chapter no. 05: big bazaar: innovative retail marketing...

A Study of Innovative Marketing Practices In Retail Marketing Sector withSpecial Reference to Big Bazaars in Maharashtra State. 2015

Chapter No. 05: Big Bazaar: Innovative Retail Marketing Practices. 91

Chapter No. 05:

Big Bazaar: Innovative Retail Marketing

Practices.

Introduction.It Happened in India.Big Bazaar.Marketing Techniques used by Big Bazaar.Loyalty Program in Big Bazaar.Different Retail Marketing Schemes Offered By BigBazar.Customer Services of Big Bazaar.Basic Marketing Strategy of Big Bazaar.Core Values in Big Bazaar.Different Customer services.Customer Relationship Management of Big Bazaar.Innovative Management Practices of Big Bazaar.Strategic Objectives of the Company.Innovative Marketing Strategies of Big-Bazaar.Impact of Big Bazaar on the Consumers Retailers.Big Bazaar’s New Marketing Strategy.SWOT Analysis of Big Bazar.Challenges to organized retail development in India.Suggestions for overcome the challenges forOrganised Retail.


Chapter No. 05: Big Bazaar: Innovative Retail Marketing Practices. Page 192

Introduction:

The Indian retail market is growing at a very fast pace of

about 20 per cent and has a market size of US$ 500 billion. The

retail sector is the second largest employer after agriculture. The

retail industry alone managed to generate more than 35 million job

opportunities. The Indian retail industry is segregated into two

sectors: organized and unorganized retailing.1 Organized retailing

comprises of those kind of trading activities which are undertaken

by retailers who are registered for sales tax, Income tax etc.

Corporate backed hypermarkets, retail chains, privately owned

large retail businesses are some of the examples of organized

retailing. Unorganized retailing mainly comprises of local kirana

shops; owner managed general stores, street vendors, convenience

stores etc. However now it can be seen that traditional markets are

paving way for development of departmental stores, supermarkets,

specialty stores. Shopping from malls and buying branded

products is also gaining momentum. Inspite of all this Indian retail

sector is mainly dominated by unorganized segment with 95 per

cent. The reason for this being deep penetration of this sector in

the rural areas and large number of Big Bazar stores in the urban

areas.

With the onset of a globalized economy in India, the Indian

consumer's psyche has been changed. People have become aware

of the value of money. Nowadays the Indian consumers are well

versed with the concepts about quality of products and services.

These demands are the visible impacts of the Retail Sector of

Indian Economy. Since the liberalization policy of 1990, the Indian

economy, and its consumers are getting whiff of the latest national



and international products, with the help of print and electronic

media. The social changes with the rapid economic growth due to

trained personnel, fast modernization, enhanced availableness of

retail space is the positive effects of liberalization.

It Happened in India:

Growing up in a joint family, Kishore Biyani was expected to

eventually follow his father and uncles and join their textile mill

business. However, Kishore Biyani was always a bit different, even

while young. He wanted to try something different. He classifies

entrepreneurs into three classes, creators, preservers and

destroyers. His family belonged to the preserver category, while he

wanted to be a creator. He was willing to experiment and take

risks. He wanted to create a readymade apparel brand. The idea

was conceived in the 1980s, and after some initial setbacks, he

established the Pantaloon Shoppe. Later, he thought of starting a

hypermarket retail chain, but was doubtful if the western model

would work in India, considering the Indian shopper’s psyche.

Then, he visited the ‘Saravana Stores’ in Chennai, and observed its

popularity among customers. He decided to use this as a model.

But his vision and model differed a lot from the Chennai based

retail chain. The Saravana Stores is a conservative family business.

The retail chain Biyani set up, Big Bazaar, is not. Also, Big

Bazaar expanded rapidly to establish branches all across the

country. It is now India’s largest hypermarket chain. In It

Happened in India, Kishore Biyani identifies three types of Indian

customers. India is the elite class, the high spenders. He targets the

next category. The middle class who make up a major chunk of the



country’s shoppers. He and his team studied this section of

consumers and understood their needs. The Big Bazaar marketing

campaign was specifically targeted at this section of the society and

it succeeded. It Happened In India shares his dreams, vision and

his strategies. It also shares his personal journey, from childhood

to becoming the head of one of the most successful business groups

in the country today.2

Kishore Biyani is best known for bringing in the great Indian

retail revolution. What’s more, he has consistently gone against

conventional wisdom and charted his own course to make

Pantaloon Retail one of the fastest growing retail chains in not just

India but even the world. The company recently launched a

campaign celebrating ten years of Big Bazaar, part of Pantaloon

Retail. The touching campaign not only celebrated the success that

the retail chain has seen over the years but also tried to connect

with its customer base by saying sorry and thank you in the same

breath. The Big Bazaar journey has been fabulous. The company

did 150 stores in these ten years. It has been the most interesting

stretch for the company. In terms of growth, the company are the

fastest growing chain. Probably the first hypermarket chain in the

world that set up 100 stores in just seven years of its existence. In

that sense, it feels great. In fact, the company is a part of the

changing India. So, whenever the topic of modern India will be

touched upon, Big Bazaar too would be remembered in the same

breath.3



Big Bazaar:

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited was incorporated as Manz

Wear Private Limited in the year 1987. It became a public limited

company in 1991 and was renamed Pantaloon Fashions (India)

Limited and then Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited in 1999. Over

the years the company has accelerated growth through its ability to

manage change. It integrated backwards into garment

manufacturing and expanded its retail network at the same time. It

launched three successful brands – Pantaloon trouser bar denims

and John Miller shirts between 1987 and 1993. The company

introduced the concept of The Pantaloon Shoppe, an exclusive

men’s wear retail store, which expanded across India from 1994-

1998 . In the year 1997, Pantaloon moved to large format lifestyle

retailing with the launch of Pantaloons India’s family Store.

Pantaloon has grown to a 29 store network and occupies 2,63,000

sq ft of the retail space. They contributed Rs 174 crores to the total

turnover of the company.4

Big Bazaar owned by Pantaloon Retail India Limited, the

flagship retail chain of the Future Group, achieved a unique

milestone in the history of world retail - by being the first

hypermarket format in the globe to roll-out the fastest 101 stores

in a short span of seven years. This hypermarket chain was

introduced in India by Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited. The year

was 2001. The first store opened in Kolkata and was followed by

stores in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Aurangabad in a short span.

It works on the same economy model as Wal-Mart and has had

considerable success in many Indian cities and small towns. The

Group is confident of the Indian retail story. It has not slowed



down its expansion plans despite many other retailers slowing

expansion, reducing the number of outlets, effecting layoffs and

even exiting the businesses. In 2006-2007 more Indians

discovered the value of shopping in Big Bazaar. Big Bazaar

launched 27 new stores in 22 cities, covering over 1.40 million

square feet. While Big Bazaar continued to expand in the large

cities it also tapped consumptions potential in smaller cities like

Agra, Allahabad, Coimbatore, Surat, Panipat, Palakkad, Kanpur,

Nashik, Jalagaon and Kolhapur. By May 2008, there were 89 Big

Bazaars spread across various cities and towns across the country.

Big Bazaar plans to have 300 stores and is expecting revenues of

130 billion rupees by the year 2011.5

At the time of the launch of Big Bazaar there was no real

precedent in the Indian market giants the RPG hypermarkets had

opened in Hyderabad only two months prior to the launch of Big

Bazaar. A western model had to be adapted to suit the needs of the

Indian environment various local markets and local market leaders

were studied. This was done to understand the product mix and

the prices offered. Saving is the key to the Indian middle class

consumer. The store which would be created had to offer value to

the consumer. Keeping this in mind, the concept of Big Bazaar was

created.

Big Bazaar offers a wide range of products which range from

apparels, food, farm products, furniture, child care, toys, etc.

Products of all the major brands are available at Big Bazaar. Also,

there are many in house brands promoted by Big Bazaar. Big

Bazaar sold over 3 lakh pairs of jeans, 50,000 DVD-players and



25,000 microwave-ovens. In all, the fashion, electronics and

travel segments made up about 70 per cent of sales. The tag-line is

"Is Se Sasta Aur Accha Aur Kahin Nahi". They work on the model

of economics of scale. There pricing objective is to get Maximum

Market Share.

Marketing Techniques used by Big Bazaar:

Value Pricing (Every Day Low Pricing): Big Bazaar

promises consumers the lowest available price without

coupon clipping, waiting for discount promotions, or

comparison shopping.

Promotional Pricing: Big Bazaar offers financing at low

interest rate. The concept of psychological discounting (Rs.

99, Rs. 49, etc.) is used as promotional tool. Big Bazaar also

caters on Special Event Pricing (Close to Diwali, Gudi Padva,

Durga Pooja, Independence day, Republic day etc.)

Differentiated Pricing: Time pricing, i.e., difference in

rate based on peak and non-peak hours or days of shopping

is also a pricing technique used in Indian retail, which is

aggressively used by Big Bazaar.

Bundling: Selling combo-packs and offering discount to

customers. The combo-packs add value to customer.

Big Bazaar is aggressive on their expansion plans. Big Bazaar

started many new and innovative cross-sell and up-sell strategies

in Indian retail market. The various promotion techniques used at



Big Bazaar include "Saal Ke Sabse Saste Teen Din", Future Card

(the card offers 3% discount), Shakti Card, etc.

Big Bazaar Hyper mart chain in India

Outlet 140 Outlets

Parent Group Future Group

Owner Kishore biyani

Founded 2001

Head Quarter Jogeshwari, Mumbai

Industry Retail

Tagline Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi

Brand Image:

“Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi” Nothing captures the

spirit of Big Bazaar better than this one line. It is a simple

statement and yet it positioned at the top of Indian customers

mind. It shows that big bazaar was built on the foundation of

entrepreneurship and simplicity. They believe in service and value

for the customers. They consider that it is their only duty to keep

customer in mind at every step; they go that extra mile and buy

directly from source in bulk so that they can get best rates by

keeping the margin low.

Merchandise:

Main objective of the store layout is to maximize the interface

between customers and merchandise. It provides easy accessibility

to the customers to view the offerings of the store. Layout of the

store has been strategically designed in order to make effective use



of merchandise and passage to draw customers’ attention on

store’s offerings Big Bazaar has a wide range of merchandise they

have both branded and unbranded products like –

Home lien items: Like bed sheets, pillow covers, carpets to

kitchen utility items like steel utensils and crockery and other

minor utility items required in a house.

Electronic items: Like refrigerator, T.V, vacuum cleaner,

music system, vacuum cleaner, washing machine. Etc.

Mobile Zone: A wide range of mobile phones and accessories

is available at lowest possible price.

Furniture: All kind of furniture is available that one may

require decorating the house.

Star Sitara: In this section all kinds of cosmetic items are

made available.

Opticians: In this section all brands and types fashion

glasses are available.

Men Ladies and kids wear: This section includes fashion

and casual wear for men ladies and kids both branded and

unbranded.

Foot wear: In this section footwear for men women and kids

is made available.

Music: A wide collection of CDs DVDs is made available.

Toys: All kinds of toys for children are available.

Stationary: All kind of office stationery and stationery for

school going kids is available.



Loyalty Program in Big Bazaar:

According to Kishore Biyani, the big brain behind Big

Bazaar, price, quality or services are the only way to retain

customers in retail. The repeat customers spend more than the

average customers and need to be encouraged to come back. That’s

why the stores have started offering special discounts to customers

who join their loyalty card programme. Lifestyle, for instance, has

a loyalty programme called `The Inner Circle’, while Pantaloons

offers a `Green Card’. Rewards programmes, Westside have `Club

West’ and `First Citizen’ from Shopper’s Stop to woo the customer.

Firstly, Citizen Citibank Card and ICICI Bank had tie-up with Big

Bazaar. The ICICI Credit Card EDC terminals were setup in Big

Bazaar. The company woos the customers to subscribe for Future

Credit Card. The Future card is a loyalty cum credit card of future

holdings and the customer will get the full benefit of this card if

and only if the card is used in any of the Future Group outlets like

Big bazaar, and that too if swiped in an ICICI bank EDC machines

in the outlet cash counter.

Different Retail Marketing Schemes Offered By Big

Bazar:

Exchange offer: A new offer came in from Big Bazaar, to

exchange your old goods for coupons which one can reimburse

with goods.

Sabse Sasta Din: On the ‘Republic Day’ and ‘Independent

Day’ have special offer for ordinary Indians with Big Bazaar’s

mega sales festival, ‘Sabsa Sasta Din’. No event before had



influenced a day’s routine of thousands of people in different

parts of the country like this sales festival.

Wednesday Bazaar: Big Bazaar has introduced a

‘Wednesday Bazaar’ concept called “Hafte Ka Sabse Sasta

Din”. The aim, according to the chain, is to give homemakers

the power to save the most and even the stores in the city don

a fresh look to make customers feel that it is their day. The

Wednesday Bazaar also offers clothes, accessories and fashion

jewellery and personal care products.

Monthly Bachat Bazaar: Big bazaar has scheme of

‘Monthly Bachat Bazaar’ at the starting of every month, its

start from date 1 to 8, it’s the time when most of the working

people get their salaries, so big bazaar take good advantage of

grabbing these salary by giving this scheme. This offer is on

food and beverages. Most of working people buys food and

beverages for whole month during these days.

Special offer before college or school start: Big Bazaar

provide special offer when there is time of starting schools,

give special offer or discount on stationery items and for

college going students provide special offer on apparel like

jeans, t-shirt etc., on foot ware, bags, etc., In Big bazaar in

store offer on different product is going on the whole year.

Sampling of new product: Big Bazaar arranges a sampling

stall for a new product coming into market to introduce.



Customers can test those new items on free of cost and if they

like it then make purchase of it. In short customers can trail a

new product. Big bazaar has tie up with those products so that

this can be possible. Big Bazaar has provided sampling for

Nescafe, nimbooz, 7 up a new product of PepsiCo, act to pop

corn etc.

Customer Services of Big Bazaar:

Big Bazaar provides a wide range of services to its customers

like Trial rooms, Elevators, Car parking, Security, Baggage counter,

Trolleys, Gift wrapping, Free call in case of emergency, for

electronics item provide free home delivery, Wheel chair is

provided at the entrance of the Big Bazaar, stretcher, in any case a

mother wanted to feed her infant child or little child there is

mother room to feed the child, water so that one could shop easily.

They even provide them with after sale services in case of buying

electronic items. One of the major services provided by them are

one stop shop as one could get a whole range of items under one

shop and at the most reasonable price. They always have their

outlets in such a location where it is easy to commute.

Big Bazaar provides a customer help desk at entrance of the

shop, where customer can get all the necessary information of any

new scheme or offer going on. Customer desk is for helping and

guiding the customers. Customer desk help have complaint or

suggestion box in which customer can write their suggestion and

complaint regarding service, product etc. Big Bazaar provides toll

free number for customer care and email id through which

customers can give their complaints and suggestion. A complaint



of any customer can be solved within 24 hrs by a person who

handle complaints if he is not able to solve it within 24 hrs then he

try to convince that customer, that it would be solve within few

hours or days. If that fellow is not at all able to solve the problem of

the customer then it goes to zonal office.

Basic Marketing Strategy of Big Bazaar:

According to Kishore Biyani’s theory, change and confidence

among the entire population is leading to rise in consumption,

through better employment and income which in turn is creating

value to agriculture products across country.

Vision:

To deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time for every time

for Every Indian consumer in the most profitable manner.

•

Mission:

We share the vision and belief that our customers and

stakeholders shall be served only by creating and executing

future scenarios in the consumption space leading to economic

development.

We will be the trendsetters in evolving delivery formats,

creating retail realty, making consumption affordable for all

customer segments – for classes and for masses.

We shall infuse Indian brands with confidence and renewed

ambition.

We shall be efficient, cost- conscious and committed to quality

in whatever we do.



We shall ensure that our positive attitude, sincerity, humility

and united determination shall be the driving force to make us

successful.

Quality policy:

All products sold at Big Bazaar are guaranteed to be at good

price and of good quality.

Price guarantee:

If within two days of purchase, you find a product of same

brand /quality available at a lesser price, please bring back to us

within ten days along with cash memo and we will give you a gift

voucher which will be of DOUBLE the value of the price difference.

Infrastructure Facilities:

A typical Big Bazaar store usually consists of 2-3 floors. The

Back office is situated at the ground floor. The Big Bazaar stores

are fully air conditioned and are equipped with music facilities,

escalators, Parking facilities.

4 P’S of Big Bazaar:

Product Mix of Big Bazar:

Apparels Home Care Chill Station Farm Produce

Denims & Shirts Shampoos Soft Drink Fruits

Fabrics Detergents Packaged Juices Vegetables

Formal Wear Soaps Milk Items Imported Fruits

Casual Wear Liquid Wash Frozen Foods Dairy Products



Price Mix:

Value Pricing.

Promotional Pricing.

Low Interest Financing.

Psychological Discounting.

Special Event Pricing.

Differentiated Pricing.

Time Pricing.

Bundling.

Place Mix:

Initially Identifies Future/Potential development areas.

Acquire such areas at an early phase before the real estate

value booms.

Located at high traffic areas.

Design to look crowded.

Promotion Mix:

“Saal Ke Sabse Saste 3 Din”

Future Card (3%Discount)

Advertising (Print ads, TV Ads, Radio)

Brand Endorsement by M.S Dhoni

Exchange Offer.

Weekend Discount.

Point of Purchase Promotion.

Customer Segmentation of Big Bazaar:

Big Bazaar target higher and upper middle class customers.



The large and growing young working population is a

preferred customer segment.

Big Bazaar specially targets working women & home markets

who are the primary decision maker.

Big bazaar uses 8 golden rules to deal with Customer

Services:

1. Answer the phone.

2. Don’t make promise unless you will keep them.

3. Listen to your customer.

4. Deal with complaints.

5. Be helpful.

6. Train your staff to be always helpful, courteous and

knowledgeable.

7. Take the extra step.

8. Throw in something extra.

Competitors of Big Bazaar with regard to services:

Wal-Mart

Reliance

Shoppers stop

Vishal mega mart

Local retailers



Big Bazaar targets to be achieved

The aim is to increase the retail business to around 30

million square feet by 2011 as compared to 8 million square

feet now.

To become a substantial part of every Indian’s wallet.

To get across 30 per cent of the population of entire nation

which is now just 8 per cent.

To increase organized retail from 3 per cent to at least 18-20

per cent in next 2 years.

Core Values in Big Bazaar:

The core values in Big Bazaar are:

1. Indianness – Confidence in ourselves

2. Leadership – To be leader, both in thought and in business

3. Respect and Humility – To respect every individual and be

humble in our conduct

4. Introspection – Leading to purposeful thinking

5. Openness – To be open and receptive to new ideas,

knowledge and information

6. Valuing and Nurturing relationships – To build long term

relationship

7. Simplicity & positivity-Simplicity and positivity in our

thought, business and action

8. Adaptability – To be flexible and adaptable to meet

challenges

9. Flow – To respect and understand the universal laws of

nature.



Different Customer services:

Online shopping: Big Bazaar has an official website,

FutureBazaar.com, which is one of the most favorite sites

among people of India for online shopping. Future Bazaar is

an online business venture of Future Group, which sells an

assortment of products such as fashion, which includes

merchandise for men and women, mobile accessories, mobile

handsets and electronics like home theatres, video cameras,

digital camera, LCD TVs, kitchen appliances and many more.

Discounts: ‘Hfte ka sabse sasta’ din was introduced by the

Big Bazaar, wherein extra and special discounts were offered

on Wednesday every week, to attract the potential buyers

into their store.

Security check: At each exit of Big Bazaar, they use alarm

systems or Electronic Article Surveillance system, which

detects the products that has attached tags or not.

Customer Relationship Management of Big Bazaar:

The Big Bazaar first tries to determine likely prospects i.e.

the people who have a strong potential interest in the product and

ability to pay for it. The Big Bazaar hopes to convert many of its

qualified prospect into first time customers and then to convert

those first time customers into repeat customers. Then the Big

Bazaar tries to convert these repeat customers into clients – they

are those people who buy only from the Big Bazaar in the relevant

product categories. The next challenge for the Big Bazaar is to

convert these clients into advocates. Advocates are those clients



who praise the Big Bazaar and encourage others to buy from it. The

ultimate challenge is to convert these advocates into partners

where the customers and the clients work actively together to

discover ways of getting mutual benefit. Thus in CRM the key

performance figure is not just current market share but share of

life time value by converting customers into partners. In CRM the

Big Bazaar identified that small percentage of key account holders

whose contribution to the Big Bazaar revenues is high. So from this

point of view, CRM is also known as key account management.6

Innovative Management Practices of Big Bazaar:

Big retail chains such as Future Group have set up their own

mall management divisions that operate as their subsidiary

companies. Big Bazaars are focused the following areas under the

innovative management practices.

Infrastructure Management: Infrastructure management

refers to the management of facilities provided to the tenants

within the mall. This includes provision of adequate power

supply, safety issues in case of emergency and miscellaneous

issues related to signage, water supply, sanitation, etc. These

form an integral part of mall management as they are the basic

amenities that any tenant would look for in a mall.

Infrastructure management also includes risk management

issues such as essential safety measure asset liability and

environmental audits as well as emergency and evacuation

training. It also means optimal utilization of resources to meet

organizational needs.



Ambience Management: The overall shopping experience

provided for consumers becomes an important factor for the

success of any mall. Ambience management includes

management of parks, fountains and overall look of the mall. A

mall is not just a place for shopping but is also a place where

people spend their leisure time. In favourable, lush green

landscaping with seating facilities and the presence of food

and beverage inside or outside the mall can increase foot

traffic.

Traffic Management: Traffic management includes

managing foot traffic into the mall and parking facilities. Foot

traffic management involves crowd management inside the

operational area of a mall. The flow of people is related to the

design of the mall and the spatial distribution of its tenants.

For example, a star-shaped mall tends to have a problem of

crowding in the centre of the mall, as everyone has to pass

through the centre while moving from one side to the other.

Circular malls, on the other hand, would not have this

problem. They tend to have better pedestrian flow and less

congestion. Managing parking facilities includes provision of

ample parking and maneuverings of cars in the parking lot. Big

Bazar is an example of a successful mall led by good facility

management practices.

Finance Management: Professional financial management

of a mall as a business venture is a must. Mall management

also covers financial management, which involves monitoring


Chapter No. 05: Big Bazaar: Innovative Retail Marketing Practices. 1

and controlling of various issues such as: cash receipts and

collection of income including rentals, service charges, car

park receipts, electricity and other utility income developing

accounting systems to track the ageing of debts, payment delay

patterns, bad debts and payment of all invoices and expenses

developing standard financial templates so that a detailed

annual property budget is prepared at times, organizing

resources to deliver an efficient and effective annual external

audit

Strategic Objectives of the Company:

Strategic objectives of a company can be short term and long

term. The short term objectives are the goals that a company plans

to achieve in one or less than one year. The objectives can range

from the products and services they offer to the management

objectives such as enlarging the human capital or more

investment, etc. The Long term objectives refer to the goals that a

company wants to achieve in the long run, more than one year. The

short term goals help the company to reach its long term

objectives. Typically, long term objects lay out what a company

wants to become. Big Bazaar wants to become number one retailer

of fast moving consumer goods. This is a long term business

objective which can be achieved by achieving the short term

objectives. When the market requirements and customer

requirements change, companies review their objectives and

change or update their business objective to suit the market and

customer requirements



Innovative Marketing Strategies of Big-Bazaar:

Exterior Presentation:

The quality of a store front is a major determinant for a

customer and the store appearance should never be compromised.

The exterior appearance silently announces what customers can

expect inside. Good exterior visual merchandising attracts

attention, creates interest and invites the customer into business.

Generally the exterior presentation should be progressive, lavish or

discount image to the customer. The important point to be noted is

that how a store visually welcomes a customer has to do a lot,

whether they enter or not.7

Exterior Signs:

An effective sign is a silent sales person. A sign must attract

attention of customers in less than ten seconds and should convey

what the business is and what it has to sell. The size of the letter

used in signs should be large enough to be read from a distant

place. Elegant design and expensive sign material will convey a

business of luxury goods and services. A design of the sign conveys

a great deal about the business. Signs can also be used to target a

specific market segment such as youth, women, singles etc. Logo is

also very important and plays a major role in attracting customers.

They should be unique and noticeable. To put it in simple words

simple brief, well designed, well lettered and easy to read signs will

attract more customers and convey a feeling of welcome to the

customers. A stores signs is its identity. It is with the sign that the

public recognize the store. Hence it should create an image that

can be consistently carried out as an identity of the store.



Marquees:

Marquees are special type of signs used to display stores

name. Effective marquees should be designed so as it is different

from others and attracts the attention of customers.

Banners:

Banners are economical but colorful and eye catching means

of promotion. They can be changed frequently to create different

appearances which will in turn attract customers to the store. It

will be more effective when the colour scheme and design concept

used in the banners are the same as what is used in the store, on

promotional materials and newspaper ads.

Entrance and Aisles:

Most of the first time customers remember the store

entrance. This goes on with the quote ‘first impression is the best

impression’. Giving the best impression to the customer’s right at

the entrance is mandatory for any store. Cluttered aisles makes the

shoppers feel uncomfortable and hence leave to a bad shopping

experience. Entrances that allow shopping to come into a store

without being aware of their entering are also becoming very

popular.

Window Displays:

The display at shop windows is becoming increasingly

popular as far as visual merchandising stands. Changing window

displays to suit themes and moods and seasons is gaining

popularity. Special emphasis has to be placed on a store’s window

displays because they are the information link to the potential



customer. It is reckoned that as many as one in every four sales

could be the result of a good window display. Window display

should attract attention, create interest and invite people into the

store to purchase goods. The average amount of time an individual

spends looking at a window display is about eleven seconds, and

that is the maximum time available to achieve this. Too much of

merchandise must not be crowded at a window, as customers find

it difficult to determine the message and what items are being

promoted.

Interior Presentation:

Selling space is the most important part of a store and

therefore, efforts to utilize each square foot will help to maximize

sales. When planning interior displays, it should be kept in mind

that the theme and image presented on the exterior must be

carried throughout the interior of the store to provide consistency

for the customer. The purpose of interior display is to develop

desire for the merchandise, show what is available, and encourage

both impulse and planned buying. Three major goals of a store

should be to motivate the customer to spend money, project the

image of the store and keep expenses to a minimum. Well-

designed displays and in-store promotions are essentials for a

consistent theme and to help the customer find advertised items.

Display Design:

An effective way of attracting customers to a store is by

having good displays, both exterior and interior. A customer will be

attracted to a display within three to eight seconds, which is the

time a customer spends to determine interest in a product. Every



display should be planned and must have a theme. Good design

makes a visual presentation come together. This means the design

attracts attention in a way that strengthens the store image, as well

as introducing merchandise to the customer. Sale or promotional

good in front of the store should be placed for short period of time

only. If the sale or promotion lasts for several weeks, merchandise

should be moved to the rear of the store. The customer should

always get to see new exciting and creative merchandise with

display at the front of the store.

Use of music:

The store image and the mood of the customers can be

changed dramatically by the use of music. Music establishes

moods, helps to motivate the subconscious mind and create long

lasting impression on the customers. Specific music for particular

merchandise can create a good shopping experience and can be an

important tool for creating a brand.

Perfumes and Scent:

The other use of stimulation can be use of stimulating the

olfactory lobe of the brain. i.e. use of perfumes and scents. Layout

having fresh breads and buns, can entice the customers by the

aroma. Segments of the store having soaps and toiletries can

enchant the customers by the use of perfumes and scents. A

pleasing scent can create a wonderful ambience and add to the

customers shopping experience. Scent can also be a major factor in

determining which product to buy. Everything from perfumes,

scented candles, toiletries, cleaning products are all bought while



keeping scent in the mind. The scent generally determines which

product the customer purchases.

Impact of Big Bazaar on the Consumers Retailers:

1. Keeping the stock of the different verities of goods.

2. Applying various methods of demand creation.

3. Helping in the effective distribution of consumer goods.

4. Extending credit facilities to the consumers.

5. Providing many personal services to the consumers.

6. Providing essential data and information to the manufacturers

about the trend in marketing changes in fashion, tests, etc.

7. Making available the good according to the season.

8. Gives proper advice to the customer.

Big Bazaar’s New Marketing Strategy:

Big Bazaar, a part of the Pantaloon Group, is a hypermarket

offering a huge array of goods of good quality for all at affordable

prices. Big Bazaar with number of outlets in different parts of India

is present in both the metro cities as well as in the small towns. Big

Bazaar has no doubt made a big name in the retail industry of

India, moreover shopping here is further made a memorable

experience with the varied rates of discounts on products as well as

discount vouchers available in a variety of amounts. Big Bazaar is a

chain of shopping malls in India owned by the Pantaloon Group.8

The idea from the very beginning was to make Big Bazaar very

comfortable for the Indian customer. Big bazaar is not just another

hypermarket. It caters to every need of the family. Where Big

Bazaar scores over other stores is its value for money proposition

for the Indian customers. At Big Bazaar, the customer will



definitely get the best products at the best prices - that’s what they

guarantee. With the ever increasing array of private labels, it has

opened the doors into the world of fashion and general

merchandise including home furnishings, utensils, crockery,

cutlery, sports goods and much more at prices that will surprise

you. Big Bazaar plans to add much more to complete their

customers shopping experience.

Big Bazaar has launched new marketing strategy which is

based on Guerrilla Marketing. Guerrilla marketing warfare

strategies are a type of marketing warfare strategy designed to

wear-down the enemy by a long series of minor attacks, using

principles of surprise and hit-and-run tactics. Attack, retreat, hide,

then do it again and again, until the competitor moves on to other

markets. Guerrilla force is divided into small groups that

selectively attack the target at its weak points. In the world of cut

throat competition, corporate use extension of the same strategy in

marketing. Corporate like Pepsi, Coke etc have been using the

same for quite some time now and the latest entrant is our very

own ‘Future Group’- Big Bazaar, Future Bazaar, Pantaloons, e Zone

are all part of this group and they are taking on the biggies like

Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, and Tata’s Westside. In order to do the

same, Future Group have come up with 3 catchy and cheeky ad

campaigns which surely do catch our eyes and surely one can’t

resist appreciating the same.



SWOT Analysis of Big Bazar:

Strengths:

Maximum number of varieties: People prefer those

places where they can get the maximum products they need

and Big Bazaar provides vast range of products under one roof

helping in attracting customer and their family to shop

together and enjoy the experience.

High brand equity: Big Bazaar has created high brand

equity through its promotions and marketing it has created a

different image for its products as the cheap and best.

Largest chain of retail marketing in India: Big Bazaar

is the first retail chain to be started in India and is the largest

and successful until now.

High capacity investment: Big Bazaar offers 1,70,000

products and owns more than 100 retail stores all over India

and has the strong financial background as being the

subsidiary of future groups which owns the pantaloons which

is one of the biggest the industries in men’s wear in India and

have its work is spread all over India. Future group is one of

the leading groups in India.

Everyday new promotions and schemes of low prices

and discounts: Big Bazaar always offers new schemes of low

prices and gives discounts in products like Big Bazaar offers

the sabse saste 3 din ( the cheapest 3 days) in which it offers



the lowest of prices than other days. Facilities like online

booking and delivery of goods: It is not just a chain of retail

shopping but also provides online shopping facility to the

consumers.

Weaknesses:

Overcrowded: During offers, promotions and even on

weekends the place is overcrowded with people and sometime

even there is the situation of closing the store due to it.

Checkout can be extremely slow: There can be seen a

long queue on the billing counters making the consumer wait

for hours due to the slow service and the crowd.

Perception of low price=low quality: Generally people

think that if any product has low price then the quality of the

product will be low as they think quality comes with price.

Targets at the middle class and upper middle class

only: It targets at the middle and upper middle class due to

which it ignores the upper and elite class people as they are the

cream of the society who are ready to pay any price for the

quality and product they need.

Opportunities:

Big Bazaar can enter into production of various products due

to its in depth understanding of customers’ tastes and preferences.

Nowadays people prefer going to one big store and buy everything



instead of visiting different places for different items and waste

time. So Big Bazaar can expand the business in smaller cities as

there is a lot of opportunity. Lot of potential in the rural market.

Threats:

High business risk involved: Big Bazaar investment is

very large so it is obvious that there is high business risk

involved.

Lot of competitors: There are a lot of countries which are

planning to enter the Indian market like Wal-Mart, Carrefour

and Tesco which is a big threat to Big Bazaar.

Less Parking Space: Customers are not satisfied with the

parking space availability provided by Big Bazaar. Hence it’s a

threat of Big Bazaar as it may loose its customers because of

less parking space availability. In holidays it will be very

difficult for customers to park their vehicle in Big Bazaar.

Unorganized retailing: Unorganized retail stores are a threat

to the business of big bazaar as now also people prefer to go to

the local stores which are convenient enough for them.

Challenges to organized retail development in India:

Organized retail in India is little over a decade old. It is

largely an urban phenomenon and the pace of growth is still slow.

Some of the reasons for this slow growth are:9



1. The Kiranas continue: The very first challenge facing the

organized retail industry in India is competition from the

unorganized sector. Traditionally retailing has established in

India for centuries. It is a low cost structure, mostly

owner operated, has negligible real estate and labor costs

and little or no taxes to pay. Customer familiarity that runs

from generation to generation is one big advantage for the

unorganized sector. On the other hand, organized sector have

big expenses to meet and yet have to keep prices low enough

to compete with the traditional sector.

2. Retail not being recognized as an industry in India:

lack of recognition as an industry hampers the availability of

finance to the existing and new players. This affects growth

and expansion plans.

3. The High Costs of Real Estate: real estate prices in

some cities in India are amongst the highest in the

world. The lease or rent of property is one of the major areas

of expenditure. A high lease rental reduces the profitability

of a project. It is difficult to find suitable properties in central

locations for retail, primarily due to fragmented private

holdings, infrequent auctioning of large government owned

vacant lands and litigation disputes between owners.

4. High Stamp Duties: in addition to the high cost of real

estate the sector also faces very high stamp duties on transfer

of property, which varies from state to state.



5. Lack of Adequate Infrastructure: poor roads and the

lack of a cold chain infrastructure hamper the development

of food and grocery retail in India.

6. Price War: There is a price war between different retail

organizations. Every one is saying to provide goods at low

cost and offers various promotional schemes. In such a case

it is difficult to keep one’s customers with oneself.

7. Shortage of Skilled Manpower: Front-end/retail

assistant profiles in stores form a major proportion of the

employment in the retail sector while store operations

accounts for 75-80% of the total manpower employed in the

organized retail sector. Unfortunately, there are very few

courses specific to the retail sector and graduates/post

graduates from other streams are recruited.

8. Policy Induced Barriers: organized retail in India is

managed by both the Ministries of Commerce &

Consumer Affairs. While the Ministry of Commerce takes

care of the retail policy, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs

regulates retailing in terms of licenses and legislation. There

is a need to govern retail operations through a single apex

body. A single agency can take care of retail operations more

effectively.

9. Channel Conflicts: Globally, retailers maintain a direct

relationship with their suppliers. Due to the complex

taxation structure and geographical spread of the

country, most FMCG companies have developed regional



distribution and re-distribution network. Cutting out

the distribution network will hurt the operating structure of

distributors.

10. Unique Indian Customer: the Indian consumer

experiencing modern retail has now warmed up to this idea.

Buying habits have still not changed, where people prefer to

buy most of the fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. The

Indian consumers have a strong preference for freshly

cooked food over packaged. Food mainly attributed to dietary

patterns, poor electricity supply, low penetration of

refrigerators and a family structure where one of the primary

roles of the housewife’s is feeding the family. There is also an

impact on the basket size because of non-availability of

personal transport facilities, due to which the consumers

prefer to buy smaller quantities from stores conveniently

located near their homes.

Suggestions for overcomethe challenges for

Organised Retail:10

1. Acceptance of Industry Status to Retail: industry

status should be given to improve retail development, to

facilitate organized financing and to establish insurance

norms.

2. Incentives for Investments: Tax holiday norms for

cold storage chains, infrastructure and investment in

supply chain should be enacted.



3. Comprehensive Legislation: comprehensive

legislation should be drafted and enacted with futuristic

approach.

4. Eliminating Archaic Laws: Laws, essential

Commodities Act APMC acts, licensing restrictions,

differential taxes, stamp duties, should be simplified and put

in proper place so that it would not hinder growth of retail

sector.

5. Proper Tax Structure: The current multipoint taxation

should be rationalized. The government should introduce a

uniform taxation system across the country to relax the law

that hinders interstate flows of goods.

6. Establishment of national commission on retail: the

national commission on retail must be established. The

functions should be:

To set clear target for giant retailers for procurement.

Enforce uniform quality standards.

Setup a regulatory body for the governing the operations

of retail sector.



References:

1. Puneeet Shweta (2008) - Technology The Heart of

Organized Retail - Marketing Mastermind, May, p.p. 45-48.

2. Kishore Biyani (2007) - It Happened in India: The Story of

Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central and the Great Indian

Consumer - Rupa Publication, Mumbai.

3. Interview: Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group -

http://www.bestmediainfo.com

4. Kumar, V., (2010) - Promotional Strategy of Big Bazaar &

Maintaining the image in Retailing. [Online] -

http://www.skylinecollege.com

5. Gupta, N., (2010) - Big Bazaar Maha Bachat -

http://www.indiasummary.com

6. Pandey Sanjay and Henry Amit Stieve (2013) - A study on

customer relationship management (CRM) with reference to

Big Bazaar in Bilaspur City - International Journal of

Management, IT and Engineering, Volume 3, Issue 8

7. Sujith Potu (2010) - Impact Of Visual Merchandising On

Sales At Big Bazaar, Hubli - SCMS Campus, Prathap Nagar,

Muttom, Aluva, Cochin

8. Chetan Bajaj et al (2008) - Retail Management -

Oxford Publishers, New Delhi.

9. Sunder K Shyama & Ramji (2000) – Coming Closer to the

Customer - Indian Management, December. p.p. 49-51.

10. Banerjee Arindam (2002) - Roadmap for Successful CRM

Implementation - Indian Management, July, p.p. 48-52.

http://www.bestmediainfo.com

http://www.skylinecollege.com

http://www.indiasummary.com

chapter no. 05: big bazaar: innovative retail marketing...

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