Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune

Chapter 1 Industry Profile

1.1 Industry profile

www.112.international.com

Figure no.1 Retail industry

Retailing is a distinct, diverse and dynamic sector. It is an activity of enormous

economic significance to most developed nations. It generates revenue and
wealth for nation, encourages investment and brings technological
advancements. Stated that “it brings employment and creates wealth of
economy”. It is a vibrant part of our changing society and a major source of
employment. Retailing performs activities at larger level so it requires massive
manpower to handle and manage its operations. Retailing also helps society in
general by providing goods and services in reasonable price and increasing their
standards of living. Retailing activity can reviewed as a significant contributor
to the economy in general.

Retailing is the set of activities that markets products or service to final

consumer for their personal or household use. It does this by organizing their
availability on a relatively large scale and supplying them to consumer on a -
relatively small scale. Retailing makes products and services available in large
quantities. Retailers produce or order the products/services in bulk so they can
take advantage of economy of scale and thus they can formulate competitive
pricing strategies. Products and services are generally sold through the store or
on the internet.

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1.2 Past, Present and Future of Industry

1.2.1 Past

Traditionally, only unorganized was practiced and retailing was somehow

synonymous to the local grocery shops commonly known as “kirana stores”.
Apart from these stores, the other shopping destinations for consumer were the
local fairs, hawkers, and pavement vendors. No standard patterns for selling
were followed in the past and retailing was mostly considered to be an
occupation for those who are either not educated or meagrely educated. The only
purpose that attracted consumer to these retailers was to meet necessities.
Consumer awareness levels were quite low along with their spending powers.
The family sizes were large and the earners were only one or two in most of the
families. The market was controlled by the retailers and consumer had to buy
whatever was sold to them.

1.2.2 Present

The present of retail industry is marked by the co-existence of both organised

and unorganised retailers. Though even till today the industry is strongly
dominated by unorganized retailers with more than 90% market share, the sector
has started facing stiff competition from the organized sector. The organized
sector includes various retail formats like supermarket, hyper-stores, and chain
stores, departmental stores which may be selling a single brand or multiple
brands. The organized- players follow well-defined selling and supply chain
models and employ not only the meagrely educated workforce but the highly
skilled and well-trained as well. The overall retail industry is currently valued
at US$ 450 billion (The Times of India, 2012) and its contribution to GDP and
employment cannot be ignored. The consumers’ perspective towards retailing
has changed and shopping from retail stores is no more restricted to necessity
shopping; it is rather a means of recreation as well. The demographics have
changed largely and there has been a significant increase in the consumers’
disposable incomes. Females contribute equally to the incomes as well as buying
decisions and kids also influence the family purchases.

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1.2.3 Future

The retail industry is expected to reach US$ 1.3 trillion by 2020 (IBEF, 2012).
The promising sectors that are likely to grow in near future include fashion and
lifestyle, food and grocery, and electronics. With the approval of 100% FDI in
the single-brand retail and 51% in multi-brand retail, the sector is expected to
project an even better growth in the future, but the competition will also get a
hike. Though this competition would benefit the consumers, it may increase the
problems for the unorganized retailers in India. The sector will no more be
looking for employees who are good in arranging shelves and attending
customers; the future belongs to those with leadership skills, detailed
understanding of CRM and supply chain concepts and an ability to communicate
with the global customers. There is a greater interaction with the outside world
and therefore the future consumers will be highly aware and demanding. The
retailers will have to shift their focus from selling a product to delivering an
individualized store experience. Growth would be achieved by expansion
(increasing the market size) and diversification (increasing the firm’s offerings)
strategies. Environmental concerns and corporate social responsibility will
occupy a significant place in the retailers’ decisions and the rural consumers
would have a better control on the market.

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1.3 Company Profile:

Source: Self-clicked image

Figure no. 2 company logo

1.3.1 Introduction:

Speed Mart the Super Market, operates a supermarket that offers general
merchandise such as grocery, crockery, cutlery, dairy, all FMCG products,
undergarments. The Company sells its products through its retail stores located
in silvassa. Speed Mart was founded in 2015 and is based in Silvassa, India.
Speed mart is a local discount store of silvassa currently having two outlets and
third is going to be launch soon.

Speed mart was founded by Mrs. Sejal Shah and Mr Devaram Prajapat and today
are the owner of successful super market in silvassa named as Speed Mart “The

super market”.

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1.3.2 Mission:

 Customer satisfaction.

 Drive value

 Sustain business growth

 Protect the environment

1.3.3 Vision:

To be the most admitted organisation offering world class retail products and
services to customers under one roof by ensuring “customer satisfaction”.

1.3.4 Various product:

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Source: Self-clicked image of actual premises

Figure no.3 various products

1.3.5 Address:

Landmark Mall

5, Silvassa – Vapi Rd,

Tokarkhada, Samarvarni, Silvassa Dadra and Nagar Haveli,

396230

Email ID:

smsilvassa@gmail.com

Phone:

+91728588997

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Location:

Figure No. 4 Company’s location

1.3.5 Competitors:

 S Mart

 Global Mart

 D mart

 Avanti Low Price

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Chapter 2 Project Introduction

2.1 Introduction of the topic

Footfall is the bread and butter for any store manager intrinsically linked to
driving sales in retail and improving conversion rates, the more people that come
into the store, the more chance they will buy something. Increasing footfall is
the means by which a company will make sales and generate revenue. It's
important for any store to continually analyse its customer base in an attempt to
maintain and expand it, since any store probably won't survive long without a
sufficient customer base. On the other hand Customer retention refers to the
activities and actions companies and organizations take to reduce the number of
customer defections. The goal of customer retention programs is to help
companies retain as many customers as possible, often through customer loyalty
and brand loyalty initiatives. It is the process of engaging existing customers to
continue buying products or services from your business. It’s different from
customer acquisition or lead generation because you’ve already converted the
customer at least once. Customer retention is the actions companies take to get
their customers to continue using their services

Steps for increasing customer retention

 Set customer expectations early on and always promise less than you can deliver.
A good rule of thumb is to under promise and over deliver.

 Build relationships with your customers and let them know they can trust you.

 Always use proactive service so you can eliminate problems before they happen.

 Set yourself up as the expert in your field so you will gain your customers’ brand
loyalty.

 Continue to sell your customer

 Use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to communicate with your customers. Give
them a space to share feedback about your company and offer support.

 Always go above and beyond to meet the needs of your customers.

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2.2 Overview of the topic

The Researcher attempted to study the factors and techniques that could lead to
increase footfall of customers in speed mart and to determine various customer
retention techniques that will help speed mart in increasing customer retention
and generate more loyal customers.

2.3 Problem statement

Speed mart is the well-established supermarket store located in silvassa region

with the increase competition in the market the organization is in need to
increase their customer base and retain their existing customer to avoid the risk
of customers switching to another supermarket store. Hence the store wish to
understand the factors and techniques that will help in increasing footfall of
customer and also understanding various customer retention model and
techniques to retain their existing customers and generate more loyal customers.

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Chapter 3 Literature Review

3.1 Theoretical background

Increasing footfall is a key part of any retail business's expansion plan. Growth
in footfall is vital if you are to achieve your long-term goals, and maximise your
profits. An assessment of the product or service quality provided by a business
that measures how loyal its customers are. Customer retention statistics are
typically expressed as a percentage of long term clients, and they are important
to a business since satisfied retained customers tend to spend more, cost less and
make valuable references to new potential customers.

3.1.1 Definition

The measurement of the number of people entering a shop or shopping mall is

defined as customer footfalls.

The philosophy of treating customers so well that they lack any reason to go
anywhere else. The philosophy of building your business on the basis of repeat
sales, past customers and word-of-mouth recommendations

-H.Gerard Gaudet

3.1.2 Characteristics of customer retention

• It emphasises on customers and other stakeholders rather than on products and

services of the company.

• It primarily focuses on customer retention rather than customer acquisition.

• It is based on cross-functional terms and not on the departmental level work.

• It emphasises more on learning and listening than on talking

Unlike transactional marketing, relationship marketing calls for new practices

regarding the four Ps of marketing as stated below:

• Product:

> Products are customised as per the needs and desire of customers

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> With the corporation of suppliers and distributors, company designs and
develops new products

• Price:

> The price of the products is according to the features and services desired by
the customers and the relationship they maintain with the customers.

> In the case of B2B marketing, there are higher chances of negotiation as
products and services are customised as demanded by the customers

• Placement:

> It focuses more on direct marketing to the customers rather than involving
middlemen.

> This aspect of marketing provides an opportunity to the customers to select

from alternatives in terms of the order, payment and service.

• Promotion:

> In this kind of marketing, there is more emphasis on individual

communication with the customers.

> It favours integrated marketing communications. > It facilitates joint

planning, information exchange, payments and ordering.

3.1.3 Importance of Customer Retention

• It helps in building strong relations with the customer- Serving a repeat

customer is more beneficial for the company rather than acquiring a new one.
Thus, it is very important for the retailers to maintain hormonal relations with
their customers. In this regards retention strategies play an important role as
through such strategies companies can provide benefits to its customers without
affecting its cash flow. If customers get good quality products and services at
competitive price, they get satisfied and remain loyal to a particular player.
Thus, retention strategies are fruitful in building a strong relation with the
customers.

• It enhances the goodwill of a brand- Retention strategies involve giving extra

or added benefits to the customers at the same price. In the present business

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environment, companies can attract and retain its loyal and potential customers
only if they deliver something new and unique or extra to its customers as
competitive price. If the company is able to deliver such benefits to the
customers

• It identifies future needs of the customers- Several retention strategies

involve collecting personal information of the customers and their shopping
patterns. For example, if a company has its loyalty cards, it collects information
of the customers and with every purchase of that particular customer they update
the profile of the customers. On the basis of this information, companies can
determine the market trend and thus can identify the future needs of the
customers.

• It identifies and explores various sales opportunities- Customer retention

strategy is beneficial for the companies. It plays a huge role in increasing the
sales and profits for the firms. For example, if a retailer is able to offer various
attractive strategies to its customers, it is able to attract more and more
customers. Thus, the retention strategy helps the retailers to design and explore
various sales opportunities.

• It rectifies the flaws within the organisation's policies and processes- Many
times it may be the case that any strategy designed by the company is not able
to achieve its purpose. In that case, retention strategies such as club cards can
help the companies to accumulate information regarding the customers and thus
can design the strategies as per their shopping behaviour.

• Through this customers can easily provide feedback to the companies-

Many customer retention strategies help the retailers to collect data regarding
the shopping pattern of the customers. Companies record the items that are
frequently purchased by the customers and on that basis determine the needs
and wants of the customers. Moreover, through such strategies customers can
also provide feedback to the companies regarding their products and services.

3.1.4 Retention Strategies Followed By Retail Stores

For the long-term success of any business, customer retention strategy plays a
very significant role. If an organisation has strong customer retention strategies,

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then it can quickly attain its goals and achieve higher customer lifetime value.
It is quite cheaper to retain an existing loyal customer than to acquire a new one,
Following are the different types of retention strategies practised by the Indian
Retail stores:

• Implementing a Customer Loyalty Program: It is a great way to retain the

customers by providing those rewards for their repeat purchase. The rewards
can be in the form of discount coupons, reward points, vouchers, early access to
the sale, etc. If the customer is loyal towards the store, then the firm should
reward and show appreciation towards the customers for choosing it against its
competitors.

• Sales Promotion: For acquiring new customers, sales promotion strategy is

quite useful. To encourage customers for a repeat purchase, sales promotion
technique should be used. For Examples – rebate or cash back, premiums for
regular purchase, collection schemes and so on.

• Training of employees: Various training programs are carried out by the

organisations so that their employees can easily learn about the new product and
services, team building skills, social skills, etc. It will also help in reducing
employee turnover rate. With the execution of these types of training programs,
the organisation can easily create the atmosphere of integrity which can be easily
identified by the customers as well as by the employees.

• Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Customer surveys are the best tools for
identifying the points of improvement in a customer’s experience and also help
in identifying the customers' needs. Various survey techniques like feedback
forms, suggestion drop box, etc. can be practised by the companies for this
purpose.

• Excellent Customer Services: To keep the customers happy and satisfied, the
business organisation should provide extraordinary services to their customers.
It includes on-time delivery, best after-sales services, keep in touch with the
customers and ask about their experience with the product, connect with your
customers through social media sites & emails and regularly update the
customers for the new products and service.

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• Membership Cards: This is the newest way of attracting and retaining

customers to shop from the same players. Retailers nowadays are issuing
membership or loyalty cards to its customers to retain them and to motivate them
for a repeat purchase. Through such membership cards, companies give points
to the customers which they can redeem on their next shopping and thus gets
discounts equal to the points available in their cards.

• Seamless Online and Offline Experiences: Another strategy that companies

are practising these days is offering seamless online experience. Now customers
can get their desired products and services just in one click. They do not even
have to leave the comfort of their chair and home or office. The online platform
has provided retailers with an opportunity to remain 24*7 in touch with the
customers and serve them in a better manner.

Literature Review

1. Leon G. Schiffman, Leslie Lazar Kanuk (2009) in their book consumer

behaviour says that. The overall objective of providing to consumer
continuously and more effectively than the competition is to have and to retain
highly satisfied customers; this strategy of customer retention makes it in the
best interests of customers to stay with the company rather than switch to
another firm. In almost all business situations, it is more expensive to win new
customers than to keep existing ones. Studies have shown that small reduction
in customer defections produce significant increases in profits because

 Loyal customers buy more products

 Loyal customers are less price sensitive and pay less attention to competitors
advertising
 Servicing existing customers who are familiar with firms offerings and
processes, is cheaper
 Loyal customers spread positive word-of-mouth and refer other customers.

Marketers who designate increasing customer retention rates as a strategic

corporate goal must also recognise that all the customers are not equal.
Sophisticated marketers build selective relationship with customers, based on
where on where customers rank in terms of profitability, rather than merely

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strive “to retain customers”. A customer retention-savvy company closely

monitors its customer’s consumption volumes and patterns, establishes tiers of
customers according to profitability levels, and develops distinct strategies
toward each group of customers.

2. Prof. M.V. Kulkarni (2010) in his book of marketing management states

that earlier, companies could afford to take their customers for granted as they
did not have many source of supply and many suppliers did not render proper
services. Sometimes the company could achieve so rapid growth that they
believed that they don’t have to worry about customer satisfaction. But things
have changed now, todays customer are smarter; more demanding and less
forgiving and when it comes to services they have many choices. So, “the
challenge is to not produce a satisfied customer but to produce a loyal customer
and retaining them.”

Companies need to be convinced that cost are higher for acquiring new
customers as compared to the cost of retaining them. Once it is shown that the
cost of cost of acquiring a customer is considerably higher than the cost of
retaining an existing one, companies could realign the advertising and marketing
campaigns so as to focus on retaining and nurturing professional relationship
with customers.

3.3 Article

1. Francis Arthur Buttle (2005) stated in their article that Customer retention
has been a significant topic since the mid-1990s, but little research has been
conducted into management processes that are associated with excellent
customer retention performance. This research investigates the associations
between customer retention outcomes and a number of management processes
including customer retention planning, budgeting and accountability and the
presence of a documented handling process. Design/methodology/approach.
This was carried out using a quantitative survey of 170 companies in Australia.
Participants represented all major standard industrial classification (SIC) codes.
Findings – It was found that excellence at customer retention is positively and
significantly associated with the presence of documented complaints-handling
processes. None of the other variables is significantly associated with the

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dependent variable. Research limitations/implications – This research has

limited generalizability to other regions and the self-report nature of the data is
not independently corroborated. Practical implications – The research
emphasises the importance of developing and implementing documented
complaints-handling processes. The major contribution of this paper is the clear
link that it establishes between customer retention performance and the presence
of a documented complaints-handling process.

2. Jillian Dawes Farquhar (2004) in his article stated the findings of a survey
of staff perceptions on how customers are being retained in two traditional
financial service retailers. In spite of a frequent acknowledgement that customer
retention (CR) is a critical business objective, there is limited literature on how
customers are actually being retained by organisations. A theoretical framework
of managing customer retention is developed to form the basis for a 34‐item
questionnaire, which was administered to two independent probability samples
of staff working in two large retail financial service retailers. The study finds
that these financial service retailers are aiming to retain customers through
building relationships but that systems, strategies and structures may reflect
transactional exchange.

3. Timothy L. Keiningham, Bruce Cooil, Lerzan Aksoy, Tor W. Andreassen

and Jay Weiner (2007) in his article examined different customer satisfaction
and loyalty metrics and test their relationship to customer retention,
recommendation and share of wallet using micro (customer) level data. The data
for this study come from a two‐year longitudinal Internet panel of over 8,000
US customers of firms in one of three industries (retail banking, mass‐merchant
retail, and Internet service providers (ISPs)). Correlation analysis, CHAID, and
three types of regression analyses (best‐subsets, ordinal logistic, and latent class
ordinal logistic regression) were used to test the hypotheses. Contrary to
Reichheld's assertions, the results indicate that recommend intention alone will
not suffice as a single predictor of customers' future loyalty behaviour. Use of a
multiple indicator instead of a single predictor model performs better in
predicting customer recommendations and retention.

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4. Dr P Sashikala (2015) threw the light upon Post liberalization, the Indian
Banking sector has seen the entry of a large number of foreign banks with which
the Indian Banking sector had to face intense competition. Even the public
sector banks which were initially doing extremely well are now feeling the heat.
In this scenario, it has become very important for the banks to retain their
existing customers. However customer churn is a problem that a large number
of banks are facing today. The bank need to go beyond its core services and
provide a complete banking experience to the customers to ensure customer
loyalty. Hence, the current research focuses on managing customer churn in the
banking sector. The research intends to perform a descriptive and exploratory
study of loyalty of Indian consumers towards their respective banks. This
research reviews the current scenario and suggests significant factors that affects
customer churn in the Indian Banking sector. Factor Analysis is used for this
purpose. To analyse the significance of relationship between the factors and
customer loyalty, Discriminant Analysis is used. Thus, with this research, a
model is developed which explains the tendency of customers to switch to other
banks with the corresponding change in the factors affecting customer loyalty.

5. Vilma Tamuliene, Ingrida Gabryte (2014) in their article threw a light upon
Factors influencing customer retention are important in the study of consumer
relationship conception witch has implications for organizational business
strategy and regulatory policies. Much research has already examined the
consumers’ repeated purchase intentions, however there is no united point of
view concerning the factors conditioning customer retention, and means of its
assessment and determination. The aim of the paper - to create a theoretical
model of customer retention and to prove it in Lithuania Mobile Operators
practice. The empirical research results showed that there is a statistically
significant positive correlation between factors identified in the theoretical
model: customer satisfaction, relationship quality, switching costs and customer
retention.

6. Dr. Muhammad Turki Alshurideh, Ra'ed (Moh'd Taisir) Masa'deh,

Barween Al Kurdi (2012) in their article conducted a study to ascertain the
extent to which customer satisfaction affects customer retention among the
major three cellular phone companies in the Jordanian mobile sector, which are

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Zain, Orange and Umnia. Measuring the relationship between customer

satisfaction and retention is insufficient without studying the main causes of
customer satisfaction. Thus, the study also measures customer satisfaction with
various aspects: the effect of customer-supplier relationship duration on
customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction with varieties of mobile phone
services provided to users and call centre services. 500 questionnaires were
distributed with a response rate of 72.8%. A Chi-Square test was used to test the
study's hypothesis. The study found that customer satisfaction does affect
customer retention in the Jordanian mobile behaviour setting. This result is
supported, and the study also found a direct relationship between customer-
supplier relationship duration and customer satisfaction. Various mobile
services provided directly to mobile users as well as services provided by call
centres also affect customer satisfaction and contribute essentially to customer
retention.

7. Nha Nguyen, Gaston Leblanc (2001) in their article stated that present
competitive environment, corporate reputation and corporate image are
acknowledged as having the potential to impact on customer loyalty toward the
firm. However, the literature reveals that the precise nature of the relationships
that exist between reputation and image and the understanding of their effect on
customer behaviour remains a key challenge for both academia and management
alike. With data collected in three service industries, namely 222 consumers in
the retail sector, 171 clients of a major long-distance company and 395 students
of a faculty of business administration, this study contributes to the body of
knowledge by empirically testing the nature of the relationship between
corporate reputation and corporate image and their effect on the customers’
retention decisions. The results of the study reveal that the degree of customer
loyalty has a tendency to be higher when perceptions of both corporate
reputation and corporate image are strongly favourable. Moreover, the addition
of the interaction between both constructs contributes to better explain customer
loyalty. The implications of the study are discussed from both the research and
managerial perspectives.

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Chapter 4 Research Methodology

4.1 Introduction

Research is a scientific search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In

fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. In short, the search for
knowledge through objectives and systematic method of finding solution to a
problem in research.

Research Type Exploratory and Descriptive

type

Sampling Technique Simple Random Sampling

Sample Population Visitors at the store

Sample Size 100

Primary Data Through Survey based on

Structured Questionnaire

Secondary Data Article, Books, websites

Analytical Tool Bar graph, Percentage Method

Table No.01 Research Design.

4.2 Objectives of the study

The Researcher has considered the following objectives for the study:

 To understand the significance of customer retention in retail sector.

 To analyse the measures adopted to increase customer footfall at retail store.
 To analyse the retention strategies at the retail store.

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4.3 Scope of the Study

 The study has been conducted into the SpeedMart located in silvassa and only
those respondents have been approached who visited the store during the
research period.
 The study could be useful to understand the significance of customer retention
in retail store
 The study would help in measuring the impact of strategies adopted by the store
to increase footfall.
 The study would help in analysing retention strategies adopted by the store for
customer retention.

4.4 Limitations of the study

 Respondents may give assumption based response which may impact the
accuracy of the survey.
 This study rely on self-reporting, which isn’t always accurate. Because it
includes talking face-to-face with respondents, therefore respondent may feel
pressured to offer a positive opinion.
 Respondents may experience a high degree of survey fatigue, especially if
they’re in hurry. This can cause low participation numbers and even negative
results due to respondents who feel as though they’re unnecessarily
inconvenienced.

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4.3 Research Process

Identification of Problem

Identification of problem & Selection of the topic

A Study on Increasing footfall and customer retention in retail
outlets.

Literature review
2 book and 7 articles have been reviewed related to topic

Questionnaire preparation & Approval

10 question was prepared in form of open-ended and closed-ended question

and was approved by both internal & external guide.

Collection & Analysis of data

Interpretation of data

Preparation of report

Figure No. 5 Research Process

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Chapter 5 Data Presentation & Analysis

The Researcher has performed the analysis based on the data collection and
observations:

Objective 1- To understand the significance of customer retention in retail

sector.

Customer retention is referred as the collection of activities a business uses to

increase the number of repeat customers and to increase the profitability of each
existing customer. A customer retention program is your best way to keep more
customers. When you keep more customers, you lower churn rate, increase
company revenue and increase profitability. Companies that increase retention by
as little as 5% can grow profits by as much as 95%.

The study of customer retention helps business managers, marketing professional

and sales person in following way:

 It helps in lowering the cost as customer retention is more cheaper strategy than
the customer acquisition
 It helps in increasing profit as loyal customers are more profitable.
 It helps company’s brand to Stand Out from the Crowd.
 Customer retention helps in gaining more of word of mouth referrals.
 It helps business to get customer feedback easily as engaged customers provide
more and relevant feedback
 Customers explore the products of the company.
 Customers Will Welcome Your Marketing
 Customer retention increases company’s customers' lifetime value and boosts the
revenue.

Objective 2- To analyse the measures adopted to increase customer footfall at retail

store.

 Demographic Profile:

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 Gender of Respondent:

Table no. 2 Gender of respondents.

No. of
Gender Respondents Percentage
Male 46 46%
Female 54 54%
Total 100 100%

Gender. of Respondents
56

54

52

50

48

46

44

42
Male Female

Graph No. 1 Gender of respondents

Interpretation:

 Researcher observes that female footfall were more at the retail store than the
male. The female respondents were with 54% the male with 46% respectively.

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 Age of the respondents:

Table No.3 Age of respondents

No. of
Parameters Respondents Percentage
18-30 58 58%
31-40 27 27%
41-50 8 8%
51 &
above 7 7%
Total 100 100%

Age of Respondents
70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
18-30 31-40 41-50 51 & above

Graph No.2 Age of respondents

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that respondents with age between 18 to 30 were 58%,
between 31-40 were 27%, between 41-50 were 8% and 51 & above were 7 %.

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 Occupation:
Table No. 4 Occupation

No. of
Parameters Respondents Percentage
Service 48 48%
Business 16 16%
Professional 6 6%
Others 30 30%
Total 100 100%

Occupation of Respondents
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Service Business Professional Others

Graph No. 3 Occupation

Interpretation:

 The observation states that respondents of 48% were from service occupation,
16% were from business occupation, 6% were from professional and 30% were
from others.

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 Annual Income:
Table No.5 Annual income

Parameters Response Percentage

2,00,000 42 42%
2,00,000-
5,00,000 34 34%
5,00,000-
10,00,000 19 19%
10,00,000
& above 5 5%
Total 100 100%

Annual Income
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2,00,000 2,00,000-5,00,000 5,00,000-10,00,000 10,00,000 & above

Graph No. 4 Annual income

Interpretation:

 Income plays a vital role in retail sector or in every purchasing behaviour of

customers.
 The observation states that 42% respondents were having 2, lakhs of annual
income, 34% were having between 2-5, 19% were having between 5-10 & 5%
were having above 10 lakhs.

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1) Frequency of customer visiting store

Table No. 6 Frequency of customer visiting stores

Parameters Response Percentage
Once in a
week 43 43%
Twice in a
week 27 27%
Once in a
month 21 21%
Twice in a
month 9 9%
Total 100 100%

Frequency of customer visiting stores

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Once in a week Twice in a week Once in a month Twice in a month

Graph No. 5 Frequency of customers visiting stores

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 43% of respondents visit the store once in a week, 27%
visits store twice in a week, 21% visits store once in a month and 9% visits twice
in a month.

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2) Customer satisfaction from Billing Process

Table No. 7 customer satisfaction from billing process

Parameters Response Percentage
Yes 78 78%
No 22 22%
Total 100 100%

Customer satisfaction
90
78
80
70
60
50
40
30 22
20
10
0
Yes No

Graph No.6 customer’s satisfaction from billing process

Interpretation:

 The analyses interprets that 78% respondents were satisfied from the billing
process at store and 22% were not satisfied from the billing process at the store.

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3) Discount & offers provided by store facilitates Impulse buying

Table No. 8 Discount and offers influence on impulse buying

Parameters Response Percentage

Yes 69 69%
No 31 31%
Total 100 100%

Impulsive buying
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes No

Graph No. 7 Discount and offers influence on impulse buying

Interpretation:

 The observation states that 69% of respondents are attracted from the offers
discounts offered by the store for impulse buying, where as 31% are not attracted
for impulse buying from the offers discount offered by the store.

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4) Prices offered by speed mart cheaper compared to other shopping marts

Table No. 9 Speed Mart price V/s Competitors price

Parameters Response Percentage
Yes 71 71%
No 29 29%
Total 100 100%

Price compared to competitiors

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes No

Graph No 8 Speed Mart price V/s Competitors price

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 71% of respondent finds speed marts products price
cheaper than other competitor stores and 29% respondents does not find stores
price cheaper than other competitor stores.

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Objective 3- To analyse the Retention strategies at the retail store.

5) The following aspect are ranked from 1-5 that encourages respondents
purchase at speed mart

A) Product Quality:

Table No.10 Product quality

Parameter
Rank Product
Quality
1 59
2 26
3 8
4 7
5 0
Total 100

Product Quality
70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph No. 9 Product quality

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 59% of respondents have ranked 1 to the product quality
that is offered by speed mart out of 5, 29% of respondents have ranked 2 to the
product quality out of 5, 8% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5, and 7% have
ranked 4 out of 5.

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B) Product Variety:

Table No.11 Product Variety

Paramete Rank
Total
r 1 2 3 4 5
Product
54 21 14 11 0 100
Variety

Product Variety
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph No.10 Product Variety

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 54% of respondents have ranked 1 to the product
Variety that is offered by speed mart out of 5, 21% of respondents have ranked
2 to the product Variety out of 5, 14% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5,
and 11% have ranked 4 out of 5.

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C) Cleanliness:

Table No.12 Cleanliness

Paramete Rank
Total
r 1 2 3 4 5
Cleanlines
55 21 14 10 0 100
s

Cleanliness
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph No.11 Cleanliness

Interpretation:
 The analyses states that 55% of respondents have ranked 1 to the Cleanliness that
is offered by speed mart out of 5, 21% of respondents have ranked 2 to the
Cleanliness out of 5, 14% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5, and 10% have
ranked 4 out of 5.

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C) Offer & Discount:

Table No.13 Offer & Discount

Paramete Rank
Total
r 1 2 3 4 5
Offers &
36 27 16 10 11 100
Discount

Offers & Discount

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph.11 Offers & Discount

Interpretation:
 The analyses states that 36% of respondents have ranked 1 to the Offers &
Discount that is offered by speed mart out of 5, 27% of respondents have ranked
2 to the Offers & Discount out of 5, 16% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5,
and 10% have ranked 4 out of 5 &11% have ranked 5 out of 5.

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D) Good Brand:

Table No.14 Good Brand

Paramete Rank
Total
r 1 2 3 4 5
Good
53 23 11 13 0 100
Brand

Good Brand
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph No.13 Good Brand

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 53% of respondents have ranked 1 to Good brand that
is offered by speed mart out of 5, 23% of respondents have ranked 2 to Good
brand out of 5, 11% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5, and 13% have ranked
4 out of 5.

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F) Price:

Table No.15 Price

Paramete Rank
Total
r 1 2 3 4 5
Price 32 41 13 10 4 100

Price
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph No.14 Price

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 32% of respondents have ranked 1 to Price that is
offered by speed mart out of 5, 41% of respondents have ranked 2 to Price out
of 5, 13% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5, and 10% have ranked 4 out of
5 & 4% have ranked 5.

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G) Facility:

Table No.16 Facility

Paramete Rank
Total
r 1 2 3 4 5
Facility 50 28 14 8 0 100

Facility
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph No.15 Facility

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 50% of respondents have ranked 1 to Facility that is
offered by speed mart out of 5, 28% of respondents have ranked 2 to Facility
out of 5, 14% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5, and 8% have ranked 4 out
of 5.

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H) Location:

Table No.17 Location

Paramete Rank
Total
r 1 2 3 4 5
Location 57 14 6 7 16 100

Location
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

Graph No.16 Facility

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 57% of respondents have ranked 1 to Facility that is
offered by speed mart out of 5, 14% of respondents have ranked 2 to Facility
out of 5, 6% of respondents have ranked 3 out of 5, and 7% have ranked 4 out
of 5 & 16% have ranked 5.

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6) Promotional tools respondents Expect from the store

Table No.18 Promotional tools

Parameter Response Percentage
Discount
offers 48 48%
Coupons 0 0%
Free gifts 37 37%
Point system 14 14%
Game shows 1 1%
Total 100 100%

Promotional tools
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Discount Coupons Free gifts Point system Game shows
offers

Graph No.17 Promotional tools

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that following promotional tools customers expect from
speed mart, 48% of respondents expect discount and offers from the store, 37%
expect free gifts, 14% respondents expect point system promotional tool and 1%
are looking forward for game shows.

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7) How likely are respondents to recommend SpeedMart to others:

Table No.19 Recommending store to others

Parameter Response Percentage
Very much 65 65%
Somewhat 35 35%
Not at all 0 0%
Total 100 100%

Recommending store to others

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Very much Somewhat Not at all

Graph No.18 Recommending store to others

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 65% of respondents are willing to recommend speed
marts to others whereas, 35% are not at all willing to recommend speed mart to
others.

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8) Overall satisfaction rate of respondents from the services provided by

SpeedMart:

Table No.20 Overall satisfaction of respondents

Parameter Response Percentage
Highly
satisfied 43 43%
Satisfied 28 28%
Neutral 2 2%
Dissatisfied 11 11%
Highly
Dissatisfied 16 16%
Total 100 100%

Overall satisfaction
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Higly satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Highly
Dissatisfied

Graph No.19 Overall satisfaction of respondents

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 43% of respondents are highly satisfied from the store
whereas, 28% are satisfied, 2% have neutral views, 11% are dissatisfied and
16% are highly dissatisfied.

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9) Respondents consider themselves as loyal customer to SpeedMart

Table No.21 Consider loyal customer

Parameter Response Percentage
Yes 77 77%
No 23 23%
Total 100 100%

Loyal customers
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes No

Graph No. 20 Consider loyal customer

Interpretation:

 The analyses states that 77% of respondents are loyal customer to store whereas,
23% were not loyal.

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Chapter 6 Findings & Conclusion

Findings:

The Researcher based on the observation and analysis has come up with the
following findings:

 The Researcher finds that female respondents spent more time in shopping at
the store than the male respondents. (Table No. 2)
 The Researcher gathers that maximum number of respondents were between the
age criteria of 18 to 30 and maximum respondents were from service
class.(Table No. 3)
 The Researcher finds that most of the respondents preferred going to store twice
in a week.(Table No.6)
 The Researcher gathers that majority of respondents were satisfied from the
billing process of the store. (Table No.)
 The Researcher understand that most of the respondents gets attracted for
impulse buying from the store due to services and offers provided by the
store.(Table No.8)
 The Researcher gathers that most of the respondents found that products offered
by speed mart were cheaper than other discount stores in that region. (Table
No.9)
 The Researcher understands that most of the respondents preferred for discount
& offers when they were asked for the promotional tools they expect from the
store.(Table No18)
 The Researcher finds that most of the respondents were very likely to suggest
speed mart to others for shopping and also observed that most of the respondents
were overall satisfied from the services provided by the speed mart.( Table No.
19)
 The Researcher understands that maximum number of respondents were loyal
customers of the stores. (Table No. 20)

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Conclusion:

In the present scenario there is a cutthroat competition in the retail market. The
only way to survive in the market is to attract the customers more and more and
to provide the best services available in the market. As it is discussed in this
project about all the factors that are responsible for a positive attitude of a
consumer to move to a particular department store.

New competitors are entering in to the Indian market and are trying to create
new ideas and implementation of them in order to attract the customer’s
attention. So consumer behaviour and consumer’s reaction is an important
factor, which must be taken into consideration by every retailer. Factors such as
service, ambience, availability of products, variety of products, latest trends and
fashion are the main factors which directs a customer to choose a particular
departmental store for his/her shopping. In this research it has been found that
even if one factor is missing in a particular store then the customer reacts very
strongly and customers are expecting more offers and discount, free gifts as a
promotional tool from the store. So it’s a must for every retailer to take care of
every factor delicately and come up with more discount & offers to retain their
loyal customers and attract new customers.

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Chapter 7: Learning Through the project

Learning:

 Understood the concept of planogram of the retail store.

 Learned about the billing process and stock accounting system of the retail store.

Professional learning:

 Understood professional way to interact with the suppliers and how to bargain
with them
 Came to know about how to recognize if the product that supplier is wishing to
sell to the store is profitable or not.
 Learned how to interact with different customers.
 Understood the significance of customer retention in retail store.
 Imbibed the knowledge of being Disciplined, Punctual and understanding orders
properly before taking action.

Business learning:

 Understood various business strategies adopted by the store

 Learned professional way to interact with stakeholders considering it may be
customer or supplier.

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Chapter 8: Project contribution

Recommendations & suggestions:

The Researcher based on findings has come up with the following suggestion:

 The Researcher through personal interaction has understood that because of

the staff behaviour few customers hesitate to interact with the staff and if the
customer is finding any difficulty in getting the products or are willing to
know if the particular product have any offer or discount the customer avoid
interacting with staff. Hence store must train the employees and help them in
imbibing professional way of interacting with customers which will help
store in retaining customers and develop health relation with them.

 The Researcher observed that store is not involved in promotional activities,

there were no such advertisement observed that is done by the store. Hence
store need to promote more about the store and various offers and discount
they offer to customers through pamphlets and hoardings at key areas of
silvassa region.

 The Researcher in general observed that the peak hours in which there are
maximum number of footfall is from 5pm - 9pm. Thus Researcher suggest
that store should provide special offers and discount in that peak hours to
increase the sell.

 The Researcher through personal interaction has understood that most of the
customers expect more discount and offers from the store on various
products. Hence store may increase the discounts and offers provided on
products by the store to increase the customer base and to retain them.

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