can be considered as a trustful

source for the researches in an organisation or management. Since both of these approaches

of researches are time consuming it is better to complete the research in one particular

approach only.

3.1.1 Qualitative research

Boje (2001) says that during the recent years there have been increasing trends for using

qualitative approaches in various fields of managements. These types of research approaches

have a lot of definition and perspectives. The term qualitative research is used generally by

the management in order to give importance to certain particular terms of the management. It

is not used to convey the meaning of a particular term or definition but rather it is used to

understand or give a sense of meaning during its communication. Comparatively a much

38

more clear and precise definition of qualitative management research can be difficult; perhaps

because the definitions in-use are often tacit, and emergent, rather than explicitly formulated

(Van Maanen, 1998). The authors and editors of many a famous journals, periodicals and

magazines tend to publish qualitative articles in their journals. Many other magazines feature

qualitative research submissions (Lee, 2001; Sparrow, 1999; Gephart and Rynes, 2004) as

their main stream topic of publications.

3.1.2 Quantitative research

This research as the name suggests is based on the quantity or measurement of the products

selected. It is mostly about getting information from the people based on surveys of

customers on the products and its feedback and also on preparing questionnaires for the

necessary market research. In these types of researches they ask the respondents to answer a

specific set of questions where they are given a specific set of answers as well, and all they

have to do is to select from them which among them is the best. It apart from qualitative

research requires more time and resources.

3.2 Research Design

Research design can be defined as something which is a plan for collection of data analysing

it and finally presenting it to the researcher. The research design of a particular researcher

will be nothing but a plan on as how the question will be answered by the researcher. This

particular research should contain the objectives of research, the sources of collecting data.

In research design we should make differentiation between research design and tactics for

these designs. The design includes formulating a plan for the research and tactic are all about

data collection and analysis for a particular research. The tactics involves the collection of

data’s based on various techniques and procedure; which in turn is based on the qualitative

and quantitative method of data collection.

39

3.2.1 Descriptive method

This method uses qualitative as well as quantitative method for finding out data. It unlike

other method gives importance to observation for collecting data’s. It uses pictures, diagrams

graphs and other illustrations in order to give support to the readers regarding the data

obtained. The main aim or objective of this method is to depict a clear and accurate profile of

persons, events or situations. (Robson 2002:59)

3.2.2 Survey method

This method is extremely popular in collecting data in business researches and management

researches. These methods of data collection are extremely popular as these are based on the

data collected from a group of people in a particular locality, region, age group or sex. It uses

quantitative data to collect and analyse data’s. And in case of sampling data, survey method

is used for generating findings from the data. This often involves conducting direct

interviews, giving out questionnaires. Asking the managers and other respondents to fill out

the details etc...In order to get the desired results in this particular method of research it is

necessary to focus on the subject of research alone. (Nicholas Willman 2005:116)

The data’s collected using this method is wide-ranging compared to the various other

methods of research. It can be said so because of the facts that if the researcher is preparing a

questionnaire then there will be a limit to the number of questions to be included in it and

hence the researcher may not get all the details as required. Apart from preparing

questionnaire the main other technique for data collection is the interview method, where the

researcher asks a set of prepared questions to the intertie.

3.3 Data Collection

Data collection is an important aspect of every research and research methodology. The data

can be collected in many ways but one. It can be collected in the form of questionnaires,

surveys, interviews, case studies etc... The details of data collection should be the part of

questions that should be adopted in the research method. These questions of data collection

are of two types:

1.) To have a clarification on the situations that you have onserved

40

2.) To clarify the details and accounts about a particular situation. (Robson 2002)

The data’s are mainly categorised into two types:

a.) Primary data and

b.) Secondary data

3.3.1 Primary data collection

This is the set of data which is collected directly through a study or research. It is also called

raw data, i.e. it is the data collected from a firsthand report. It is obtained from an

organisation or an institution which collects the information originally from its users. (James

E.Burt,2009). In short these are the data’s which are collected from the primary sources. The

researcher needs to have a clear cut observation power in order to collect and interpret these

types of data. Sometimes we use research or surveys to get these types of data’s.

In the particular research the author uses questionnaires and surveys to get a better result for

their data’s. The questionnaire for this particular research was developed by the researcher

keeping in mind the objective of the research i.e. what the answer to the objective of question

should be. And it is done once the objective for research is finalised.

3.3.2 Secondary data collection

These are the types of data which are collected through secondary sources and hence the

name secondary data. These data’s are not often as reliable as primary data as the data’s in

these might be altered, modified, or forcibly created one. As far any researcher for any

purpose collecting secondary data’s are an easy task as it can be collected from, books,

periodicals, articles journals, publications, internet websites etc... A collection of these types

of data’s helps in reducing the time taken for a research. It also saves resource and money as

well.

3.3.3 Sources of data

There are various sources of collecting a data for a research, and the researcher for this

particular research used articles and data’s from some well known publishers and authors for

41

his research. Apart from these things peer revived articles and researches done by other

researchers in this behalf was also taken into consideration.

3.4 Sample Size and Sampling

Sampling is one of the most popular techniques used by any researcher for his or her own

research. It can be best described as selecting a small unit of people or group from among a

larger category and it is assumed the results from these group obtained is same as that of the

whole group.( Connaway, Powell:2010). This technique is used by most of the researcher

because of the facts that they cannot get details or data from the entire population or group of

people from which they are supposed to obtain the results. And also the budget of the

researcher does not allow such a hideous task.

Sampling can be used with all sorts of data collection, whether it be the preparation of

questionnaires or interviews or any other mode of collecting data. There are various

important aspects to be considered for a sampling technique. Some of the most common

technique are as follows:

3.4.1 Population

Population in sampling; is not the population of a particular country or region, but it is the

number of people from which the researcher have to collect data in order to obtain the results

for the research. The researcher makes his data collection, findings, analysis etc... based on

the data obtained from this ‘Populatiion’. They are generally categorised as probability

sampling and non-probability sampling.

3.4.2 Sample size

It is the number of people or respondents needed for this particular research by the researcher

the researcher have planned to interview hundred employees and hundred customers but it

was then later rounded to fifty each. All the people who were given the questionnaires have

participated actively in the research. The other people who were interviewed apart from the

42

customers are the employees and staffs of the organisations which include the leaders

managers, employers, supervisors etc... the reason for limiting the sampling was because of

the fact that the budget of the researcher was low and also the time period given for the

research was also not satisfactory.

3.4.3 Sampling technique

It is the different ways and techniques of obtaining samples from a given group of people, i.e.

from a given population. Some of the common sampling techniques are as follows:

1.) Simple random sampling- it is the most commonly used sampling method as well as

the easiest one. In this method of sampling all things considered under this are given

equal probability, i.e. it is not further divided or subdivided.

2.) Cluster sampling- in this type of a sampling a group of individuals are selected in

certain clusters and based on that data’s are analysed. This is done in case of

categorising data’s based on time period, geography etc...

3.) Systematic sampling- in this type of sampling technique a target group is selected for

sampling, this sampling also begins with a systematic sampling and then later a group

is created or followed according to the desired results.

4.) Quota sampling- in this method of sampling the total group of people or the total

population will be broken down into different parts or segments. And then categorised

according to the need. It is non random sampling method

5.) Convenience sampling- as the name suggests is the type of sampling which is based

on the convenience of the users, it comes under non-probability sampling, in this the

researcher usually does the sampling form the people or respondents that are easily

available.

(Sage, 1983)

3.4.4 Treatment of data

The data collected are treated through various modes of statistical tools. It includes certain

tools which includes mean, median or mode. Which includes various statistical data for its

preparation and analysis. The mean median mode are some of the most common methods for

the treatment of data.

43

Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis

4.1 Introduction

This particular chapter helps us to understand how both of the primary as well as secondary

data helps in finding the desired results for the particular research. This can be done only in a

set of steps, stages or procedures. First of all for this purpose the researcher had obtained the

details from the questionnaire prepared. And based on the answers of the questionnaires,

some information regarding the project can be obtained.

4.2 Findings and analysis

The questionnaires set by the researchers are of the two different types i.e. one is for the

managers, supervisors and other staff members of the organisation and the other set is for the

consumers of these electrical stores.

Based on the responses obtained from the questionnaires prepared for the mangers and other

staff members of the organisation it, can be concluded that the staffs working in the

organisation are provided proper training for the job required. It can be also concluded that

the pay scale for each employee is also satisfactory. The employees, sales persons etc... have

no direct contact with the management. All decisions regarding the sale of a product, its

pricing, offers benefits etc... are decided by the management alone. The employees are only

supposed to conform with these persons. The managers also stated that each staffs asked to

give a feedback on all the new policies and also on the work of the stores. The managers and

team leaders of each particular stores also assess each employees based on their performance.

And they give their necessary feedback as well. The members have reported a friendly

working environment in the firms.

The response from the questionnaires prepared by the researcher for the consumers also gave

some significant results for the research undertaken by the researcher. The consumers mostly

gave a positive feedback of the organisations and its policies. They also had a positive report

about the organisations overall performance which included its location, offers, customer

services, after sale service and maintenance etc... The only negative feedback they have

reported was that of lesser number of brand availability compared to its competitors and also

on the high hidden price cost on behalf of warranty, guaranties etc... Also its pre booking

system through website is not as advanced as that of its certain competitors. Some of the

44

customers reported that all the items are not present in all the stores some are limited to the

main branches only.

These where the findings which were reported from both sets of questionnaires prepared by

the researcher. And based on this the researcher have come to certain conclusions regarding

what all improvements are need to be done in the firms.

4.3 Analysis of data

In the analysis of data the researcher has tried to answer to the questions of his research. The

questions were as follows:

4.3.1 Gender

The first question is about the gender of the people who were interviewed. In order to have a

clear cut regarding the taste an opinion of the people it is necessary to know their gender.

From the results obtained the researcher states that 76% of customers were males and that of

24% were females. And the number of males under the category of staffs of the retailers are

74%, and females are 26%.

Gender ratio of customers:

Gender Male FemaleUnspecifie

dNo. of respondents 38 12 0

Total     50

4.3.2 Age group:

The second question in questionnaire is the age group of people who were interviewed. The

researchers have considered five category of age group for the research. The age group 21-30

has the highest and the majority is in the age group 21-40

Age group below 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 above 50No. of respondents 6 21 14 5 4

Total         50

45

No. of respondents

below 2021-3031-4041-50above 50

below 20

21-30 31-40 41-50 above 50

0

5

10

15

20

25

No. of respondents

No. of respondents

The graph In this graph the X axis contains the age group of the customers and the Y axis

contains the number of customers participated in the research interview.

4.3.3 (1)Customer service and the nature of customers :

There are two sections in this question. The first part is about what the customers feel about

the availability of staff for assisting the store. As far as a retailer is considered customer

service should be given prime importance. In the research, the researcher states that 18% are

highly satisfied customers, 73% of customers have replied positively, 4% of customers are of

the opinion that it is satisfactory where as 1.9% customers are dissatisfied.

46

Satisfactory levelHighly

satisfied GoodSatisfactor

y PoorNo. of respondents 8 37 4 1

Total       50

Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

No. of respondents

No. of respondents

4.3.3(2) Arrangement of store and its presentation

This is the second part of the third question. It simply means that the stores should be

extremely clean and pleasant and neat. When the customers looks at the products that are

displayed he or she must feel or have an attraction towards the items that are displayed in it.

From the research conducted it had been proved that 18.% customers are highly satisfactory,

58% are satis factory, 19% customers are only satisfied and 3.8% are dissatisfied.

Satisfactory levelHighly

satisfied Good Satisfactory PoorNo. of customer 8 30 10 2

Total 50

47

Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

No. of customer

No. of customer

4.3.4 (1) Brands

The branded products of a retailer are more popular than the traditional products. A customer

who uses the same brand for more than a year will not be able to change his brand within a

short span of time or quickly. From the research conducted it has been proved that. The

research results of the researcher shows that highly satisfied customers are 54%, 36% percent

are of positive opinion, satisfied category is 9% and no one in the poor section. More than 50

percent customers are with high satisfaction shows that store is maintaining well the brands

for the customers.

Satisfactory levelHighly

satisfied GoodSatisfactor

y PoorNo. of customer 28 20 2 0

Total 50

48

Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No. of customer

No. of customer

4.3.4(2) Price promotion

It is the price promotion offers are the attraction for the customers and they are always

looking for it. In the price promotion results shows that 11.5%, 53.3% customer have written

as good, 28.8% customers are satisfied and the 5%t customers are not satisfied and they

wrote as poor.

Satisfactory levelHighly

satisfied GoodSatisfactor

y PoorNo. of customer 6 28 15 3

Total 52

Highly satis-fied

Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No. of customer

No. of customer

49

4.3.5 (1) Advertising:

This is the fifth question, in which the researcher asks about whether the respondents have

noticed any advertisement in their area, or have they remember any adds 58 percent of the

answer was ‘yes’. The advertisement is an integral tool of the marketing and this tool is

getting its popularity over the years. The management has given a lot of importance to

advertisement for the promotion of business; they considered advertisement as inevitable for

marketing of business. The result is attached for the further reference.

Option Yes NoNo. Participants 78 12

Total   50

Yes No0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

No. Participants

No. Participants

4.3.5(2) Advertising: new product

This is the second part of the fifth question the customer are asked the question whether the

advertisement is essential for a new product developed by a firm, which have been introduced

into the stores. From the research it can be proved that 66% of respondents have replied ‘Yes’

whereas nearly 34 percent respondents are of the opinion that the advertisement is not

necessary and hence have given the statement as ‘No’.

The results of this particular research about the new product developed are as follows or are

mentioned in the table below:

50

Option Yes NoNo. Participants 33 17Total   50

Yes No0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

No. Participants

No. Participants

4.3.6 (1) Technology used to enhance the business effectively

The respondents have requested regarding the various technologies used in the business and

also to see if it helps in enhancing the business of the firms. From the study it can be

concluded that 12 percent responded it as extremely efficient whereas 38 percent have

responded it as jus the average or have responded positively, 42 percent of the respondents

are satisfied with the results and 8 percent of the people are not satisfied or dissatisfied. The

result is relevant from the following table.

Satisfactory levelVery effective Good

Satisfactory Poor

No. of customer 6 19 21 4

Total 50

51

Very effective Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

No. of customer

No. of customer

In this representation the satisfactory level is taken in X axis and the number of

customers are taken in Y axis.

4.3.6(2) Satisfied with existing technology in store

This is the question where the customer or the respondents are satisfied of the existing

technologies used by the firms. The results shows that of respondents 8 percent expressed it

as very effective, 30 percent responded positively, 54 percent customers are satisfied with the

results 8 percent responded it as extremely poor or dissatisfied. The results are shown below

Satisfactory levelVery effective Good

Satisfactory Poor

No. of customer 4 15 27 4Total       50

52

Very effective Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No. of customer

No. of customer

The X axis contains the satisfaction level of the customers and the Y axis contains the

number of customers participated in the research.

4.3.7 (1) Store location at convenient place

In this the researcher asked question about the location of the stores regarding its ease of

reaching and other facilities. And the results shows that the respondents who have satisfied

comes up to 44 percent, 52 percent of the respondents it as good or satisfactory, 4 percent are

satisfied with the result and as far as the dissatisfied category was nil. And hence it can be

interpreted that all the respondents are happy about the store location.

Satisfactory levelHighly satisfied Good

Satisfactory Poor

No. of customer 23 27 2 0Total       52

53

Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No. of customer

No. of customer

The X axis contains the satisfactory level and the Y axis contains the number of customer

participated in the interview.

4.3.7 (2) satisfactory results with store environment

This question is asked to know the consumer feeling or freeness and happiness during their

presence in the store for purchase. The result shows that 9.6 percent customers highly

satisfied with store environment, 38.5 percent customers have written as good, 48.1 percent

customers are with satisfactory and 3.8 percent customers are unhappy and written as poor.

Satisfactory levelHighly

satisfied GoodSatisfactor

y PoorNo. of customer 5 20 25 2

Total 52

54

Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No. of customer

No. of customer

In this graphical representation the X axis is considered for the customer satisfactory level

and the Y axis is considered for the number of customers joined with us for the research

work.

4.3.8 Suggestion from the customers

This was the only question in the questionnaire which was left unanswered by the majority.

Of all the respondent nearly half have not responded to it. And the other half which has

responded is also not reliable. But the main argument which came up was regarding the space

o these stores it was to be noted that 50 percent responded that the stores are not large or does

not have enough space move around especially during when the store is offering some

benefits or offers. The management of these stores may consider this for the future

improvement. In the conclusion part the recommendation for this issue will be given.

Summary

As it has been already mentioned that the customers are satisfied with the over all

performances of the firm and also of the marketing strategies which was also mentioned in

the previous chapters. It was evaluated and also identified with these sets of questionnaires.

And also the strategies is also identified and it also helped in understanding the factors where

the customer are not satisfied as expected interviewed the customers to know the feelings and

thinking about the business. The main advantage of this particular survey or research is that

all the respondents have participated actively in the research. An also they have devoted their

time and money for this research and hence the researcher was able to analyse it more clearly

55

and precisely. The last chapter i.e. the next chapter; the researcher mentions about the

conclusion of this particular research. It mention about the improvement in the retail business

and particularly about the firm currys.

56

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions of the study undertaken:

The study undertaken by the particular researcher has shown us on how we can enhance the

profitability of an organisation in a retail electronic sector and it also shows us the ways in

which a marketing decision are taken in an organisation. And thereby helps in analysing the

business in a retail firm sector. This particular research by the concerned researcher states;

with the help of questionnaires, surveys and interviews the different ways of enhancing the

profitability in electronic sector and also the various tools to be used for this marketing.

The research helps in understanding the new marketing techniques for the retail sectors, the

strategies to be followed by these firms and also the ways for improving their financial

performance and also most importantly the drawbacks with the existing strategies. The

market trend of every organisation changes with the time. And hence no market or firm or

organisation can use the same marketing techniques or strategies again and again. They need

to be changed or the least modified. This era is of technology and communication and hence

the firms should use the maximum use of these things and provide better benefits to the

consumers.

5.2 Contribution of this research:

From the analysis of data’s of the organisation i.e. both the primary data and the secondary

data, the researcher have finally succeeded in getting answers to his research objectives and

aims. The answers to question regarding how new and exciting marketing techniques are

formed for retail sector and what are the existing marketing strategies followed in these firms,

and what are the new marketing tactics etc...was also being able to answer. These findings of

the researches in turn helped the mangers in focusing more and more on various other

business strategies which can be created with the help of these ones. It was also to be noted

that the findings also revealed certain flaws with the existing marketing techniques and hence

the mangers where able to alter or change those strategies and prevent such things in the

future.

5.3 Limitation of research

The main limitation of this research can be quoted as the limitation of personal interviews

with the various managers or team leaders of the respective store. And another mail limitation

57

is that most of the personal data’s where collected from the superstore located in one

particular location only and not from the whole United Kingdom. One other limitation of this

research is the overwhelming dependency on secondary data for the purpose of data

collection, research, analysis and findings. Another limitation of the research can be stated as,

all these strategies are based on certain assumptions and calculations and no such calculation

can give the accurate results as expected when these are put into practice.

58

CHAPTER 6 REFERENCES

Barry Berman and Joel R. Evans (2008) Retail management A strategic approach. 10 th

edition. New Delhi: PHI learning.

Bell et al, (1998:352-369) Determining where to shop: Fixed and variable costs of

shopping. Journal of marketing research, 35.

Borg, W.R and Gall, M.D. (1989) Educational Research 5th edition Ney York:

Longman Inc.

Cavaye, A. (1996:227-242) Case study research: A multi faceted research approach

for IS Information system journal, 6.

Cavaye, A., (1996) Case study research: a multi-faceted research approach for

IS. Information systems journal.6, pp. 227 -242.

Chetan Balaji et al (2005:303) Retail management. New Delhi: Oxford university

press.

Chris Hart (2005) Doing Your Master Dissertation. London: Sage.

CIM (2001) http://www.cim.co.uk

David Loudon et al (2005:1) Marketing Management Text and Case. The Haworth

press.

David, A. Aakar, Kumar, V. and George Day (2001) Marketing Research. John wiley

and sons, Inc.,

Donald Ary and Hoi K, Suen (1989) Analysing quantitative behavioural observation

data. New Jersey:Hillsdale.

Ferrell, O.C. and Hartline, D. Michael (2005:29) Marketing strategy. USA: Edwards

brothers.

Duncun semester et al (2008) Dynamics of retail advertising: Evidence from a field

experiments. USA. [online] Available from:

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/anderson_e/htm/PersonalPage_Files/

Papers/Dynamics%20of%20Advertising.pdf/ [Accessed on 24th Dec 2011].

Edward, M. Maaze (1972) Identifying the key factors in retail store location. Journal

of small business management [online] Available from:

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&hid=17&sid=2706eaca-

9798-4875-976f-2da0322e0013%40sessionmgr104/ [Accessed on 26th Dec 2011].

59

Frederick, E. Webster, Jr (2000) Journal of the Academy of marketing science:

Understanding the relationship among brands, consumers and reseller. USA: sage

publication.

Glass, Gene V. and Hopkins, Kenneth D. (1984) Educational statistics:Psychometrics.

2ndedition.NewJersey: Prentice-Hall. Available

from:http://www.getcited.org/pub/102358708 [Accessed on 26th November 2011].

Goldman et al (1999) The Persistence Competitive Advantage of Traditional food

retailers in Asia: Wet markets continued dominance in Hong Kong. Journal of macro

marketing Vol. 19.

http://eeea.fr/docs/LocationOpportunitiesDetection.pdf

http://www.newagepublishers.com/samplechapter/000896.pdf

http://www.newham.info/research/CFProfiles/EastHam.pdf

James E. Dion (2003) Microsoft Business Solutions-Winning strategies for the retail

industry: The effects of POS implementation and retail technology on sales and

profitability for a small to mid-sized retailers. [online]. Available from:

http://www.dionco.com/public/POS_Study_White_Paper.pdf / [Accessed on 26th Dec

2011].

James, M. Latin (1998:66-88) Shopping behavior and consumer response to retail

price format: Why large basket shoppers prefer EDLP. Marketing science 17(1).

Jarrat, D.G. (1996:6-15) A comparison of two alternative interview techniques used

within an integrated research design. Marketing intelligence and planning, 14(1).

MCB University press.

Jick, T.D. (1983) Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods (Ed) Qualitative-

Methodology, Sage, London.

Jon Green (2007) Technology advances in retail: Improving margin using wireless

networks.California.http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/whitepapers/

wp_Retail_advances.pdf

Kothari, C. R. (1985 2006) Research Methodology Methods & Techniques 2nd edition.

Delhi.

Kotler, P. (1984) Marketing management analysis: Analysis, planning and control. 5th

edition. New Jersey: Prentice hall.

Kracklauer et al (2004) Customer management as the origin of collaborative customer

relationship management-taking CRM next level 3-6.

60

Kumar, V. and Robert P.Leone (1988:178-185) Measuring the effect of retail

promotions on brand and store substitution. Journal of marketing research, 25(2).

Kusum, L. Ailawadi and Kelvin Lane Keller (2004) Understanding retail branding:

Conceptual insights and research priorities. USA.

Latchezar Hristov and Dr. Jonathan Reynolds. (2007) Innovation in the UK Retail

Sector. Oxford. http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/inno-in-services-retail-

report.pdf

Lynch, John G., Jr. (1999:367-376) Theory and external validity. Journal of the

Academy of the Marketing Science, 27(3).

Mason, T. (2000:27) The importance of being ethical: Journal of marketing.

Mendes, A. B. and Themedo, I. S. (2004) Multi outlet retail site location assessment:

International federation of operational research societies. [online]. Available from:

http://www.amendes.uac.pt/SEIO/ITOR.pdf/ [Accessed on 28th Dec 2011].

Michael Levy et al (2005) Journal Retailing: The concept of the Big Middle. USA:

Elsevier.

Mishra, B.B and Manit Mishra (2008) Retail Marketing. 1st edition. Delhi.

Morton-Williams, J. (1993) Interviewer Approaches. Aldershot:Dartmouth.

Murthy, S.N. and Bhojanna, U. (2007:4) Advertising An IMC perspective. New

Delhi:Excel books.

Narver, J. and Slater, S (1990:20-25) The effect of market orientation on business

profitability: Journal marketing, 54(4).

Natasha Mack., et al (2005) Qualitative Methods: A data collector’s field guide. USA

North Carolina.

Nicholas Walliman (2005) Your Research Project: A step-by-step guide for the first-

time researcher. 2nd edition. New Delhi:Vistar

Norton Paley (2005:10) The Manager’s Guide to Competitive Marketing Strategies.

3rd edition. London.

O’Hair, H. Dan, and Gary L. Kreps (1990) Applied communication theory and

research. New York:Routledge.

Patric M. Dunne et al (2002:120) Retailing. 4th edition. USA: Mike Roche.

Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2010:34) Principles of Marketing. 13th edition.

London:Pearson.

61

Pillai, R.N.S and Bagavathi (1987:156) Modern marketing principles and practices.

3rd revised edition. New Delhi:Chand and company.

Piyus Kumar Sinha and Dwarika Prasad Uniyal (2007) Managing Retailing. New

Delhi.

Pressey, A. and Mathews, B. (1998:39-52) Relationship marketing and retailing :

Comfortable bedfellows? International journal of customer relationship management,

1(1).

Reilly, W. J. (1931) The law retail gravitation. Ney York: Knicker bocker press.

Rick Mathieson (2007:22) Branding Unbound The future of advertising, sales and the

brand experience in the wireless age. New Delhi:Prentice hall of India.

Roger, S. David (2007:73) Retail location analysis in practice: Research review 14(2).

USA. [online]. Available from:

http://tngacommercial.com/resources/pdf/RETAIL_LOCATION_ANALYSIS.pdf/

[Accessed on 28th Dec 2011].

Sashittal, H.C. and Wilemon, D. (1996) Marketing Implementation in Small and

Midsized Industrial Firms An Exploratory Study. Industrial marketing management

25, 67-78.

Saul, J. Berman et al (2007) The end of advertising as we know it. IBM Global

business services. USA. [online] Available from:

http://www-05.ibm.com/de/media/downloads/end-of-advertising.pdf/ [Accessed on

25th Dec 2011].

Shanmugasundaram, S. (2008:9) Customer relationship management. Modern trends

and perspectives. New Delhi: Prentice hall of India.

Stone, M. et al (2003:305-308) the effect of retail customer loyalty schemes –

Detailed measurement or transforming marketing? Journal of targeting, measurement

and analysis for marketing, 12(3).

Theresa Williams and Mark, J. Larson (1999) Retail technology in the next century.

USA. Indiana University. [Online]. Available from:

http://kelley.iu.edu/CERR/files/study_on_retail_tech99.pdf / [Accessed on 27th Dec

2011].

Tim Hannagan (2002) Mastering strategic management. New York: Palgrave

Tschirley, D. (2007:1) Supermarket and Beyond: Literature review on farmer to

market linkage in sub-saharan Africa and Asia.

62

Yin, R. (2003) Case study Research design and methods. Third edition. USA:Sage

publications.

Zikmund, W. (2003) Business research methods. USA: South-Western.

63

RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE

I am Arun Sanal studying my MBA at British Institute of Technology and E-Commerce, Coventry University doing my dissertation in marketing strategies to explore the effective marketing strategies which can enhance profitability of the retail business.

I would like to request you to spend your valuable time to answer few questions which are very important in the dissertation work and I assure you that all the information and details are treated as very confidential and not used for any other purpose.

Thank you.

Name:

Date:

Position:

Organisation:

Questions for dissertation (Please encircle your answers)

1. What is your gender?

A. Male B. Female C. Unspecified

2. What is your age group?

A. Below 20 B. 21-30 C. 31-40 D. 41-50 E. Above 50

3. How do you feel about the customer service in the stores? 3a. Availability of staff and their assistance helpfulness nature in store A. Very goodB. GoodC. SatisfactoryD. Poor

3b. Presentation of store and arrangement of the products A. Very good B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor

4. Brand and price promotion4a. Are you satisfied with brands available in the storeA. Very goodB. Good

64

C. SatisfactoryD. Poor

4b. Have you satisfied about the price promotions offer maintained by storesA. Very goodB. GoodC. SatisfactoryD. Poor

5. Advertising strategy5a. Have you seen any advertisement of Shakthi cash and carry

A. YesB. No

5b. Do you think advertising is required for introduction of new product

A. YesB. No

6. Technology adaption6a. How the technology used to enhance the business effectivelyA. Very effectiveB. GoodC. SatisfactoryD. Poor6b. Are you satisfied with the existing technology in Shakthi cash and carryA. Very goodB. GoodC. SatisfactoryD. Poor

7. Store location7a. Do you think the store is located at convenient placeA. Very goodB. GoodC. SatisfactoryD. Poor

7b. Are you happy with store environment

A. Very goodB. GoodC. SatisfactoryD. Poor

8. Any suggestion you would like to tell us for further improvement in the business.

65