A Project Report On

“STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, BRAND

MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE TIE-Ups”

Carried out at

Future Group-Indus League

Submitted By

Progga promiti DasRoll no. 9267

MBA++(Marketing Retail)

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Rajesh Prahurkar

In Partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of

Master of Business Administration (MBA++)

Department of Management Sciences

University of Pune

(PUMBA) 2009-2011

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UNIVERSITY OF PUNEBONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report “STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR,

BRAND MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE TIE-Ups” is the bonafide work

of “Progga Promiti Das” who carried out the project work under my supervision.

Internal guideExternal Examiner Dr.Rajesh Prahurkar

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude

to all those who have guided me in right direction to complete this project

successfully.

I express my sincere gratitude towards Dr.Rajesh Prahurkar , Professor

of Department of Management Science, University of Pune for encouraging me

throughout my project and for blessing me with this opportunity. I would like to

thank my college’s internal guide for giving me the permission to commence this

project in the first instance, to do the necessary research work and to use

department data.

I also express my sincere thank towards Mr. Raj Sartape, the Area

Sales Manager(ASM) of Indus League(Future Group apparels) for guiding us in

understanding every aspect of retail business and I also owe thank to Future group

for providing such a huge platform .

I am deeply indebted to my faculty Guide who gave me stimulating

suggestions and encouraged me at all times during my project work.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my respondents for sparing

their precious time to answer my questionnaire and giving me an access to such a

valuable information. Finally my sincere thanks to my parent’s and to all my

friends for their support and motivation throughout the project.

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Abstract- Retailing is one of the fastest growing industries in India. It also provides

largest employment in India. In India majority of retail sector is unorganised while

very few retailers are organised and work in more than one city.

Indus League clothing ltd. is a future group holding, a company owned by

future group and it heads the brands like John Miller, Urbana, Indigo Nation,

Jealous21, Scullers and Daniel Hechter. The project is titled “STUDY OF

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, BRAND MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE TIE-

UPs”. The main objectives of the project was to study and understand the

consumer buying behavior, Understanding the brand management process by

conducting a marketing research and making tie-ups with MNC's by B2B

marketing in various service organisations such as IT companies, Hotels, Colleges

for their employees and students. It also aims to determine how to position various

in-house brands of Indus League and Future group apparels.

Satisfying our customers is an essential element to stay in business in this

modern world of global competition. We must satisfy and even delight our

customers with the value of our products and services to gain their loyalty and

repeat business.

Recommendations given includes suggestions like emphasising on

promotional activities such as corporate discounts and other promotional schemes,

regularity in supplying of apparel orders and proper inventory management, providing

high end customisation to clients in terms of patterns, colors, fittings and providing

with post purchase services in terms of alteration help for increasing the loyalty and

inviting repeat purchase. This project revealed that Indus League Clothing Ltd. should

position itself as high quality low price apparel manufacturing company.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Sr. No CHAPTER Page.No

ABSTRACT 4

TABLE OF CONTENT 5

LIST OF FIGURES 6

LIST OF TABLES 7

1 INTRODUCTION 8

1.1 Overview of the Retail Industry 11

1.2 Organisational Profile 14

1.3 Future Group awards 23

1.4 Need for the study 27

2 CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOR 29

2.1 Customer Behavior 30

2.2 Decision Making 33

3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY. 36

3.1 Research Design 37

3.2 Data Interpretation and Analysis 39

4 B2B MARKETING AND INSTITUTIONAL TIE-Ups 56

5 FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 63

APPENDICES 68

REFERENCES 72LIST OF FIGURES

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Sr.No Fig.No Title Page.No1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The retail marketing mix 91.2 The retail communication mix 101.3 Evolution of Indian retail 121.4 Major players in Indian retail 131.5 Spread of future group 26

2 CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOR2.1 Power pricing by Jealous21 332.2 Influences on the decision making process 352.3 Black box model 39

3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY3.1 People visiting for the first time 393.2 Frequency of visit 403.3 Frequency age group wise 413.4 Frequency gender wise 423.5 Promotions stimulating people 433.6 Influences of the promotional activities 443.7 Influence of the promotions occupation wise 453.8 Number of people exposed to communication of IndusLeague 463.9 Exposure of the communication age group wise 473.10 People exposed to in store communication 483.11 People liking the communication 493.12 Ratings for IndusLeague 503.13 People’s opinion on the offer 513.14 Opinions of the people on offers, age-group wise. 523.15 Shopping experiences 533.16 Shopping experiences, age-group wise 543.17 Shopping experiences, gender wise 55

4 B2B MARKETING AND INSTITUTIONAL TIE-Ups4.1 Demand categories 594.2 Buying decision making process 60

APPENDICES 68List of organizations 71

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LIST OF TABLES

Sr.No Table.No Title Page.No

3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 People visiting for the first time 39

3.2 Frequency of visit 40

3.3 Frequency age group wise 41

3.4 Frequency gender wise 42

3.5 Promotions stimulating people 43

3.6 Influences of the promotional activities 44

3.7 Influence of the promotions occupation wise 45

3.8 Number of people exposed to communication of IndusLeague 46

3.9 Exposure of the communication age group wise 47

3.10 People exposed to instore communication 48

3.11 People liking the communication 49

3.12 Ratings for IndusLeague 50

3.13 People’s opinion on the offer 51

3.14 Opinions of the people on offers, age-group wise. 52

3.15 Shopping experiences 53

3.16 Shopping experiences, age-group wise 54

3.17 Shopping experiences, gender wise 55

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CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

Marketing :

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Philip Kotler defines marketing as a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain

what they need and want through creating, offering and freely exchanging products and services

of value with others.

Retailing :Retailing includes all the activities in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for

personal, non business use.

Retail Marketing Mix :Retail marketing focuses on the segmentation, targeting, positioning and branding of a retail

store and methods of communicating this to consumer.

The basic function of retail is to provide the right goods to the consumer, at the right place and

time. Retail marketing mix is the marketing tool that a retail organisation uses to pursue its

marketing objectives, such as to inform the customers about the products that he has on offer, to

make the customer to visit and shop from his store and to achieve the sales target.

Figure 1.1: The Retail Marketing Mix

The Retail Communication Mix :

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Communication is an integral part of the retailer’s marketing strategy. Communication is used to

inform the customers about the retailer, the merchandise and the services. It also serves as a tool

for building store image. Every brand contact delivers an impression that can strengthen or

weaken the customers’ view of the company.

A communication program can be designed to achieve a variety of objectives for the retailer,

such as building a brand image of the retailer in the customer's mind, increasing sales and store

traffic, providing information about the retailer's location and offering, and announcing special

activities.

Retailers communicate with customers through advertising, sales promotions, Web sites, store

atmosphere, publicity, personal selling, e-mail, and word of mouth. These elements in the

communication mix must be coordinated so customers have a clear, distinct image of the retailer

and not be confused by conflicting information.

Figure 1.2 : The Retail Communication Mix

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1.1-Overview of the Industry:Retailing is the world’s largest private industry. In India, retailing is one of the largest industries

and one of the largest employments also. The retailing industry is quite old in the country.

Growth of retail companies in India exhibits the growth in the retail industry in India over the

years.

Evolution of Retail in India:

In India, during eighties, retailing or retailers meant peddlers, vegetable vendors, small grocery

stores, cloth stores and consumer durable shops. These retailers are operated in highly

unstructured and fragmented market. Very few retailers operated in more than one city. During

nineties, organised retailing was led by few manufacturers who had retail outlets in more than

one city, especially textile retailers like Vimal Textile, Bombay Dyeing, Raymonds. But Indian

retail scenario started changing after 1995. Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG)

strategy led to dilution of the stringent restrictions. This paved the way for MNCs in the Indian

market. Increasing salaries of IT and Greenfield employees sector gave rise to completely new

group of buyers with higher purchasing power. Moreover the entry of MNC brands generated

considerable enthusiasm and interest among domestic retailers. This encouraged setting up of

retail chains by domestic retailers like Viveks and Nilgiries in Chennai, Nirulas in New Delhi

etc.

Competition in retailing is fierce. Everyday retailers come with new ideas, a proven successful

idea open hundreds of new stores. Leading retailers are opening new retail stores, at the same

time new investors like Bharti Group and global giant like Wal-Mart are also going to start the

retail stores in the Indian retail market.

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Figure 1.3: Evolution of Indian Retail

Growth of Retail Companies in India :

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Growth of Retail Companies in India is still not yet in a matured stage with great potentials

within this sector still to be explored. Most of the retail companies are sections of other

industries that have stepped in the retail sector for a better business. The Growth of Retail

Companies in India is most pronounced in the metro cities of India; however the smaller towns

are also not lagging behind in this. The retail companies are not only targeting the metros in

India but also is considering the second graded upcoming cities like Baroda, Chandigarh,

Coimbatore, Cochin, Ludhiana, Trivandrum, Simla, Gurgaon, and others. The South Indian zone

have adopted the process of shopping in the supermarkets for their daily requirements and this

has also been influencing other cities as well where many hypermarkets are coming up day to

day.

Reasons for the fast Growth of Retail Companies in India :

The retail companies are found to be rising in India at a remarkable speed with the years and this

has brought a revolutionary change in the shopping attitude of the Indian customers. The Growth

of Retail Companies in India is facilitated by certain factors like –

Existing Indian middle classes with an increased purchasing power

Rise of upcoming business sectors like the IT and engineering firms

Change in the taste and attitude of the Indians

Effect of globalization

Heavy influx of FDI in the retail sectors in India

Major players in Indian retail industry :

Pantaloon Retail India Ltd RPG Group Subhiksha

K Raheja Group Landmark Group Bharti-Walmart

Tata group Piramal Group Reliance

Figure1.4: Major players in retail

1.2-Organisation Profile:Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.

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Pantaloon Retail India Limited is India’s leading retailer that operates multiple retail formats

through retail chains such as Pantaloon, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, E-Zone, Fashion Station, &

Depot, which serves in both the value and lifestyle segment of the Indian consumer market. The

company operates over 12 million square feet of retail space, has over 1000 stores across 71

cities in India and employs over 30,000 people.

Pantaloon retail India Ltd., expects its business to grow manifold in next few years, both in terms

of new formats as well as new locations. To further reach out to its customers, and to provide

them a convenient shopping experience, Pantaloon Retail took the initiative of Web marketing

and sales through its newly launched Web site of Futurebazaar. The portal enjoys the benefit of

buying in bulk from the entire group and keeping its margins low, which allows it to offer low

prices to its customers.

Future Group :Future Group is led by its flagship enterprise Pantaloon Retail. Future Group, led by its founder

and Group CEO, Mr. Kishore Biyani, is one of India’s leading business houses with multiple

businesses spanning across the consumption space.

Future Group’s joint venture partners include, US-based stationery products retailer, Staples and

Middle East-based Axiom Communications. The group’s flagship company, Pantaloon Retail

was awarded the International Retailer of the Year 2007, by the US-based National Retail

Federation, the largest retail trade association and the Emerging Market Retailer of the Year

2007 at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona.

Future Group believes in developing strong insights on Indian consumers and building

businesses based on Indian ideas, as espoused in the group’s core value of ‘Indianness.’ The

group’s corporate credo is, ‘Rewrite rules, Retain values.’

Retail forms the core business activity of Future Group while group subsidiaries are present in

consumer finance, capital, insurance, leisure and entertainment, brand development, retail real

estate development, retail media and logistics.

Subsidiaries of Pantaloon Retail :

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Future Bazaar

Future Group

Future Capital Holdings

Future Generali

Future Learning & Development

Future Media

Future Knowledge Service

Home Solutions

Future Axiom Telecom

Future Brands

Central :

Central, a lifestyle shopping mall is a branch of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. First Central was

launched at Bangaluru in 2004. Central is a showcase, seamless mall and the first of its kind in

India. The thought behind this pioneering concept was to give customers an unobstructed and a

pure shopping experience and to ensure the best brands in the Indian market are made available

to the discerning Indian customer.

Central is presently serving its customers through 11 stores located in 7cities across the India. It

is planning to have 20 stores by the year 2010 in various cities. Central houses over 300 brands

across categories, such as apparel, footwear and accessories for women, men, children and

infants, apart from a whole range of Music, Books, Coffee Shops, Food Courts, Super Markets

(Food Bazaar), Fine Dining Restaurants, Pubs and Discotheques.

Central also serves its customers through various value added services. These value added

services provided by Central are :

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Gift Central : Complimentary gift wrapping

Beauty Central : Complimentary make over

Flower Central : Flower service for your dear ones

Radio Central : Radio while you ‘Shop, Eat & Celebrate’

Wi-Fi Central : Complimentary broadband usage

DJ Central : Live entertainment on weekends

Indus League :Indus-League Clothing Ltd. was incorporated in Nov, 1998 and started commercial operations .

from April 1999 by six first generation entrepreneurs, to build lifestyle branded garments, at

time. when consumers were not aware of readymade garment brands. The Company is engaged

in the design and manufacture of ready-made garments.

The Company is led by Ms. Rachna Aggarwal, Director & CEO a first generation entrepreneur

with more than 15 Yrs of experience in this industry. She is supported by senior management

team with considerable years of experience in the industry.

The Board of Directors of the Company include several professional and independent directors,

being industry leaders in Management, Retailing, Manufacturing, Advertisement and Marketing.

The majority of the shareholding of the Company is held by Future group there are other

strategic investors include Benett Coleman & Co. Ltd. and others.

Some of the brands of Indus League includes;

1.Daniel Hechter

2.Urbana

3.Indigo Nation

4.John Miller

5.Jealous 216.Urban Yoga

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DANIEL HECHTER

Leading french pret-a-porter brand, Daniel Hechter launched its first showroom in South Extension Part- II, Delhi. Exclusive stores have also been launched in Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgoan.

Daniel Hechter, an International label focusing on Menswear in India ensures creative fashion that includes the classic range of products with visible value addition, combined with sporty elegance in the sophisticated leisure range. The range offers premium classic shirts, trousers in slim silhouettes, double mercerized T-shirts and pima jerseys.

The French company which was recently launched in India by Indus league on an agreement, that Daniel Hechter would provide expertise in European design and styling to bring the latest collection to India, while Indus League would rely on its manufacturing ability as well as its retail prowess to market the brand across the country. Indus League will look to grow Daniel Hechter to a Rs. 50 crore brand by the end of 3 years. With this agreement the French Pret brand will offer its range of menswear to the Indian consumer.

Speaking on the brand, Rachna Aggarwal, CEO, Indus League Clothing Ltd. said, “We bring to Delhi international styles and designs from Paris through an exclusive Daniel Hechter Store. Delhi is a very stylish market and through this store we intend to ensure that the customer gets the finest quality and best of styling”.

“We have been eying Delhi as a fast developing market for luxury brands in India. We are glad to be associating ourselves with the city with our first store in South Extension. We hope Daniel Hechter is an absolute delight to Delhi with a fine blend of European designs and elegenat personalities of the people” said Tanguy Mulliez, International License Director, Daniel Hechter

The Daniel Hechter brand has its origin in Paris, the fashion capital. Fashion from Daniel Hechter blends French savoir-faire with sporty elegance. It garbs wearers in the certainty of always being well dressed. Fashion from Daniel Hechter conveys a lifestyle feeling, rendering the brand both authentic and appealing.

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URBANA

Indus League, which retails brands such as Indigo Nation and Scullers, is betting big on its recently launched premium menswear brand Urbana.

The Urbana range, comprising shirts, trousers, jackets, belts and ties, is targeted at the upmarket male in the 35-45 age group. It is positioned as a brand that "combines technology with fashion and functionality."

"The premium men's formalwear business is estimated at Rs 1,200 crore -1,500 crore. Hence, there is huge potential. We expect Urbana to emerge as a Rs 100-crore brand in three years," said Mr K.K. Pant, CEO and MD, Indus League.

Urbana products are claimed to be incorporated with technologies for sweat-, wrinkle- and stain-resistance, apart from having the `Durawhite' property for "sparkling whiteness even after several washes" and an anti-ageing formula.

The shirts and trousers are priced between Rs 1,299 and Rs 2,299 and the jackets at Rs 3,499-4,999.

Urbana is currently available at Central malls and Pantaloon stores. It will soon be available in shop-in-shops at premium menswear retail outlets and in standalone stores.

"Over the next three years, the company will aim to establish 150-200 such points across the country. Marketing spends are expected to be around Rs 15 crore; store investment would be Rs 50 lakh per store," said Mr Pant.

The company is looking at "selective and direct marketing communication" to promote Urbana given its niche premium positioning.

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INDIGO NATION

Indigo Nation, the stunning range of fashionable formal wear designed exclusively for the young, edgy and maverick man, continues to style the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

After a hugely successful season last year, Indigo Nation is proud to style the debonair and stylish Royal Challengers Team of Bangalore for the second year in a row.The collection specially designed for the Royal

Challengers includes an exciting range with ‘Reversibles’ clothes that can be worn inside out and a stylish assemble of checkered shirts that go best with denims. They include a wide variety of shirts in varied hues of creams, blues and beiges. This special collection created by Indigo Nation for the Royal Challengers is not just a toast to the team but also to their admirers across the nation. The royal challengers spell the attitude of Indigo Nation – they are young and dynamic. Indigo Nation, the brand has possibly benchmarked the young corporate’ dress ethos in formals and changed men's fashion in India from sober and monotonous to bold and radical. They intend to expect the same boldness and style from the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who are not just raring to go on the field but off it as well.Indigo Nation is a young and edgy formal wear brand from the house of Indus-League Clothing Ltd, which is a unique brand lifestyle marketing firm headquartered in Bangalore. Indigo Nation’s Contra Formals has set a new trend in dressing for the young and dynamic – like they say – “Young Like That”!! Indigo Nation has possibly benchmarked the young corporates’ dress ethos in formals and changed men's fashion in India from sober and monotonous to bold and radical.

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JOHN MILLER Van Winkel Confectiebedrijven was set up in Budel in 1949. The founder Sjef van Winkel developed machines and accessories himself in order to constantly improve his shirt production.This shirt manufacturer rapidly grew into the Van Winkel Fashion Group, a respected family firm with a total of 55 staff in the Benelux countries and its own production company in Macedonia with 165 staff. The third generation of the van Winkel family is now closely involved with the organisation.The Van Winkel Fashion Group produces and sells its shirts to various men’s fashion firms under 2 brands: Ledûb established in 1963 with shirts for the higher middle segment and John Miller established in 1989 with shirts for the higher segment.

The John Miller brand was created from the Cotonissimo brand which guaranteed luxury shirts made of 100% pure cotton fabric from a European supplier. In 1989 the name John Miller was introduced with the addition of “Original Cotonissimo.” From spring 1995 the addition was dropped and the brand name became John Miller. The John Miller brand still stands for luxury shirts of exceptionally good quality. The high-quality materials from European suppliers, the beautiful workmanship and the comfortable fit ensure that the products are a great pleasure to wear and as comfortable as possible. John Miller also stands out thanks to its strong service orientation.

JOHN MILLER BRAND PROMISE :

John Miller luxury shirts have been developed from a rich Dutch tradition of shirtmaking and its own innovative vision. Besides stylish wear, John Miller offers fashionable shirts in which a lot of attention has been paid to detailed workmanship.Very high-quality fabrics and materials are used for the shirts. Nothing but the best will do for the fit and for optimum comfort in wear.Besides the criterion of quality in the widest sense of the word, John Miller explicitly focuses on the “service” element in its market approach. A service-orientated approach ensures long-term relationships with suppliers, customers and consumers.John Miller shirts guarantee optimum wearing comfort. That is because they are made exclusively of high-quality natural materials such as cotton, linen and silk. John Miller also has a line of shirts featuring a unique two-ply fabric quality. Made of 100% cotton fibres, the fine threads of this fabric make it exceptionally supple, resulting in a high level of wearing comfort and little to no wrinkling.

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JEALOUS 21

The new look Jealous 21, a ‘forever young’ ‘complete wardrobe’ store that gives a young girl (17-24 years) everything she needs to define her distinctive style and personality, opened in the city at Orchid City Centre , Mumbai Central. This novel retailing concept has been conceived by Indus-League Clothing Ltd. (where Future Group through Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited has a strategic stake), which had acquired the popular women’s denim brand Jealous in April 2005. On the occasion of the launch event, the young Jealous 21 models catwalked across the store displaying the ‘attitude’ of the Indian girl of today and the woman of tomorrow.

The ‘always in fashion’ Jealous 21 store is for the young girl, who is experimenting, innovating, going to work, starting to party and discovering her own unique style. Positioned as the trendsetter in denim wear, Jealous 21 aspires to give her everything she needs Fit, fashion, budget, familiarity and identity. The Jealous 21 merchandise offers great fits, great washes and great value for money. Always in fashion, it is great place to be seen at!

Bina Mirchandani , Head Category Pantaloon Retail ( India ) Limited said, “The store is smart , stylish, designed for the  perfect young woman, who knows and understands the joys of being a girl and a woman. The Jealous 21 girl is sizzling, stylish, casual, sexy and professional. Always evolving and positive, the dependable Jealous 21 gives her affordable and chic fashion all year round.”

K.K. Pant, Managing Director Indus-League Clothing Ltd said, “Jealous 21 is a fresh and new concept store. This store has been designed keeping in mind the young girl’s shopping desires. We at Indus-League have always sought innovation and launched new concept stores, thereby giving a new shopping destination to the people of the city where we are present.”

The Jealous 21 range comprises casual, club and denim wear. It seeks inspiration from its glorious lineage — the Jealous denim wear brand. The denim brand, known for its fit, was launched in the early 90’s and was positioned as a brand for the young urban woman . Now the brand is being reinvented to infuse new energy into it. The company plans to expand its retail network for a nationwide presence.

Jealous 21 was launched in India in November 2006, with its first outlet in Orchid City Centre in Mumbai. The new look Jealous 21 a ‘forever young’ ‘complete wardrobe’ store gives a young girl (17-24 years) everything she needs to define her distinctive style and personality. The Jealous 21 range comprises: casual, club and denim wear. It seeks inspiration from its glorious lineage — the Jealous denim wear brand. The denim brand, known for its fit, was launched in the early ’90’s and was positioned as a brand for the young urban woman. Now the brand is being reinvented to infuse new energy into it.

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URBAN YOGA

Urban Yoga, the first line of clothing for yoga in India, has opened their first exclusive concept

store in the plush and luxurious Palladium Mall in Mumbai.

The brand takes it inspiration from the art of performing yoga. Similarly the 300 sq feet store at

the Palladium is built around the philosophy of Yoga and transcends the brand ethos to enhance

one’s shopping experience. The store conveys a serene ambiance and celebrates yoga and its

holistic pursuits right from its impressive use of ‘padmasana’ logos and the natural wooden feel

of the store interiors.

Rachna Aggarwal, CEO, Indus League said, “The store gives consumers a complete brand

experience and conveys the values and lifestyle imagery of the brand. We have tried to re-create

the entire yoga experience at the store. The collection at the store is focused on providing utmost

comfort and flexibility while performing yoga. The fabric and style benefits of the range help

you keep your mind on yoga and not on your clothes.” The collection is available for men,

women and kids. The specific fabric and styles benefits allow for stretch and better movement

while practising yoga or just exercising. The specific style benefits include shifted shoulder

seams in tops and ribbed fabric at the back and sides of the garment to facilitate better stretch.

Also available for women are seamless kimono cuts for better movement of arms while

exercising and broad roll up waist bands that helps to keep the garment in place, while retaining

a stylish look. The fabric used has five per cent lycra and is bio-washed for a soft body feel. Also

available this season is a range of “Sandesh” tees. The Sandesh tees, with their humour and play

on words, encompass the attitude of Yoga.  

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1.3-Future Group Awards

CNBC  Awaaz Consumer Awards 2009

Most Preferred Multi Product Chain - Big Bazaar

Most Preferred Multi Brand Food & Beverage Chain - Big Bazaar

Images Fashion Forum 2009

Most Admired Fashion Group Of The Year - Future Group

Most Admired Private Label - Pantaloons, the lifestyle format

Critic’s Choice For Pioneering Effort In Retail Concept

Creation - Central

Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2009

Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer Of The Year

Most Admired Food Court

Most Admired Food Professional

Indian Retail Forum Awards 2008

Most Admired Retail Company of the year - Future Group

Retail Face of the Year - Kishore Biyani

Best Retailer Of The Year ( Hypermarket) - Big Bazaar

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Future Group was awarded the Most Admired Retail Company of the year by the Indian Retail

Forum at a glittering ceremony organized in Mumbai. Mr Kishore Biyani also won Retail Face

of the Year.

India Retail Forum (IRF) is a platform for intellectual insights and information exchange for the

retail business in the Indian subcontinent. The forum presents the business of retail in the region

to a global audience, with the express aim of facilitating understanding about and encouraging

investment in this massive marketplace.

Big Bazaar, the value format of Future Group bagged the Best Retailer of the Year

(Hypermarket).

The INDIASTAR Award 2008

Food Bazaar: Best Packaging Innovation

Food Bazaar bagged the INDIASTAR Award for Best Packaging Innovation in India, for its

private label brand Fresh and Pure Chakki Atta.

INDIASTAR Award is a biennial event which aims to promote and encourage excellence in

packaging design, innovation and technology. The contest was established in 1972 and is

considered as the most popular and premier event for India’s packaging fraternity. This year

there were around 357 entries and the participants had to submit a sample of their designs for

selection.

Retail Asia Pacific Top 500 Awards 2008

Gold Winner - Top Retailer 2008 Asia Pacific

Retail Asia Publishing Pte, the institutor of these awards, aims to set a platform that appraise

raises and recognizes the development and growth of retailing throughout the Asia Pacific

region.

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Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2008

Most Admired Food & Grocery Retail Visionary of the Year: Kishore Biyani.

Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year – Supermarkets: Food Bazaar.

Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year - Hypermarkets: Big Bazaar.

Most Admired Retailer of the Year - Dynamic Growth in Network Expansion across

Food, Beverages & Grocery: Future Group.

Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year - Consumer's Choice: Big Bazaar.

The Coca-Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2008, were given away for the first time as a culmination

of the ‘Food Forum India 2008’ - a two day convention which saw the participation of leading

brands, retailers & retail support organizations from across the globe. The awards were presented

to honour enterprise, innovation and achievement in the food retailing business as a benchmark

of excellence.

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Figure1.5: Spread of Future Group

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1.4-Need for the study :

Retailing is a low-margin, high-volume, commodity business where profitability gets strained as

competition intensifies. It is very necessary to communicate and advertise with the people to

create the awareness among them. It therefore becomes very crucial to understand the customer

buying behavior. Promotion plays a very important role in the retailing as a medium for

communication. Major retail players spend large amount of funds for the communication and

advertisement of their brand. It is therefore important to study the impact of these promotional

activities on the customers and to what extent these advertisements and communication are able

to influence the consumer from which these retail players get their revenue. For increasing the

sale and thus revenue, it becomes important to gain and retain the market share and identify new

opportunities. Corporate Institutional tie-ups becomes a strategic decision for gaining higher

market share.

Problem statement :

Indus League is one of those successful brands which serves the lifestyle needs of the consumers.

In Pune, Indus League is always been challenged in its position to remain on the top due to new

entrants and increasing competition. Indus League spends heavily on promotion, so it is

necessary to check the effectiveness of this promotion.

‘Is the expenditure on various promotional activities done by Pune Central successful in

attracting the customer? ’

Without understanding the consumers need, it becomes difficult to serve them. It is important to

know whether the consumers are satisfied and whether their expectations are been meet upon.

‘Is the brand successful in understanding the consumer expectations and is it delighting the

consumers? ‘

Objectives :

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The objective of the study can be exhaustively divided as the study and understanding of three

different topics. The overall study focuses on the fulfilment of following objectives :

To study and understand the customer buying behavior.

To study and understand the process of brand management as well as the effectiveness of

the promotional activities of Indus League.

To understand and design B2B marketing activities as well as the terms and norms for

institutional tie-ups.

Scope of the study :

The study was conducted in the two stores of Central located in Pune city. The study was carried

out to to understand the entire brand management process as well as the effectiveness of the

promotional activities in creating an impact of Indus League as a brand in the minds of its

customers.

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CHAPTER-2

CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

2.1-Customer Behavior:

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Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not

buy products. It attempts to understand the buyer’s decision making process, both individually

and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and

behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. Customer behavior study is

based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer playing three distinct roles of user,

payer and buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer

relationship management, personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social

functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions.

Customer Behavior Study:Observation of consumers is often a powerful tool. Looking at how customer select products

may yield insights into how they make decisions and what they look for.

E.g: Indus League found out that the reason for the low sales of its newly launched brand Daniel

Hechter was its lower brand awareness amongst the Indian customers. The customers would

rather look for well established brands like Allen Solly and Van Heusen.

Observation may help us determine how much time customer spends comparing prices. A

question arises as to whether this type of “spying” inappropriately invades the privacy of

customers. Although there may be cause for some concern in that the particular individuals have

not consented to be part of this research, it should be noted that there is no particular interest in

what the individual customer being watched does. The question is what customers either as an

entire group or as segments do. Customer benefits, for example, from stores that are designed

effectively to promote efficient shopping. If it is found that women are more uncomfortable than

men about others standing too close, the areas of the store heavily trafficked by women can be

designed accordingly. What is being reported here, then, are averages and tendencies in

response. The intent is not to find specific observations specific to one customer only. By

understanding the phenomena such as the tendency towards a right turn, the location of

merchandise can be observed. It is also possible to identify problem areas where customers may

have close encounter with each others.

Consumer Behavior-The Psychological thinking:

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o The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different

alternatives (e.g., brands, products, and retailers).

o The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g.,

culture, family, signs, media);

o The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions.

o Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence

decisions and marketing outcome. 

o How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in

their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and

o How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing

strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Applications of Customer Behavior study:

There are four main applications of customer behavior:

a) The most obvious is for marketing strategy—i.e., for making better marketing

campaigns. For example, by understanding that consumers are more receptive to cloth

when new fashions & traditions come. By understanding that new products are usually

initially adopted by a few consumers and only spread later, and then only gradually, to

the rest of the population.

- Companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they can

stay afloat until their products become a commercial success and

- It is important to please initial customers, since they will in turn influence many

subsequent customers’ brand choices.

b) A second application is public policy-

E.g: IndusLeague brought Daniel Hechter, a Paris brand in a conception that it

will do well. But, this brand is not doing that well as per the expectations due to lower

awareness.

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c) Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling

something. In social marketing JEALOUS21 (INDUSLEAGUE) has its own tabloids

where all the information regarding the brand are available.

d) As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us better consumers.

Common sense suggests, for example, that if you buy 2 jeans or shirt you should pay

less per garment than if you buy 2 jeans. In practice, however, you often pay a

size premium by buying the larger quantity. In other words, in this case, knowing this

fact will sensitize you to the need to check the unit cost labels to determine if you

are really getting a bargain. In JEALOUS21 (INDUSLEAGUE) they have power

pricing.

Figure2.1: Power pricing by Jealous21

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2.2- Decision Making :

Figure2.2: Influences on the decision making process.

Internal search involves the customer identifying alternatives from his or her memory. For

certain low involvement products, it is very important that marketing program creates awareness.

For example, consumers are aware of new traditions & fashions.

In Indus League it was observed that Individual members of families often serve different roles

in decision making. Some individuals are information gatherers, who seek out information about

products. These individuals often have a great deal of power because they may selectively pass

on information that favors their chosen alternatives. Influencers do not ultimately have the power

to decide between alternatives, but they may choose from the available alternatives based on

word of mouth. The decision maker(s) have the power to determine issues such as

o Whether to buy,

o Which product to buy,

o Which brand to buy,

o Where to buy it and

o When to buy.

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Types of Consumer Buying Behavior:

Types of consumer buying behavior are determined by:

-Level of Involvement in purchase decision. Importance and intensity of interest in a

product in a particular situation.

-Buyers level of involvement determines why he/she is motivated to seek information

about a certain products and brands in retail showroom but virtually ignores others.

The four types of consumer buying behavior are;

1. Routine Response/Programmed Behavior- In Indus League buying low involvement

frequently purchased low cost items, need very little search and decision effort,

purchased almost automatically.

2. Limited Decision Making- Customer purchase clothes occasionally. When you need to

obtain information about unfamiliar brand in a familiar product category. Requires a

moderate amount of time for information gathering.

3. Extensive Decision Making/Complex high involvement, unfamiliar, expensive and/or

infrequently bought products- High degree of economic/performance/psychological risk.

Spend a lot of time seeking information and deciding.

4. Impulse buying, no conscious planning. Many a times at Pune Central customers visit

without any conscious planning and this is how impulse behavior is resulted.

Categories affecting Consumer Behavior:

A consumer, making a purchase decision will be affected by the following three factors. The

marketer must be aware of these factors in order to develop an appropriate strategy for its target

market.

1. Personal.

2. Psychological.

3. Social.

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1. Personal:

Personal factor includes aspects like sex, race, age and decision making ability. Young people purchase things for different reasons than older people.

2. Psychological factors:

Psychological factors include:

o Motiveso Perception

o Ability and Knowledge

o Attitudes

o Personality

o Lifestyles

3. Social Class:

Black box model:

In Retail Customer behaviour follows the Black Box Model.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS BUYER'S BLACK BOX

BUYER'S RESPONSE

Marketing Stimuli

Environmental Stimuli

Buyer Characteristics Decision Process

Product,Price,Place,

Promotion.

Economic,Technological,

Political,Cultural,

Demographic,Natural.

Attitudes,Motivation,Perceptions,Personality,Lifestyle,

Knowledge.

Problem recognition,Information

search,Alternative evaluation,Purchase decision,

Post-purchase behavior.

Product choice,Brand choice,Dealer choice,

Purchase timing,Purchase amount.

Figure2.3: Black box model

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Chapter-3

Research Design

AND

Methodology

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3.1-Research design:

Research objective:Study of impact of promotional activities of Indus League at Pune Central through customer

analysis.

Type of research:Descriptive Research: The type of research that was used for the project was the descriptive

research. It is also known as statistical research and it describes data and characteristics about the

population or phenomenon that is studied.

Sampling Design : The sample had been designed by keeping in mind the research objective of the project. The

population selected for the research were the customers coming to Central. The type of sampling

that was used in this case was the non-probability sampling, where the samples to be surveyed

were randomly selected from the total population i.e. sampling was done by convenient

sampling. The data was collected from both the Centrals in Pune city i.e. Pune Central Bund

Garden and University Road. The data was collected on weekdays, weekends as well as on day

of in-store event Youthopia, an annual promotional event of Central. The data was collected

from the sample size of 200 respondents over the period of 2 months amongst the customers

coming to Pune Central.

Type of data:

Primary Data :

A questionnaire was designed with a view to collect the requisite information. The questionnaire

that was designed was the structured non-disguised type of questionnaire. The questionnaire was

a direct type i.e. the objective of the study was told to the surveyed people.

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Collection of data :

The primary data was collected using a pre-designed questionnaire and by the method of

observation. All the data collected was by face to face conversation with the targeted customers,

and also from the observations by the response of the customers to the in-store promotion and

visual merchandise in the shopping mall.

Secondary data :

The secondary data was collected from the website of the organisation and also from various

online databases available for the retail.

Methods of Data analysis: The analysis of the surveyed samples was done by the simple methods like tabular analysis,

graphical analysis, and percentage analysis. These methods that had been used to analyze the

data were the simplest methods.

Limitations of the study :Although utmost care was taken in conducting the survey, still every survey has some

limitations. So was the case in this survey on ‘Assessing the effectiveness of the promotional

activities of Indus League: Customer Analysis’. These limitations are as follows:

Firstly, the study was conducted only for two months, so due to the limited time period,

the study was briefly conducted.

The survey is subjected to the personal opinion of the respondent; therefore the responses

got from them may be biased.

The sample size selected was small considering the time and cost constraint.

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3.2-Data Analysis and Interpretation :1. Number of people visiting for first time

Yes No Total

78 122 200

Table3.1: People visiting for the first time.

Figure3.1:People visiting for the first time.

Interpretation : Majority of the customer visiting the mall are repeat customer denoting good brand

loyalty.

Promotional activities for Central helps to retain customers as well as attract new

customers.

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2. Frequency of visit to Central

Once a

Month

Twice a

Month

Once in Two

Months

Once in Three

Months

Different Total

50 30 64 38 18 200

Table 3.2: Frequency of visit.

Figure 3.2:Frequency of visit.

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Frequency of Various Age Groups of People Visiting Central

Age

Frequency of Visit to Central

TotalOnce a Month

Twice a Month

Once in Two

Months

Once in Three

MonthsDifferent

<= 18 Years 2 2 6 5 3 18

19-25 Years 14 14 24 8 4 64

26-35 Years 23 10 27 14 6 80

36-45 Years 5 2 4 6 3 20

> 45 Years 6 2 3 5 2 18

Table 3.3: Frequency, age group wise.

Figure 3.3:Frequency, age group wise

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Gender Frequency of People Visiting Central

Gender

Frequency of Visit to Central

TotalOnce a Month

Twice a Month

Once in Two

Months

Once in Three

Months

Different

Male 27 18 42 29 12 128

Female 23 12 22 9 6 72

Table 3.4: Gender wise frequency.

Figure 3.4: genderwise frequency.

Interpretation : Majority of percentage of people visiting Central have buying cycle of two months.

Majority of male come to Central once in two months while many others visit generally

once a month.

Majority of female visit Central with a gap duration of one month

Youth frequently visit Central as compared other age groups.

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3. Type of promotion stimulating people :

Press

Ad

Radio

Commercial

Hoardings Communication

Outside store

Self

Walk In

Different Total

44 42 18 36 48 12 200

Table 3.5: Promotions stimulating people.

Figure 3.5:Promotions stimulating people.

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Type of Promotion Influencing Various Age Groups

Age

Type of Promotion Influencing People

TotalPress

AdRadio

Commercial

Hoardings

Communication

Outside the Store

Self Walk

inDifferen

t

<= 18 Years

3 5 2 3 4 1 18

19-25 Years

14 17 5 10 15 3 64

26-35 Years

17 14 5 18 21 5 80

36-45 Years

6 2 4 3 4 1 20

> 45 Years 4 4 2 2 4 2 18

Table 3.6: Influence of the promotional activities.

Figure 3.6: Influence of the promotional activities

Type of Promotion Influencing people of various Occupations

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Occupation

Type of Promotion Influencing People

TotalPress Ad

Radio Commercial

Hoardings Communication Outside the

Store

Self Walk

inDifferent

Student 16 20 4 12 21 3 76

Service 14 10 10 20 21 5 80

Self Employed

6 4 2 2 4 2 20

Housewife 8 8 2 2 2 2 24

Table 3.7:Influence of the promotion occupation wise.

Figure 3.7:Influence of the promotion occupation wise.

Interpretation : Major effect of communication is by Radio & Press Ad. Press ads have impact on self-employed people and housewives while Radio Commercial

influences housewives and students more. Youth prefer self walk-in, they are also influenced by Radio Commercials and

Communication outside the store.4. Number of people exposed to the communication of Indus League at

Central :

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Yes No Total

132 68 200

Table 3.8:Number of people exposed to communication of Indus League.

Figure 3.8:Number of people exposed to communication of Indus League.

People of various age groups exposed to communication of Indus

League

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No of People Exposed to

Communication of Indus League

Age

Total<=18 Years

19-25 Years

26-35 Years

36-45 Years

>45 Years

Yes 12 48 55 9 8 132No 6 16 25 11 10 68

Table 3.9:Exposure of the communication age group wise.

Figure 3.9:Exposure of the communication age group wise.

Interpretation : Good effect of communication for Indus League.

Majority of the influence of the promotional communication of Indus League is on the

customers between the age group of 15 to 35 years.

Indus League is successful to communicate the message to their target customers.

5. Number of people exposed to the special communication for Indus

League in the store :

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Standees Signage Gift Display Other Total

76 60 44 20 200

Table 3.10:People exposed to instore communication.

Figure 3.10:People exposed to instore communication.

Interpretation: In store communication has good recall power.

Customer pays attention to whatever is communicated, so message should be designed as

per the trend.

6. Number of people liking communication for Indus League :

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Yes No Total

144 56 200

Table 3.11: People liking the communication

Figure 3.11: People liking the communication

Interpretation: Majority of people visiting Central liked the in-store communication for Indus League.

Visual Merchandise ( VM ) team plays important role in In-store communication.

7. Ratings for Indus League:

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Aspects Unsatisfactory (1)

Average unsatisfactory

(2)

Average (3)

Average satisfactory

(4)

satisfactory (5) Total

Brand Awareness 10 28 72 55 35 200

Brand Image 12 21 85 62 20 200Quality 10 39 82 25 44 200

Table 3.12: Ratings for IndusLeague.

Figure3.12: Ratings for IndusLeague.

Interpretation: The brand awareness of IndusLeague is not very well satisfactory.

The Image of the brand in the minds of its customers is average to satisfactory.

Customers perception about IndusLeague’s quality is average.

8. People’s opinion about offers on Indus League :

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Good Average Not Good Total

110 50 40 200

Table 3.13:People’s opinion on the offers.

Figure 3.13:People’s opinion on the offers.

Opinion of people of various age groups about offers on Indus League

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People Opinion About

Offers on Indus

League

Age

Total<=18 Years

19-25 Years

26-35 Years

36-45 Years

>45 Years

Good 9 30 50 9 12 110Average 5 24 12 8 1 50

Not Good 4 10 18 3 5 40Table 3.14:Opinions of the people on offers, age-group wise.

Figure 3.14:Opinions of the people on offers, age-group wise.

Interpretation : Major percentage of customers is of the opinion that offers at Indus League are average

to good which can be a reason for good brand loyalty.

Greater percentage of customers in age group 26-35 years and customers above 45 years

liked the offers on Indus League.

9. People describing shopping experience with Indus League :

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Excellent Good Average Poor Total

74 96 20 10 200

Table 3.15: Shopping experiences.

Figure 3.15: Shopping experiences.

Shopping experience of people of various age group with Indus League

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Shopping Experience of People with Indus

League

Age

Total<=18 Years 19-25 Years 26-35 Years 36-45 Years >45 Years

Excellent 9 25 26 8 6 74Good 6 34 41 7 8 96

Average 2 3 9 4 2 20Poor 1 2 4 1 2 10

Table 3.16: Shopping experiences, age-group wise.

Figure 3.16: Shopping experiences, age-group wise.

Gender wise shopping experience of people with Indus League

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GenderShopping Experience of People at Central

TotalExcellent Good Average Poor

Male 44 62 14 8 128

Female 30 34 6 2 72

Table 3.17: Shopping experiences, gender wise.

Figure 3.17: Shopping experiences, gender wise.

Interpretation : Indus League is still one step behind of customer delight.

Majority of customer think the experience as good, so efforts should be taken to convert

them into excellent.

Teens have better shopping experience as compared to youth and elderly customers.

Majority of females shared their shopping experience with Indus League as excellent,

while majority of males shared their shopping experience as good.

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CHAPTER-4

B2B MARKETING

AND

INSTITUTIONAL TIE-Ups.

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Business-to-business marketing:

These includes organizational sales and purchase of goods and services to support production of

other goods and services for daily company operations or for resale. Like a final consumers,

organizations purchase products and services to fill needs. Their primary need is meeting the

demands of their own customers.

The business buying decisions :

o Are more formal.

o Involve complex interactions among many people.

o Must consider the organization’s goals.

Components of the Business Market:

o Commercial Market: Individuals and firms that acquire goods and services to support,

directly or indirectly, production of other goods and services.

o Trade Industries: Retailers and wholesalers who purchase goods for resale to others.

o Reseller: often used to describe the wholesalers and retailers that operate in the trade

sector.

o Government Organizations: Include domestic units of federal, state, local and foreign

governments.

o Institutions: includes a wide variety of organizations, both public and private, such as

hospitals, churches, universities, museums, and not-for-profit agencies.

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Segmenting B to B marketing:

o Demographic Segmentation: Demographic characteristics define the useful segmentation

criteria for business markets. e.g: Hinjewadi is a proper segmentation and positioning for

Indusleague.

o Customer-Based Segmentation: Dividing a B2B market into homogenous groups based

on buyers’ product specifications.

o Segmentation by End-Use Application: Segmenting a business-to-business market based

on how industrial purchasers will use the product.

o Segmentation by Purchase Categories:

-Centers on the purchasing situations.

-Organizations may use complicated purchasing procedures.

-Firms also structure their purchasing functions in specific ways (e.g. centralized

purchasing departments).

Characteristcs of B2B marketing:o Retail business market is more geographically concentrated.

o Manufacturers concentrate in certain regions of the city.

o Certain industries locate in particular areas to be close to their customers.

o B2B customers often must work with multiple sellers.

o Decision-makers at several layers may influence final orders.

o Process is more formal and professional than with consumers.

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Market Demand Categories:

Figure4.1: Demand categories

o Derived Demand: Demand for a resource that results from demand for the goods and

services that are produced by that resource.

o Volatile Demand: Changes in demand that are disproportionate to normal trends.

o Joint Demand: Demand for a product that depends on the demand for another product used

in combination with it.

o Inelastic Demand: Demand that, throughout an industry, will not change significantly due to

a price change.

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o Inventory Adjustments: Just-in-time inventory policies (JIT & JIT II)

Organizational buying decision making

Figure4.2:Buying decision making process.

Buyer-Seller Relationships: -More intense than consumer relationships.

-Require better communication among the organizations’ personnel.

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-Primary goal of B2B relationships is to provide advantages that no other seller can, for

instance: Lower-prices, quicker delivery, Better quality and reliability, Customized

product features and more favorable financing terms.

Steps involved in Institutional buying Process:

Stage 1: Anticipate a Problem/Need/Opportunity and a General Solution

e.g: Need to provide employees with a good t-shirt to motivate them and increase productivity.

Stage 2: Determine the Characteristics and Quantity of a Needed Good or Service.

e.g: Offering a t-shirt with the company’s logo and of different colors according to each

employee’s preference.

Stage 3: Describe Characteristics and the Quantity of a Needed Good or Service.

Stage 4: Search for and Qualify Potential Sources.

-Choice of supplier may be fairly straightforward or very complex.

Stage 5: Acquire and Analyze Proposals.

-May involve competitive bidding, especially if the buyer is the government or a public

Institution.

Stage 6: Evaluate Proposals and Select Suppliers.

-Buyers choose proposal best suited to their needs.

-Final choice may involve trade-offs between feature such as price, reliability, quality, and

order accuracy of t-shirts.

Stage 7: Select an Order Routine.

-Buyer and vendor work out best way to process future purchases.

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Stage 8: Obtain Feedback and Evaluate Performance.

-Buyers measure vendors’ performance.

-Larger firms are more likely to use formal evaluation procedures.

-Some firms rely on outside organizations to gather quality feedback and summarize results.

Types of B2B buying:

Business buying behavior involves degree of effort involved in the decision and the levels within the organization in which these decisions are made.

Straight Rebuying:

-A recurring purchase decision in which a customer reorders a product that has satisfied needs in the past.-Purchaser see little reason to assess competing options.-Marketers who maintain good relationships with customers can go a long way toward ensuring straight rebuys. E.g: Infosys straight rebuys Indus League’s garments.

Modified Rebuying:

-Purchaser willing to re-evaluate available options.-May occur if supplier has let a rebuy circumstance deteriorate because of poor service or delivery performance.

New-Task Buying:

-First-time or unique purchase situations that require considerable effort by the decision makers.-Most complex category of business buying.-Often requires purchaser to consider alternative offerings and vendors.

Value analysis:

-Examines each component of a purchase in an attempt to either delete the item or replace it with a more cost-effective substitute.

Vendor analysis:

-An ongoing evaluation of a supplier’s performance in categories such as price, EDI capability, back orders, deliv ery times, liability in B2B customers.

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CHAPTER-5

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

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Findings :1. Brand Awareness Problem: After the marketing research activity that we undertook and

during the times when we were meeting the organisational clients, we observed that the Indus

League brand awareness was very poor. Most of the organisations and institutions were not

even aware of Indus League being a parent brand.

2. Market Penetration for Future group apparels: During our activity of B2B marketing

it was brought to our notice that the penetration of our brand was very less and there were

still many institutions who look for local vendors for the manufacturing of there uniforms

and other apparels.

3. Most preffered time for placing the order: It was found out that the most of the

institutions orders only once in a year. Moreover, the colleges and schools would order only

at the start of there academic year.

4. Need of high promotional activities: Offering corporate discounts, giving free

membership cards to employees, giving high discounts schemes such as buy 100 and get 10

free can probably help us targeting our target customer and to retain and gain maximum

market share.

5. Delivery time: The longer delivery time is also one of the reasons because of which the

penetration of our brand is low as compared to our competitors. Getting the approval from

the Bangalore office and again the transportation time involved in getting the order from

Bangalore results in a longer delivery time.

6. High end customization: There is a need for the high end customisation while delivering

the goods to the organisational customers. Customisation includes the company logo printed

on the shirt, the shirt color and design.

7. Post purchase benefits: It was noted that the post-purchase benefits that the customers

receives and the long-term relation that is been maintained with the customers are some of

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the reasons for high customer satisfaction and also results in customer delight most of the

times.

8. Price consciousness: The majority of the Pune region are price conscious and Indus

League has very well capitalised on such customers. It has segmented its customers and then

positioned its various brands acoording to the classes of the people. They have tried to cater

to every kind of need in the market.

9. Some of the other findings from the marketing research activity conducted to understand

the impact of promotional activities of Indus League includes;

o It was found that majority of customers visiting Pune Central are repeat customers,

denoting a good brand loyalty towards customers towards Central.

o It was also found that majority of percentage of people visiting Pune Central have buying

cycle of two months, i.e. generally customers revisit Central within two months.

o From the study on Indus League, it was found that major effect of promotion is by radio

commercials and press advertisements, where promotions through hoardings found to be

less effective. It was also found that many people come to buy Indus League without any

acquaintance with any of the promotional mediums but they are self walk-ins.

o It was found that the in-store communication has very good recall power; customers pay

attention to various medium of in-store promotion. Visual merchandise(VM) plays a very

important role in in-store promotion.

o From the study it was found that opinion of majority of customers of Indus League is the

offers are very good which is a reason for customer loyalty towards Indus League.

o Indus League is one step behind of customer delight. Majority of customers describe their

shopping experience as good as compared to excellent. There was very less number of

customers who describe their shopping experiences with Indus League as average or poor.

o Also majority of customers for Indus League are between the age group of 19 to 35 years,

it means Indus League’s promotion is effective in getting its target customer.

o From the study it is found that most of the customers coming for Indus League are

students and from service occupation, where the number of house wives and businessmen

is very less as compared to students and servicemen.

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o Also it was found that majority of the customers visiting are the residential near Pune

Central Bund Garden and Pune Central University Road, also these customers are found to

be repeat customers.

Suggestions :

1. Promotional Activities:

Follow the various promotional activities like advertisement on TV, Radio, Newspaper,

Internet, etc more rigourously so as to add-up to the brand awareness in the market.

2. Quality:

Maintain the quality of the apparels as per the requirements of the customers in order to

attain customer satisfaction and then delight. It is also equally important to understand the

customer insights.

3. Time Management:

Time management should be strictly followed in providing the ordered consignment on

time and reduce the delivery time.

4. Training to the sales staff:

A proper training should be provided to the sales executives about the detailed

information of the products and schemes in order to avoid the chances of hampering the

company’s image and reputation in long term and build as well as maintain the company’s image

in the eyes of the customers.

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5. Feed backs:

The feedback taken should be considered and thoroughly studied and the customers

grudges should be properly addressed.

6. The following few suggestions can be given to the company based on the research

findings:

More detailed promotion at store level can be planned in order to increase the overall

effectiveness of the promotional activities by Indus League.

Indus League can introduce some ‘Loyalty programs and schemes’ such as Loyalty

Cards, which will result into repeat visit of the customer to store and hence customer

loyalty.

Number of female customers buying Indus League garments is much less than male

customers, so more promotional activities can be planned keeping women section in the

mind to increase the number of female customers for the brand.

Majority of the customers visiting the Pune Central are residential of the zone near both

the Central stores in the city, so more promotions can be planned in the zones other than

those nearer to both the stores so as to increase the foot-falls to the store and attract

customers for Indus League.

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APPENDICES

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QUESTIONNAIRE :

Q1. Is this your first visit to Central? A) Yes B) No

Q2. How often do you visit Central? A) Once a month B) Twice a month C) Once in two months D) Once in three months E) If different please specify

Q3. Which of the following communications did stimulated your visit? A) Press ad B) Radio commercial C) Hoardings D) Communication outside the store E) No, Self walk in F) If different please specify

Q4. Did you see any communication on Indus League? A) Yes B) No

Q5. Which communication/ displays did you see for Indus League during your visit? A) Standees B) Signage C) Gift display D) Other

Q6. Do you like the in store communication for Indus League? A) Yes B) No

Q7. How will you rate the brand ‘Indus League’? (5 being highly satisfactory)

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1 2 3 4 5

Brand Awareness

Brand Image

Quality

Q8. What is your opinion on the offers available for Indus League? A) The offers are very good B) The offers are average C) The offers are not goodQ9. How would you describe the shopping experience with Indus League? A) Excellent B) Good C) Average D) Poor

Please help us with your personal information

11) Name:

12) Gender: Male Female 13) Age Group A) <= 18 B) 19-25 years C) 26-35 years D) 36-45 years E) > 45 Years

14) Occupation: A) Student B) Service C) Self Employed D) Housewife

15) Address: (Please tick the below mentioned zone) A) Zone 1 B) Zone 2 C) Zone 3 D) Zone 4 E) Outstation

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Zone 1- Yerwada, Viman Nagar, Chandan Nagar, Kalyani Nagar, Koregaon Park, Camp, and Dhole Patil Road, Bund Garden, Vishrantwadi, Shastri Nagar, Kharadi, Deccan College, Vadgaon Sheri.

Zone 2- Hadapsar, Kondhawa, Mundhwa, NIBM Road, Dhankavadi, Bibvewadi, Swarget, Katraj.

Zone 3- Peth Area, Deccan, Karve Road, Kothrud, Sinhgad Road.

Zone 4- Aundh, Baner, Pashan, PCMC Area (viz Khadki, Pimpri, Wakad, etc), Senapati Bapat Road, Model Colony.

List of the organisations for B2B marketing and Institutional Tie-ups:

S No

Company Name

Adress of the Company

Contact Person Email id

1Kobe Restaurant

Parihar chowk,Aundh

Mr.Sainath (Manager) mps@bom5.vsnl.net.in

2Kimberley clerk

PhaseII, Hinjewadi

Ms.Preeti (HR) preeti.bhatnagar@kcc.com

3 Infosysphase-II, Hinjewadi

Mr.Mahindra Hitkal  

4 knorrPhase-II, Hinjewadi

Mr.Nilesh (HR)  

5Kaya skin Clinic

Parihar chowk,Aundh Ms.Aishwariya kayapunelc@kayaindia.com

6 Cybage

West avenue,Kalyani Nagar

Mrs.Riya santani (HR Executive ) rheas@cybase.com

7 Hero Honda Wakedewadi Mr.Preetam gurjeetsingh@herohonda.com

8

Indira Institute Of Management, Shree Chanakya Education Society

New Mumbai Pune Highway, Tathwade

Mr.Nandlal Prasad,

(Purchase Manager)

nprasad@indiraedu.com

9INTOX Private Kothrud road Mr.Vilas Patil

intox@vsnl.com

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10

BAJAJ ALLIANZ GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD Paud Road Ms.Sharmila  

shreeraj.deshpande @bajajallianz.co.in

11

Oasis restaurant and bar

Baner link road, Aundh, Pune, Maharashtra

Mr.Shankar Habbu cluboasis@vsnl.net

Figure :List of organisations

REFERENCES :

Books :

1. Swapna Pradhan , Retailing Management, 2nd edition, 2004, Tata McGraw-Hill

Publication Company Ltd., New Delhi.

2. P. Kotler, K Keller, A. Koshy, M. Jha, Marketing Management: South Asian Perspective,

13th edition, 2009, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt Ltd., licensees of Pearson Education

Inc., New Delhi.

3. C. R. Kothari, Research Methodology, 2nd edition, 2004, New Age International (P) Ltd,

Publishers, New Delhi.

4. Rajendra Nargundkar, Marketing Research, 3rd edition, 2009, Tata McGraw-Hill

Publication Company Ltd., New Delhi.

5. Prof. M. V. Kulkarni: Marketing research (Text & Cases), 8th edition 2008, Everest.

Web-reference :

1. www.pantaloon.com

2. www.futuregroup.in

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3. www.retailworld.com

4. www.businessworldindia.com

5. www.indus-league.com

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