CHAPTER - 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1) Private labels' business in retail is overhyped 27 May 2010, IST, ET Bureau Ramesh Srinivas, Executive Director, KPMG YES: The first phase of organized retail growth in India was disrupted due to a series of optimistic decisions taken by the players, and global economic slowdown accentuated the crisis. The past one-and-a-half years have been a period of introspection and rectification for most of the players in the retail arena. While most did take reactive and corrective actions, the current environment will be unforgiving to those who make any more mistakes.

Among the various revamped strategies adopted by retail players, one of the most talked-about plans is developing a strong private label range. Many believe that private labels may have the potential to resolve the challenges faced by the retailers, including lower fill rates, poor margins, fewer product offerings, unfavorable vendor contracts. While most of it is true, the retailers need to be cautious about relying solely on in-store labels.

Private labels are attractive in terms of higher business margins, but they cant compete with the national and multinational companies in areas such as R&D, investments, advertising and marketing spends due to lack of funding. Retailers in mature markets have leveraged their brand to launch private labels successfully. In Europe, for instance, private labels account for nearly a quarter of a retailers sales.

With an estimated 7-8% share in the $400-billion industry, organized retailing in India is still at a nascent stage. Private labels constitute roughly 10-12% of the organized retail product mix, thereby accounting for a fairly small share in the total retail market. In an under-penetrated industry, the retailers primary focus should on building a strong retail brand by providing customers a greater balance of price with quality, convenience, consistency, innovation and enhanced in-store experience.

Private label is still an emerging concept in the Indian environment. The experience of mature markets shows that the success of private labels hinges on the strength of the retail brand. The success of any retailer would be determined by how they take a balanced mix approach of building a unique business model to cater to Indian consumers and plugging-in the demand gaps by offering selective private labels.

2.2) 'Allow 49 pc FDI in multi-brand retail, but with riders' 22 Aug, 2010, 11.48AM IST,PTI NEW DELHI: The Consumer Affairs Ministry has recommended allowing FDI in multi-brand retail to the Commerce Ministry, but with the rider that a model law should first be put in place at the state-level to protect small businesses. "Multi-brand retail should be permitted with a cap of 49 per cent," the ministry has suggested to the Commerce Ministry. However, if FDI is allowed in multi-brand retail, a major chunk of the investment should be spent on back-end infrastructure, besides logistics and agro-processing, it said. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under the aegis of the Commerce Ministry, has floated a consultation paper seeking various stakeholders' views on whether to allow FDI in multi-brand retail.

2.3) The retail sector bargaining for FDI 3 Aug, 2009, 12.38AM IST, Satvik Varma, Investments in the retail sector have been subject to scrutiny since the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce (committee) began its review in April 2007. The Committee finally tabled its report, on Foreign and Domestic Investments in the Retail Sector (Report), on June 8, 2009. The Report states that a blanket ban should be imposed on domestic corporate heavyweights and foreign retailers from entering into retail trade in grocery, fruits, vegetables, and restrictions should be entered for opening large malls by them for selling consumer products. The Committee also recommends that the government should protect small and medium retailers by adopting a reservation policy, similar to the small scale industry policy. On trading in wholesale/cash and carry, the Committee has made somewhat sweeping observations and recommended that the Government should stop issuing further licenses for cash and carry, either to transnational retailers or to a combination of transnational retailers and the Indian partner, as it is a mere camouflage for doing retail trade through the back door. Immediate effects of these recommendations were felt with IKEA abandoning its proposed US $1 billion India investment. Unfortunately, this comes at a time when organised retail in India, due to the general economic crisis, is strapped for cash and is searching for new avenues of funding and partnerships. In such circumstances, one hopes the government responds quickly to curtail the ripple effect which the Report may have on investments waiting to cash in on Indias lucrative retail sector. What is worrisome about the Committees recommendations is that they appear somewhat regressive. Currently, FDI policy for the retail sector is governed by Press Note 3 (2006). This Press Note liberalized FDI in the retail trade sector and

permitted FDI up to 51%, with prior approval, in single-brand retail, subject to certain conditions. At that time, the government believed these guidelines were necessary to attract investments in production and marketing, encourage sourcing of goods from within India and enhance competitiveness of Indian enterprises. Thus, one wonders whether the Indian retail landscape has drastically changed from the time of the aforementioned Press Note to when the Report was tabled in Parliament. In wholesale/ cash and carry trading, currently 100% FDI is permitted under the automatic route. And while the Committee may suspect the same as being a disguise for doing retail through the back door, the law is fairly clear that to qualify as cash and carry trading, the sale must be made by a wholesaler to registered business customers (B2B sales) or retailers (having sales tax registrations) for resale. Case law suggests that it is the type of customer who determines whether the trade is wholesale or retail. The prerequisite is that the buyer must be carrying on a registered business and should not be the ultimate consumer.

2.4) We are restructuring business into three buckets: Kishore Biyani, MD, Pantaloons Retail 16 Nov, 2009, 02.14PM IST,ET Now We are restructuring the business into three buckets - retail, financial services and the support services, Kishore Biyani, Managing Director, Pantaloons Retail told ET Now.

How have you studied the situation over the last six months and based on that what is your outlook over the next six months for the retail business in terms of improvement in footfalls and in terms of bare profitability for this business?

I think, the last one year we have seen it all. In November, we started seeing major drops in business on quite a few categories and December we did not witness many tourists coming in and there were challenges which came across in the market in terms of price points, in terms of large tickets items not selling so much. I think the markets have since been bouncing back and in the last two-three months we have seen I would say pre-September days and we are seeing normalcy and this November is looking probably much better than the November which we have seen and I think the sentiments are improving significantly, customers footfall is absolutely normal, ticket sizes are going up, consumption is happening, last tickets have started selling, furniture we are seeing good sales, consumer durables we are going to see good sales and higher price points production just started inching to sell now.

What about the future, in terms of cash requirements at your companies end? You are also going through a major restructuring process where you are looking to infuse fresh equity into a new subsidiary how will those plans unfold given that the environment for cash availability is also improved? The way we are looking at business is after building up for the business for the last 10 years and getting everything into the consumption fold. We are now looking at being pure player retailer and pure player financial services player that the way we are looking at the business bringing down them into three buckets. Retail being a absolute pure play, financial services being a pure play, and other support businesses which we are created to support this business is being looked up on differently. I think every company will have to raise its own resources to expand. All our businesses are very modular based on the money you can raise you can grow accordingly. We are ambitious in terms of growth; we believe we can add up three to four million sq ft a year on the retail side. On the financial services

side, we have a balance sheet to grow that business and our support businesses will have to raise money on their own to do that business which we have done in terms of a logistic business and other businesses. So we believe the opportunity for us is to capture the Indias growing confident and consumption and we are realigning our balance sheet to make that happen now.

2.5) Retailers up on foreign investment discussion 7 Jul, 2010, 11.59AM IST,REUTERS MUMBAI: Shares in Indian retailers rose in subdued market on Wednesday as investors cheered New Delhi's tentative step towards opening up the country's organized retail sector to foreign companies. A discussion paper, issued by the commerce and industry ministry on Tuesday, will test the appetite in the trilliondollar economy for a politically sensitive reform closely watched by retail giants such as Wal-Mart Stores and Carrefour. At 11:13 a.m., Pantaloon Retail, Shoppers' Stop, Vishal Retail and Trent were up between 1.5 percent and 3.8 percent, while the main stock index was down 0.5 percent. "This move can help the local retailers fuel their expansion plans in the form of JVs (joint ventures) and partnerships with foreigners," said Viraj Nadkarni, a research analyst with Angel Broking. "It can help them increase the size of organized sector," he added. The retail sector in Asia's third-largest economy is largely closed, with 51 percent foreign direct investment allowed only in single-brand retail and multibrand retail restricted to cash-and-carry outlets. Organized retail accounts for just 6 percent of the total in India, and is growing at an estimated 20 percent a year.

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

It is necessary to adopt a particular method to complete a project successfully. The steps that have been taken to complete this project are as follows:

Comment [H1]: Change all I, Me, we, our and My to the project

Research Approach: The Approach adopted to complete this project was that of CUSTOMER SERVICES AND SATISFACTION. And the study secondary data is collected from various news papers, internet, and books. The survey was done in pantaloons retail India store MULUND.

Research Design: Depending upon the objectives of the research the most suitable marketing research design is Exploratory research. The purpose is to find out the experience of customers while shopping in pantaloons.

Data Collection: The information used in this project was through primary sources i.e. personally interacting the customers in the outlet and getting the first hand information and secondary Sources i.e. Personal interview and observation.

Research instrument: The instrument that was chosen to conduct the market research was that of structured questionnaire. This has been done because data obtained in structured studies are easier to tabulated and interpret then data gathered in other ways. A list of questionnaire was prepared which could give relevant information when answered by the respondents.

Target Segment: Customers (End Users)

Sample area: Pantaloons retail India ltd outlet in Mulund.

Analyzing the collected data and reporting the findings: Finally the data has been collected was thoroughly analyzed and processed to obtain the required information. The data has been summarized in the form of graphs and pie diagrams. Sample size: 50 customers.

Research Methodology and analytical tools.

For doing any kind of research, it is very essential for us to determine in advance as to what is going to be the sample size for us. Because of the simple reason that one cannot simply do the research on the whole population due to the constraints like time, money & energy . Therefore when the field of inquiry is large, this method difficult to adopt because of the resources involved. It is possible to obtain sufficiently accurate results by studying only a part of total population.

First step in the research process is to single out the problem we want to study. One kind of research problem, relates to state its nature. The formulation of a general topic into a specific research problem, thus, constitutes the first step in a specific enquiry. In my topic the main problems is to study the retail marketing of Pantaloons Store and also customer experience of the services provided by Pantaloons retail India ltd., Are they satisfied with services? What are the expectations of services from retailers? Is there anything new that the customer is looking for? What Indian retailers are doing about it?

In this project I have decided to use both the primary and secondary data. Because I believe that lot of articles and research papers have been done on this

topic and these could provide us with a lot of information on various service parameters. These articles will give us a totally different view of the service standards and what all required to be done.

It becomes very much essential for us to develop a working hypothesis because it has to be tested. I also need some kind of primary data through questionnaire filling.

I have decided to use deliberates and simple random sampling because to know the reactions of customers for different services we need to target the people who regularly goes for shopping in organized formats and then we have decided to pick 50 people randomly.

I have also decided to use other data collectionThe Project required techniques like observation and personal interviews. I have so it was decided to use structured close ended questionnaire so that the response could be properly coded and analyzed.

CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS
The researcher to study the retail marketing of pantaloons has collected the data from the 50 current customers of pantaloons by using questionnaire, & observation. A Researcher after collecting the data has arranged it systematically & has analyses & interpreted the data. The data shows the perception of the 50 customers of pantaloons. Table 4.1 LOCATION OF THE STORE Particulars Yes No 5 (10%)

Is the location of the store convenient 45 to you? (90%)

Chart 4.1

CONVIENCE OF LOCATION OF THE STORE

45 40 35 No. of erspondents 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Yes No

LOCATION OF STORE

Pantaloons, a part of Pantaloon Retail India ltd are among Indias largest chains of fashion stores, with 40 stores across 23 locations. Pantaloons have 8 outlets in Mumbai, so it becomes convenient for the customer to purchase the various different products of pantaloons from its outlet. The pantaloons have outlets in Andheri, Vashi, Borivali, Ghatkopar, Lower Parel, Mulund, Mumbai Central, and Santacruz. The chart 4.1 shows that 45(90%) of the respondents are in favor that the location of the sore is convenient for them since the store is located in the proximity of the residential areas and even close by to station so the customers of pantaloons find it convenient. Whereas 5(10%) of the respondents do not find that the location of the store is convenient because people staying in dombivali, Ulhasnagar, etc have to travel far to reach the store. Table 4.2 SATISFACTIONS WITH THE PRODUCTS Particulars Yes No

Are you satisfied with the products of 43 pantaloons? (86%)

7 (14%)

Chart 4.2

SATISFACTION WIHT THE PRODUCTS

YES N0 14%

86%

Pantaloons have wide range of products. The main product line of Pantaloons is mens and womens clothing and other accessories comprising a vigilant mix of private as well as other labels... Since Pantaloons provides products to a potentially large number of customers at affordable prices, it falls in the High Turnover - Low Margin Category. The chart 4.2 shows that 43(86%) of the respondents were satisfied with the products offered by pantaloons suggesting that it has a brand level in the mind of customer which is advantage for any store. Whereas 7(14%) were not satisfied due to the high pricing of the products or else different pschycological factors or perception. Table 4.3 PRICING OF THE PRODUCTS

Particulars

Yes

No

Are you satisfied with the pricing of the 38 products of the pantaloons? (76%)

12 (24%)

Chart 4.3

PRICING OF THE PRODUCTS

40 35 No. of erspondents 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Yes No

Pricing plays a very vital role in any marketing mix. Particularly in case of pantaloons, the pricing strategy used is skimming strategy which is crucial in the assortment in the profits. They propose to provide branded products at 10% less than the MRP and 20% off on the local brands, which is similar to what has been carried out in Big bazaar. The chart 4.3 shows that 38(76%) of the respondents were satisfied with the pricing of the products of the pantaloons which indicates that the income level and economic status of sample population is higher middle class. Whereas the remaining 12(24%) customers were not satisfied and suggest a need of further discounts and customized schemes. Table 4.4 SERVICE ASPECT OF THE STORE

Particulars

Yes

No 15 (30%)

Are you satisfied with the services 35 aspect of the store? (70%)

Chart 4.4

SERVICE ASPECT

35 30 No. of respondents 25 20 15 10 5 0 YES NO

In retail industry, a service plays a very important role since the competition is stiff. Player with a better servicing aspect is always preferred by the customer. The chart 4.4 shows that the 35(70%) of the customers of pantaloons are satisfied with the servicing aspect of pantaloons which indicates that the understanding the needs and wants of the customer is up to a satisfactory level. Whereas still a range of 15(30%) customers is being unsatisfied is an indication that there is need for improvement.

Table 4.5 DISCOUNTING SCHEMES

Particulars

Yes

No 9 (18%)

Are you satisfied with the discounting 41 schemes of the store? (82%)

Chart 4.5

DISCOUNTING SCHEMES
45 40 35 No of respondents 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Yes No

Discount is the concession in the price which is given to the customer. Pantaloons offer many discounting schemes such as festival schemes, occasional schemes, etc. Discount attracts more number of customers to purchase the products. The chart 4.5 shows that 41(82%) of the customers of pantaloons are satisfied with the discounting schemes provided by the customer. Whereas 9(18%) are not satisfied with the discounting schemes which indicates that Pantaloons still need to be improved in the case of discounting schemes.

TABLE 4.6 INNOVATION FROM TIME TO TIME

Particulars

Yes

No 12 (24%)

Do pantaloons bring any innovation in 38 design, colors, and schemes from time (76%) to time?

CHART 4.6

INNOVATION FROM TIME TO TIME

YES N0

24%

76%

There is a need of innovation from time to time. The customer cannot purchase the same variety/kinds of products every time. He demands change in everything such as design, color and schemes. The above chart 4.6 shows that 38(76%) of the respondents are in favour that they are happy/satisfied with the changes done in the design colours, and schemes from time to time. Whereas 12(24%) of the respondents were in favour that pantaloons do not bring any innovation in design, colours, and schemes from time to time. TABLE 4.7 ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Particulars

Yes

No 35 (70%)

Do you get any additional benefits on 15 being a regular customer? (30%)

CHART 4.7

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

35 30 No. of erspondents 25 20 15 10 5 0 Yes No

In any retail business, in order to maintain good customer relationship with the customer, it is necessary to make him happy and fulfil his needs. The needs and wants of the customer should be fulfilled. The above chart 4.7 shows that 15(30%) of the customers are satisfied with the additional benefits given by the pantaloon due to Green card membership facility given to them. Whereas 35(70%) of the respondents are not satisfied responding that pantaloons do not provide any kind of additional benefits which indicates that still the needs and wants of the customer are being unsatisfied and

pantaloons need for an improvement which can be achieved by improving only additional benefits being offered to customers in terms of discount, etc. TABLE 4.8 CUSTOMER FEEDBACK Particulars Yes No 9 (18%)

Do pantaloons take any initiative to get 41 consumers responses, feedbacks (82%)

regarding any changes in stores or services, etc?

Chart 4.8

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
50 No of respondents 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No

Taking the feedback from the customer is very crucial in any retail industry. A pantaloon has separate feedback forms for the customers. Feedback helps to produce the goods as per the needs and wants of the customer. The above chart 4.8 shows that 41(82%) of the respondents are in favour that pantaloons take the feedback of their valuable customers regarding the changes which are to be made in the products, changes in stores, etc. Whereas 9(18%) of the respondents says that the pantaloons do not take any initiative from

them regarding any changes which are to be done. According to them, only feedback forms are not sufficient. TABLE 4.9 AFTER SALES SERVICE Particulars Yes No 40 (80%)

Are you satisfied with the after sale 10 service of pantaloons? (20%)

Chart 4.9

AFTER SALE SERVICE

YES N0

20%

80%

After sale service means providing the services to the customer after the actual sale of the product. The above chart 4.9 shows that only 10(20%) of the respondents are satisfied with the after sales service of the pantaloons which indicates that 20(80%) of the respondents are not satisfied with the after sales service. Pantaloons need an improvement in providing after sale service to the customers.

4.10 MANAGERs INTERVIEW Q1.When you have entered in this field of Retailing? The Store Manager of the Pantaloons (MR. Kamal Ghangwani) is the field of retailing since last 3years. In India, Retailing is one of the largest industries and one of the biggest sources of employment also. Even thogh the retailing industry is quite old in our country. It is only in the recent past that it has witnessed such a tremendous growth. Retail stores sales have been growing every year internationally and more specifically in India. Many people are getting employed in the retail segment with the opening of economy. Q.2 How do you conduct any survey for your retail products? Since customer satisfaction is the main aim in retailing to maximize customer satisfaction, it is important to understand their pschycology for the same. In pantaloons, Consumer survey is conducted via Questionnaire as it gives first hand information with personal contact of consumer. Q3. Which mode of media are you using for creating awareness in the market? Selection of the appropriate media is very necessary in retail marketing to maximize the awareness and form brand management. Pantaloons Retail India Limited uses all the modes of the advertisement such as News-papers, Internet, Television, Hoardings.

Q4. Which class of customers purchases your retail product? The purchasing/buying behavior depends upon the Income status of the customer, and also the customer will purchase the goods as per his needs and wants. The pricing of the products of the Pantaloons are such that only customers belonging to middle class and high class can afford the products. So middle class and lower class cannot afford it.

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY & CONCLUSION 5.1 INTRODUCTION

In the previous chapter the research results were discussed. This final chapter focuses on the main conclusions, suggestions and recommendations and the limitations of the exploratory study.

A PANTALOON is a major shopping complex for todays customers. It is a place where customers find variety of products at a reasonable price. A PANTALOON has a good reputation of itself in the market. It has positioned itself in the market as a discounted store. It holds a huge customer base. The majority of customers belong to middle class family. The youth generation also likes shopping and moving around PANTALOONS. Volume sales always take place in PANTALOONS. Impulse buying behaviour of customers comes in to play most of the times in PANTALOONS. PANTALOONS is a hypermarket as it provides various kinds of goods like apparels, grocery, stationary, food items, electronic items, leather items, watches, jewellery, crockery, decorative items, sport items, chocolates and many more. It competes with all the specialty stores of different products which provide goods at a discounted rate all through the year. It holds a large customer base and it seemed from the study that the customers are quite satisfied with PANTALOONS. As of now there are 34 PANTALOONSs in different cities of India, it seems that there is a vast growth of PANTALOONS lying as customers demand is increasing for PANTALOONSs.

A PANTALOON is a hypermarket store where varieties of products are being sold on different product category. It has emerged as a hub of shopping specially for middle class people. Different types of products starting from a baby food to pizzas all are available under one roof. In Mumbai it is the middle class people who mostly do marketing from PANTALOONS. Even most of the people do their monthly shopping from PANTALOONS. People not only visit PANTALOONS to do shopping but also visit for outing purpose as it provides a very nice ambience to its customers.

As people go to malls they just tend to move around PANTALOONS whether it is for shopping purpose or for outing purpose. Grocery, apparels and food items are the products which are demanded most by the customers of Delhi in PANTALOONS. The major drawback of PANTALOONS is that it lacks in providing enough parking space for its customers. This may discourage the customers to come to PANTALOONS and shop as they face difficulty in parking their vehicles. Even though some customers say that they dont feel problem in parking their vehicle, it is because of the parking space available to them by the mall. As it is surveyed it seems that the biggest competitors of PANTALOONS are the Kirana stores, discounted specialty stores like Vishal mega mart, Delhi bazaar PANTALOONS, The Tata Groups (Croma), Reliance Retail, & Sabka Bazaar etc.

5.2

RECOMMEDATIONS

The jewellery purchased (wristlet) didn't have box to carry the item. It was offered only on pouch. It causes inconveniency for customer. Colour bleeding is a regular incident for Rangmanch product. Company should deal it on high priority basis as ladies ethnic products move maximum in the store. This kind of product behaviour leads to irritation of customer.

 More Communication Should be there to guide the customers who visit for the first time. There should be separate counter for senior citizen for cashiering. The payment made by credit card or debit card to the cashiers by customers should be taken special care of. The Cashiering Should be done fast so as to save time of customers. More cost effective clothes should be there in women section. Good variety of merchandise should be there. Should be trendy and keep pace with the market trend. In Mix n match category products are leaving colour after single wash, so company should improve product quality. Very less stocks in high heels variety. Need to improve. Price range is very high. Company should start keeping low priced product. Company should immediately increase the number of trial rooms for customers. Company should provide after sales services. More & more stores should be opened as per population.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTERNET: www.google.com www.pantaloons.com www.pantaloonretail.in/index.asp

BOOKS Retail Management M.Kulkarni Retail Marketing

ANNEXURE

SURVEY ON

PANTALOONS
Q1 .Is the location of the store convenient to you? Yes No Q2.Are you satisfied with the products of PANTALOONS? Yes No

Q3. Are you satisfied with the pricing of the products? Yes No

Q4. Are you satisfied with the service aspects of the stores? Yes No

Q5.Are you satisfied with the discounting schemes of the PANTALOONS? Yes No

Q6. Does PANTALOONS bring any innovation in design, colors and schemes from time to time? Yes No

Q7. Do you get additional benefits on being a regular customer? Yes No

Q8. Does PANTALOONS take any initiative to get customers responses, feedbacks regarding any changes in stores or services etc? Yes No

Q9. Are you satisfied with the after sale service of the PANTALOONS? Yes No

Name: __________________________________ Date: _____________________ Sign: _____________________

LIST OF TABLES:LIST OF GRAPHS:-