Pantaloon Retail (India) - Careergyaan.org

Institute Of Business Studies & Research Pune (Satish P.Goyal) Page 1

1. I�TRODUCTIO� 

Retailing consists of the business activities involved in selling goods and services to 

consumers for their personal, family, or household use. It includes every sales of goods and 

services to the final consumer. 

Retailing as an industry 

Retailing is world's largest private industry with annual sales over $ 6600 billion. Wal-Mart 

annual sales over $ 250 billion. It has share of 2.3% of U.S. G.D.P. There are nine retailers in 

Fortune 100, which highlights the importance of retailing as category. 

According to a market estimate after agriculture, retail is the largest single sector, both in term 

of turnover or will as employment in India. With market size of $200 billion. The report said 

the Indian retail industry is in revolution phase. 

Organized retailing in India, which account for less than 4%, is likely to grow four fold in the 

next five years. That means it will grow from current size of around $4 billion (Rs. 17,000 

Crore) to around $15 billion (Rs. 66000 Crore) the neighborhoods corner shops estimated at 

70 million across the country, and village Mela’s characterize the unorganized and 

fragmented nature of retailing in India. 


1) K. Raheja Group 

� Shopper’s stop 

� Home Stop 

� Mother care 

� Hyper city 

� Crossword 

� Planet M 

2) Tata Trent 

� Westside 

� Star India Bazaar 

� Landmark 

3) RPG Group 

� Spencer’s supermarket 

� Spencer’s daily 

� Spencer’s hypermarket 

� Music world 

4) Reliance Group 

� Reliance fresh 

� Subhiksha 

5) Bharti Group 

6) Aditya Birla Group 

7) Café Coffee Day 

8) Pantaloon retail (I) Pvt. Ltd 

� Pantaloons 

� Big bazaar 

� Food bazaar 

� Fashion station 

� All 

� Blue sky 

� E Zone 

� Collection I 

� Home Town 

� Central Mall 

9) Godrej Group 

� Godrej Aadhar 

� Nature’s Basket 

RETAILERS I� I�DIA 


TABLE 1.1 : TOP 20 RETAILERS WORLD WIDE 

Retailers Sales (US$) 

1 Wal-mart Stores, Inc 163,532 

2 Carrefour group 52,196.10 

3 The Kroger Co 45,352 

4 Metro A G 44,163 

5 The Home depot INC 38,434 

6 Albertsons inc 37,478 

7 ITM Enterprise SA 36,762 

8 sears, Roebuck and co. 36,728 

9 Kmart Corporation 35,925 

10 Target Corporation 33,702 

11 J.C. penny Company, Inc. 31,503 

12 Royal A hold 31,222 

13 Safeway Inc 30,801 

14 Rewe-Gruppe 30,578 

15 Tesco PLC 30,404 

16 Ito-Yokado Co., Ltd. 30,237 

17 Edeka-Gruppe 30,002 

18 Costco Companies, Inc 26,976 

19 Tengelmann 

warenhandelsgesellschaft 

26,509 

20 The daiei, Inc 26,486 


RETAIL I� I�DIA 

The retail industry in India is largely unorganized & predominantly consists of small , independent, 

owner-managed shops. Retailing is INDIA’s largest industry in terms of contribution to GDP 

& constitutes 13% of GDP. There are around 5 million retail outlets in India. There are also 

an uncounted number of low cost kiosks (tea stalls, snacks centre, barber shops, etc) & mobile 

vendors. Total retail sales area in India was estimated at 328 million sq.mt.in 2001, with an 

average selling space of 29.4sq.mt. per outlet. In India the per capita retailing space is about 2 

sq. ft, which is quite low compared to that of developed economies. 

In 2000, the global management consultancy AT Kearney put retail trade at 400,000 crore , which is 

expected to increase to Rs.800,000 crore by year 2005 – an annual increase of 20%. 

According to the survey, an overwhelming proportion of the Rs.400,000 crore retail market is 

unorganized. In fact only a Rs20,000 crore segment of market is organized. There is no 

integrated supply chain management outlook in Indian traditional retail industry. 

Food sales constitute a high proportion of the total retail sales. The share was 62.7% in 2001,worth 

apprx. Rs 7032.2 billion, while non food sales were worth Rs.4189.5 billion. However the 

non-food retailing sector registered faster year-on-year growth than the food sales sector. The 

trend to market private labels by specific retail store is catching on in India as it helps to 

improve margins. The turnover from private labels by major retail chains was estimated at 

around Rs 1200 million in 2001. 

CURRE�T SCE�ARIO OF I�DIA� RETAIL: 

� Unorganized market; Rs. 583,000 crores. 

� Organized market; Rs. 5,000 crores. 

� 5 x growths in organized retailing between 2000-2005. 

� Over 4000 new modern outlets in last 3 years. 

� Over 5,000,000 sq. ft. of mall space under development. 


� The top 3 modern retailers control over 750,000 sq.ft of retail space. 

� Over 400,000 shoppers walk through their doors every week. 

� Growth in organized retailing on par with expectations and projection of the last 5 years: on 

course to touch Rs. 35,000 crore or more by 2005-06. 

TABLE1. 2: GROWTH I� RETAIL OUTLETS (MILLIO�S): 

Year Urban Rural Total 

1978 0.58 1.76 2.35 

1984 0.75 2.02 2.77 

1990 0.94 2.42 3.36 

1996 1.80 3.33 5.13 

Source: www.indiainfoline.com 

TABLE 1.3: COMPOSITIO� OF URBA� OUTLETS: 

Retail outlet Composition 

Grocers 34.7% 

Cosmetic stores 4.0% 

Chemist 6.3% 

Food stores 6.6% 

General stores 14.4% 

Tobacco, pan stores 17.0% 

Others 17.0% 


TABLE 1.4: COMPOSITIO� OF RURAL OUTLETS: 

Retail outlet Composition 

Grocers 55.6% 

General stores 13.5% 

Chemists 3.3% 

Others 27.6% 



Retailing in India 

� Diversities differentiates itself from the standard development of modern retail anywhere in 

the world. 

� Conventionally, retailers focus on homogeneity and continuity in order to derive benefits of 

scale and efficiency in their system. 

� Globally, retailers develop two or three major formats which are largely standardized, may 

not work in India. 

� Significantly large, truly pan-Indian, multi-format modern retailing model needs to be 

developed in India. 

� The Indian market will provide the footsteps to develop a model for globalizing retailing. 

� This will be the biggest contribution of Indian retailers to the world. 

� Indian retailers can establish ‘thought leadership’ is in the field of technology. 

� Unlike in developed countries, Indian retailers do not have ‘legacy systems’ on which they 

have to build their technology platform. 

� As retail grows and develops fresh technology-led solutions, India will take a leap and the 

next generation retail technology solutions may well come out of India. 

� Usage of RFID and the next practices in technology-based retail solutions may well emerge 

from Indian retailing. 

� Indian retailers would do well to develop their own systems and benchmarks that are admired 

and followed the world over. 

�ext 3-5 years are tough for retail biggies 

� The retail sector is expected to grow 40% to $427 billion by 2011. 

� By 2017, organized retail will be 15-20% of the total retail market. 

� Total retail market $ 800-billion by 2017. 

� Impact on rural incomes and urban prices will be real and positive. 


� Organized retailing in India will need painstaking, often frustrating, effort to chisel out India- 

ready business models, retail formats and delivery models. 

� Products, Properties, People and Profitability are going to be huge challenges. 

� The real estate prices and shortage of talented staff, the run-up expenses for growth are going 

to shoot up sharply. 

� Significant delay in completion of shopping malls by developers and unreasonably high 

property prices is adversely affecting the growth of the sector. 

� The situation is expected to improve in 2009, when a large, and probably an oversupply of 

retail space is expected to come on-stream. 

By the year 2010, it is expected that there will be around 500 shopping malls, adding over 250 

million square feet of retail space. 

� Its' just the first phase of retail playing out in India currently, where lot of players are merely 

'land-grabbing'. 

� In second phase the focus will be on creating differentiation. And in a couple of years, half of 

the new entrants of today will simply die. 

� In 2008, the competitive landscape is also expected to unfold with many large entrants finally 

launching their operations. 

� Understanding, interpreting and catering to Indian consumer behavior, taking into account the 

social diversity in the country will be crucial to the success of new players. 

� New formats in specialty retail, wholesale retail and luxury retail are expected to emerge. 

� The next few years will provide the answers to the most crucial questions on the sustainability 

of modern retailing in India. 

� Whether the Indian consumer market can sustain such large growth in modern retail, whether 

more and more people will join the consuming class and what the real market size in small 

cities will be, become clearer. 

� By 2010 a conclusion on the consumption potential in India can be reached. 

� No one can stop the growth of modern retail and the consequent impetus to consumption and 

development in India. 

� “�o one can stop an idea whose time has come” - Victor Hugo. 


TABLE 1.5: 

Where is the opportunity? 

Organised retail market in India (Rs crore) 

Retailers inspired by the Wal-Mart story of growth in small town America are tempted to focus on 

smaller towns and villages in India. However, a careful analysis of the town strata-wise population, 

population growth, migration trends and consumer spend analysis reveals a very different picture for 

India. 

As per our estimates, the share of the 35 towns with a present population of greater than 1 million in 

India's total population would grow much faster than their smaller counterparts, from 10.2 per cent 

today to reach 14.4 per cent by 2025. Simultaneously, the share of these towns in the overall retail 

market would grow from 21 per cent today to 40 per cent by 2025. 

Within these top 35 towns, an estimated 70 to 80 per cent of retail trade could be in the organised 

sector. This is similar to the experience in China, where in cities like Shanghai and Beijing, the 

organised sector accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of overall retail trade in certain categories. Retailers 

should therefore focus on the top 37 towns in the next decade, as the opportunity in smaller towns and 


ural India would be smaller and more fragmented, compared to the larger towns. 

TABLE 1.6: Organised retail market in India 


PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: 

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: 

1. Study about the LOYALTY schemes run by the mall. 

2. Study the customer approach towards the mall. 

3. Study about the floor operations in a shopping mall. 

4. Comparative analysis of all retailers in this section to differentiate with other competitors. 

SECO�DARY OBJECTIVE: 

1. Understand the customer behavior inside the mall. 

2. Customers expectation from the mall. 

3. Gather all the information about all the competitors. 

4. All details about the loyalty scheme in retail sector. 

5. To make suggestion towards the improvement in loyalty schemes. 

6. To make suggestion towards STORE PATRONAGE. 


1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 

I�TRODUCTIO�: 

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve research problem. In it we study the 

various steps that are generally adopted by researcher in studying his research problem along with the 

logic behind them. It is necessary for a researcher to know not only the research methods/techniques 

but also the methodology. It may be noted, in the context of planning & development, that the 

significance of research lies in its quality and not in quantity. Researchers should know how to apply 

particular research techniques, but they also need to know which of these methods or techniques, are 

relevant and which are not, and what would they mean and indicate and why. 


diagram: 

Fig 1.1 

There are various stages to solve the research problem as shown in following 

DATA COLLECTIO�: 

Research Problem 

Rational/ Scope of 

Study 

Research Design 

• Research 

Methodology 

• Type of research 

Sampling Design 

• Technique of 

sampling 

• Sample Population 

• Sample Frame 

• Sample unit 

• Sample Size 

Data Collection 

• Primary Data 

• Secondary Data 

PRIMARY SOURCE: The method of data collection is done by the way of survey; this is 

a process where by first hand information is collected. This method is needed for meeting the specific 

objective of research study. I have collected primary data in the form of filled structured 

questionnaire by customers. In first questionnaire I collect whole data about customer’s feedback 

about LOYALTY CARD. In second I collect all the data regarding to comparative analysis. 


SECONDARY SOURCE: The secondary data was collected in the form of company 

profile and product profile from the Web Site of PANTALOONS. Some other Web Sites were also 

referred. For collecting the required data the CSA’S of the mall were also consulted. The data has 

helped in ascertaining the strategies and approaches of major players in market. Thus the study 

involved collection, analysis and interpretation of a lot of data relating to this sector. The data is 

collected from various sites, books, journals, etc. 

SAMPLE DESCRIPTION: 

After deciding on the research approach and instruments, the marketing research must design the 

sampling plan: 

1. SAMPLI�G SIZE: The target for this the customers who come for shopping inside the 

mall. Sample size of the study is 200 customer’s who come for shopping inside the mall. 

2. SAMPLE SELECTIO� PROCEDURE: Since it is the survey of customer, to obtain an 

unbiased result the customers sample from the population were interviewed randomly. So the 

sampling technique chosen for the research is Random sample technique. Every customer 

inside the mall had an equal chance of being interviewed. 

3. SAMPLE U�IT: The customer who come for shopping inside the mall is the sample unit. 

4. CO�TACT METHOD: Personal approach to each and every customer for all surveys and 

interviews were the Contact method used for obtaining a proper and detailed feedback. A face-to- 

face Interaction took place with each sample representative. 

The data collected through questionnaire was properly classified and 

tabulated in the form of a report. These reports formed the basis for the comparative analysis and 

drawing inferences there from. From the inferences drawn certain conclusions and recommendations 

were made. 

5. FIELD WORK: 

The fieldwork was conducted for a period of 15 days for both the research. Interviews were 

conducted inside the mall by face – face interviewing. 



2.1 REVIEW OF CO�CEPT A�D THEORIES: 

FIRSTLY WE DISCUSS ABOUT WHAT IS CUSTOMER LOYALTY? 

SHETH & MITTAL have defined customer loyalty as “ a customer’s commitment to a brand , store 

or supplier based on a strong favourable attitude & manifested in consistent re-patronage .” 

Fig 2.1 

Strong 

Weak 

Strong Behavior weak 

The above given definition of customer loyalty includes both behavior & 

attitude, which can result in four possible situations as shown in above fig. 

When both attitude & behavior are weak , it means no loyalty exists , weak attitude indicates the 

customer may not have any liking for the brand & the store. While weak behavior means that the 

purchase of the brand or visiting the store is sporadic. When the attitude & behavior are strong , it 

means that the customer has a strong brand or store loyalty. The remaining two situation cases are 

interesting. 

ATTITUDE 

When behavior is high but attitude is low, it can be said that the customer has spurious loyalty, i.e 

the customer may buy the same brand again & again or shop at same store regularly but may not have 


a preferential attitude towards it. Very often in such instance the choice of the brand or store may due 

to convenient location or the customer loyalty is incidental & not yet well founded, he or she may 

easily switch brands change stores if given more choice or interesting price deals. Thus the retailers or 

marketers would have to make efforts at strengthening the customer’s perception of the brand’s or 

store’s image. 

In the quadrant with strong attitude & weak behavior, the customer can be said to be having latent 

loyalty. The customer likes the brand or store but is unable to buy or visit the same probably because 

the price is too high or he or she lacks accessibility to the brand or the store. Thus in such instances , 

the retailers or marketers needs to reduce whatsoever barriers & tap the hidden potential of the 

market. 

Retailers are beginning to focus their attention on encouraging customers to visit outlets, treating 

them to attractive promotions, thus adding more value to their best customers & satisfying them in the 

process. For to the retailers, customer loyalty will indicate that customer are committed to purchasing 

merchandise & services from them & will resist the activities of competitors attempting to attract their 

patronage. 

The term customer loyalty is used to describe the behavior of repeat customers, as well as 

those that offer good ratings, reviews, or testimonials. Some customers do a particular company a 

great service by offering favorable word of mouth publicity regarding a product, telling friends and 

family, thus adding them to the number of loyal customers. However, customer loyalty includes much 

more. It is a process, a program, or a group of programs geared toward keeping a client happy so he or 

she will provide more business. 

Customer loyalty can be achieved in some cases by offering a quality product with a firm guarantee. 

Customer loyalty is also achieved through free offers, coupons, low interest rates on financing, high 

value trade-ins, extended warranties, rebates, and other rewards and incentive programs. The ultimate 

goal of customer loyalty programs is happy customers who will return to purchase again and persuade 


others to use that company's products or services. This equates to profitability, as well as happy 

stakeholders. 

Customer loyalty may be a one-time program or incentive, or an ongoing group of programs to 

entice consumers. Buy-one-get-one-free programs are very popular, as are purchases that come with 

rebates or free gifts. Another good incentive for achieving customer loyalty is offering a risk free trial 

period for a product or service. Also known as brand name loyalty, these types of incentives are 

meant to ensure that customers will return, not only to buy the same product again and again, but also 

to try other products or services offered by the company. 

Excellent customer service is another key element in gaining customer loyalty. If a client has a 

problem, the company should do whatever it takes to make things right. If a product is faulty, it 

should be replaced or the customer's money should be refunded. This should be standard procedure 

for any reputable business, but those who wish to develop customer loyalty on a large-scale basis may 

also go above and beyond the standard. They may offer even more by way of free gifts or discounts to 

appease the customer. 

Some of the common bases for attracting customers are having dedicated employees, variety, 

unique merchandise & superior customer service. But the challenge for the retailer is to have a loyal 

database of customer, who will be unwilling to switch their loyalty. The strategies are built after: 

1. Developing a clear & specific positioning strategies. 

2. Making customer develop an emotional attachment with the retailer’s product offerings. 


Ten Tips to Build Customer Loyalty 

The key to a successful business is a steady customer base. After all, successful businesses typically see 

80 percent of their business come from 20 percent of their customers. Too many businesses neglect this 

loyal customer base in pursuit of new customers. However, since the cost to attract new customers is 

significantly more than to maintain your relationship with existing ones, your efforts toward building 

customer loyalty will certainly payoff. 

Here are ten ways to build customer loyalty: 

1. Communicate. Whether it is an email newsletter, monthly flier, a reminder card for a tune up, 

or a holiday greeting card, reach out to your steady customers. 

2. Customer Service. Go the extra distance and meet customer needs. Train the staff to do the 

same. Customers remember being treated well. 

3. Employee Loyalty. Loyalty works from the top down. If you are loyal to your employees, they 

will feel positively about their jobs and pass that loyalty along to your customers. 

4. Employee Training. Train employees in the manner that you want them to interact with 

customers. Empower employees to make decisions that benefit the customer. 

5. Customer Incentives. Give customers a reason to return to your business. For instance, because 

children outgrow shoes quickly, the owner of a children?s shoe store might offer a card that makes 

the tenth pair of shoes half price. Likewise, a dentist may give a free cleaning to anyone who has 

seen him regularly for five years. 

6. Product Awareness. Know what your steady patrons purchase and keep these items in stock. 

Add other products and/or services that accompany or compliment the products that your regular 

customers buy regularly. And make sure that your staff understands everything they can about your 

products. Read Know Product Basics for more. 


7. Reliability. If you say a purchase will arrive on Wednesday, deliver it on Wednesday. Be 

reliable. If something goes wrong, let customers know immediately and compensate them for their 

inconvenience. 

8. Be Flexible. Try to solve customer problems or complaints to the best of your ability. Excuses ? 

such as "That's our policy" ? will lose more customers then setting the store on fire. Read our 60- 

Second Guide to Managing Upset Customers for more information. 

9. People over Technology. The harder it is for a customer to speak to a human being when he or 

she has a problem, the less likely it is that you will see that customer again. 

10. Know Their �ames. Remember the theme song to the television show Cheers? Get to know the 

names of regular customers or at least recognize their faces. 

Building loyalty through advocating certain essential factors: 

Customers are constantly changing & their expectations also rising. Consumer behavior in the 

organised retail industry has altered drastically in the last few years. The retail market is growing not 

only in terms of nos. but also in terms of stature, image & class. Alongside with Indians becoming 

world class service. So it becomes vital for retailers to pay attention to every little detail in order to be 

successful. This can be done by providing a good brand & store experience. For this in general the 

retailer will have to look into various aspects such as: 

Timing of the store 

In store design & layout 

Welcome the customer receives 

The ability to browse easily 

The behavior & product knowledge possessed by sales persons 

The facility for making payments 

The attractiveness of the loyalty programs 

The packaging & The exit. 

All these above aspects are really very important for the customer to experience delightful 

shopping experience in the mall. If not handled well, it could result in a disgruntled consumer , 

who will spread a bad word-of-mouth. On the contrary, if the overall brand & store experience is 


positive & pleasant , the retailer may gain a flow of customer who would likely to patronize the 

outlet again & again. Further it is also likely that the popularity of the store increases through 

word of mouth. 

How to improve CUSTOMER LOYALTY in organization? 

Strong customer service is the bedrock for creating loyal customers. Make it a priority by properly 

training your staff and continually reinforcing the message that the customer comes first. You can also 

let your customers know that you value their business by reaching out to them through newsletters, 

postcards, and e-mail, so they're aware of seasonal sales and special products. Install a strategy for 

responding to customer inquiries and complaints and create a fair, flexible return policy. Finally, once 

you've developed a rapport with loyal customers, you can reward them with special discounts on 

products or services. 

Loyalties schemes are different for different organizations. Basically loyalty schemes are there 

for the existing customers or for coming customers for their benefits. 

In the study carried out by A .C.�IELSO� company of BRITISH super market shoppers on the 

basis of their attitude towards price & promotions, five groups of customers were identified: 

BRA�DED EVERY DAY LOW PRICI�G (ELDP) SEEKERS (19%) : These customers 

were strapped for cash due to limited income, so they shop around to get the best price on 

their favorite brands, generally seeking ELDP instead of promotions which may require them 

to alter their buying patterns i.e. they go for bulk purchases. Such customers are low on store 

loyalty but high on brand loyalty. 

LOW- PRICE FIXTURES FERRETS (23%): These customers are young families with 

strained financial expenses due to growing expenses due to growing expenses like mortgage 


etc. they are very budget conscious ,though dislike bulk purchases, they seek price deals & 

use coupons .They respond well to store loyalty schemes but tend to switch brands although 

they may spend a lot on store brands. 

PROMOTIO� JU�KIES(18.4%): These customers will do anything to get the lowest 

shopping bill – they find a thrill in finding bargain sale & take pride in telling others where 

such sales take place. They may switch between rational & store brands, having loyalty 

neither for the brands. Thus retailers & marketers will not earn any long-term gain from such 

customers. 

STOCKPILERS (21%): These customers are affluent & are unconcerned about the size of 

their bill. They select stores based on the location , product assortment. & product quality 

rather than price or promotions. They may take advantage of the promotions on their favorite 

brands, happily buying in bulk to stockpile & save money, although they may not switch 

brands. They can easily be the retailers delight since they may be loyal to both brands & 

stores. 

PROMOTIO�ALLY OBLIVIOUS (18.3%): This group is basically driven by habit, 

settled on brands & stores & not interested in exploring better deals. They may occasionally 

indulge in soft deals such as free items or coupons but dislike aggressive promotions & deals. 

So they reliable to a certain extent. 


FACTORS ESSE�TIAL FOR BUILDI�G STORE LOYALTY 

A. Make shopping a delightful 

experience. 

B. offer spice of variety under 

a single roof. 

C. understand customer needs & 

provide a mutually beneficial customer 

service. 

E. customer complaint handling & +ve attitude 

F. build customer loyalty through adopting 

multi channel retailing. 

D. provide physical appeal 

Leading to store brand loyalty 

L 

O 

Y 

A 

L 

T 

Y 

G. adopt innovative or unique 

concept to please the customer. 

Fig 2.2 FACTOR FOR BUILDING LOYALTY 

E 

S 

S 

E 

N 

T 

I 

A 

L 

S 

F 

O 

R 

B 

U 

I 

L 

D 

I 

N 

G 


THIS IS ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN RETAIL SECTOR. 

In CE�TRAL for loyalty scheme there is a card named “FUTURE CARD”. This card we 

called it as a credit card which is powered by ICICI CREDIT card. The customer can collect 

it from any ICICI bank branch or from any PANTALOON’S outlets. Its available all over. 

This future card can be applicable in any store or mall comes under FUTURE GROUP. 

Anyone whose monthly income is above min.5000 can be a part of this loyalty card. 

Aaj se 

Kharchey 

ban gaye 

kamai ! 

This is the slogan of the future card. 

Apart from this CENTRAL’s goes with various loyalty services such as FREE redeem of 

parking coupons, free alteration to all customers, sometimes free home delivery to customers 

etc. this is the loyalty scheme run by CENTRAL. 

this card in various outlets run by FUTURE GROUP! 

The main benefit beyond this future card is you can use 

Apart from this as we talk about other player in retail sector SHOPPERS having FIRST 

CITIZEN card. INDIA BULL MEGA STORE having PPC(pyramid power club) which goes 

with loyalty card. 


Before FUTURE CARD there were CENTRAL CARD which is only applicable for 

CENTRAL’S purpose. It is a loyalty card for CENTRAL’S customers. Following are some 

details about CENTRAL’s card. 

Exclusive Benefits 

• Get 0% EMI option for purchases more than Rs. 3,000/- at Central. 

• Get free gift voucher of Central worth Rs. 250/- with the offer booklet. 

• Earn 4 reward points for every Rs.100/- spent at Central. Also earn 1 reward point for every 

Rs. 200/- spent at merchant establishments other than Central. 

• Priority Payment Counters at Central for cardholder to save valuable time. 

• Cardholder gets priority to view the product launches and seasonal collections at Central. 

• Upto 10% discount to all cardholders restaurants within Central, on bills of Rs. 250/- and 

above. 

• Get 12 free coffee vouchers on approval of card. 

• The Cardholder will get access to select airport lounges across the country with 

complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. 

• All the benefits of Solid Gold Card. 

These were all the benefits provides by CENTRAL’S card. 

After that PANTALOONS introduces FUTURE CARD for all its stores. 

Future card is powered by ICICI BANK (CREDIT CARDS). Future card is like a retail credit 

card. Lots of offers & gifts are there on the FUTURE CARD. 


BRA�DS GIFTS & OFFERS 

BIG BAZAAR 1 st 3 months 15% off on fashion 

1 st 3 months 10% off on general 

Merchandize. 

FOOD BAZAAR 

Pantaloons 

1 KG Food bazaar sugar free 

1 st 3 months 3% off on foods. 

Rs.100 off on apparel purchase of 

Rs. 500 or get a T-shirt worth Rs. 299 on 

apparel purchase of Rs. 1000 

Central Rs. 50 off on Rs.1000 & above 

purchase. 

For 1 st 3 months Rs. 250 off on 

Rs. 2500 & above purchase. 

BRAND FACTORY Rs. 50 off on Rs. 1000 & above 

purchase. 

For 1 st 3 months Rs. 250 off on 

Rs.2500 & above purchase. 

DEPOT Rs .50 book free from exclusive 

depot collection per month. 

Shoe Shoe polish/socks FREE on Rs. 

100 per month. 

Mport/genm Airtel live VAS cards ( worth Rs. 

500 content FREE) 

Planet sports Rs. 249 Spalding/Converse cap 

FREE on purchase of Rs.111 & above per 

month. 

F123/CO 1 video game FREE per month 

with load of min. Rs. 50 

TOP 10 Rs. 200 off on Rs. 1000 & above 

purchase. 

Home Town Gift worth Rs.250 for every Rs. 

1000 & above spent per month. 

Get gift worth 7.5% of purchase 

above Rs. 10,000 at HOME TOWN. 

STAR & SITARA 1 time foot massage FREE per 

month. 

eZONE A head phone worth Rs. 199 with 

purchase through FUTURE CARD at eZONE. 

Futurebazaar.com A Future card & futurebazaar.com 

MUG worth Rs.50 on 1 st purchase every 

month. 

Bombay blue 10%-15% off on total bill amount. 

COPPER CHIMNEY 10%-15% off on total bill amount 

YATRA 10%-15% off on total bill amount 


PENNE 10%-15% off on total bill amount 

SPAGHETTI 10%-15% off on total bill amount 

The Apollo Clinic For 1 st 3 months 50% discount on a 

range of special FUTURE CARD & Apollo 

health checkups. 

15% off on health check up. 

20% off on diagnostics checkups. 

HP Get 2.5% surcharge waiver on fuel 

purchases at select HPCL outlets. 

Lilliput 10% discount for Future card 

holders on all Lilliput apparels & accessories. 

15% discount on all Lilliput 

footwear. 

VLCC Inaugural offer: 1 face / body 

firming session plus counseling worth Rs. 2000 

FREE. 

Regular offer: slimming/beauty/hair 

package 30% flat discount. 

Regular offer: beauty services -30% 

flat discount. 

Regular offer: 15% off on 

RBS(salon services) 

Travel Port 15% off on Domestic packages 

10% off on Weekend breaks. 

12.5% off on INTERNATIONAL 

packages. 

Table 2.1 list of brands in FUTURE CARD 

These are all details about FUTURE CARD. These are all offers which are provided by 

FUTURE CARD. This is first time in INDIA that any company providing such type of 

LOYALTY CARD which any 1 can use in number of brands. 

This type of card really change the mind of customer towards the LOYALTY. 


2.2 REVIEW OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH & FI�DI�G 

FOLLOWING RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE BY : 

Grahame R. Dowling 

Australian Graduate School of Management 

University of New South Wales 

& 

Mark Uncles 

School of Marketing 

University of New South Wales 

Sydney 2052 

Australia. 

Abstract 

In a bid to strengthen relationships with their customers marketers are showing renewed interest in 

customer loyalty programs. But how effective are these programs? Surprisingly—given their current 

popularity—the evidence is equivocal. Research on “normal” patterns of loyalty in established 

competitive markets suggests that in many cases it is hard to obtain exceptional advantages through 

the launch of a loyalty program. Also, competitive forces tend quickly to erode any differential gains. 

Before introducing a loyalty program, managers would be wise to fully cost it (including 

development, marketing and on-going costs), and compare these costs with a realistic assessment of 

the benefits of the program—an assessment that goes beyond the rhetoric of relationship marketing. 

Here we argue that to stand the best chance of success under tough market conditions, a loyalty 

program must enhance the overall value-proposition of the product or service. This in turn will help 

to motivate buyers to make the next purchase of a product, and therefore support other aspects of the 

firm’s offensive and defensive marketing strategy. 


The Claimed Benefits of Loyalty Programs 

Advocates contend that loyalty programs are more profitable to a firm because: 

(a) The costs of serving customers are less, 

(b) Loyal customers are less price sensitive, 

(c) They spend more with the company, and 

(d) They pass on positive recommendations about their favorite brands/suppliers. 

� J.�. SHETH & B. MITTAL IN “CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR” Thomson South Western 

learning,2003 give definition of CUSTOMER LOYALTY as given below: 

SHETH & MITTAL have defined customer loyalty as “ a customer’s commitment to a brand , 

store or supplier based on a strong favourable attitude & manifested in consistent re-patronage .” 

� REY�OLDS,DARDE� & MARTI�, 1975 come with the new study that “a sample of older , 

lower income group & less educated women were willing to shop in the same store & avoid 

the risk of shopping in the new stores.” 

� ARIEH GOLDMA�,(1977-78) in his study said that, “store loyal consumer to be engaged in 

less repurchase search , know about fewer stores & less likely to shop even in stores known to 

them.” He also found that “the shopping behavior or style to more likely exist among low 

income consumers because they were constrained by their inability to shop much.” 

� J.F. DASH , L.G. SCHIFFMA� & CO�RAD BERE�SO� , 1976 they came with the 

study that “store loyal consumers found more risk in shopping & hence felt being store loyal 

would reduce the risk of shopping in unknown stores.” 

� YA�KELOVICH , SKELLY AD WHITE , 1982 they found that “more no. of single parent 

household also limited the amount of time available for shopping & the additional cost of 

being store loyal was worth the time saved.” 


� Rosalind McMullan, Audrey Gilmore 

Abstract: 

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on establishing individuals' levels of loyalty 

and what sustains and develops their customer loyalty. This paper recognizes the importance 

customer loyalty has for many competitive organizations and industries. However there has 

been less focus on what value customer’s attach to customer loyalty in this context. 

Design/methodology/approach – A two-stage study is presented, establishing individual 

levels of loyalty and then identifying the role of mediating effects in loyalty development. 

The first stage involved a postal survey, including a 28-item scale, designed to measure 

customer loyalty, and its sustainers and vulnerabilities (mediating effects). The second stage, 

and the main focus of this paper, uses scores from the loyalty scale (high, medium and low 

levels of loyalty) to examine what sustains and develops loyalty amongst differing levels of 

development. 

Findings – The findings highlight the importance of identifying, understanding and managing 

mediating effects, in the context of loyalty development. The research emphasizes the 

importance of a differentiated approach to developing and managing customer loyalty by 

appropriately rewarding customers at different levels. The findings highlight the need to 

acknowledge the importance of reciprocity in terms of which aspects of service customers 

value. 

Originality/value – The main contribution of this paper is that it uniquely identifies an 

approach to understanding the sustaining and vulnerability effects mediating customer loyalty 

development going beyond previous categorization attempts. Understanding this approach 

should lead to effective customer loyalty management and greater awareness of managing 

recognition, reciprocity and rewards. 



About Future Group 

Future Group is one of the country’s leading business groups present in retail, asset 

management, consumer finance, insurance, retail media, retail spaces and logistics. The group’s 

flagship company, Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited operates over 6 million square feet through 450 

stores in 45 cities. Some of its leading retail formats include, Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central, Food 

Bazaar, Home Town, eZone, Depot, Future Money and online retail format, futurebazaar.com. 

Future Group companies includes, Future Capital Holdings, Future Generali India, Indus League 

Clothing and Galaxy Entertainment that manages Sports Bar, Brew Bar and Bowling Co. Future 

Capital Holdings, the group’s financial arm, focuses on asset management and consumer credit. 

It manages assets worth over $1 billion that are being invested in developing retail real estate and 

consumer-related brands and hotels. 

The group’s joint venture partners include Italian insurance major, Generali, French retailer 

ETAM group, US-based stationary products retailer Staples Inc, UK-based Lee Cooper and India- 

based Talwalkar’s, Blue Foods and Liberty Shoes. 

Future Group’s vision is to, “Deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time to Every Indian 

Consumer in the most profitable manner.” The group considers ‘Indian-ness’ as a core value and its 

corporate credo is - Rewrite rules, Retain values. 


Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited 

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is India’s leading retailer that operates multiple retail formats in 

both the value and lifestyle segment of the Indian consumer market. Headquartered in Mumbai 

(Bombay), the company operates over 7 million square feet of retail space, has over 1000 stores 

across 53 cities in India and employs over 25,000 people. 

The company’s leading formats include Pantaloons, a chain of fashion outlets, Big Bazaar, a 

uniquely Indian hypermarket chain, Food Bazaar, a supermarket chain, blends the look, touch and 

feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern retail like choice, convenience and quality and 

Central, a chain of seamless destination malls. Some of its other formats include, Depot, Shoe 

Factory, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, Fashion Station, ALL, Top 10, mBazaar and Star and Sitara. The 

company also operates an online portal, futurebazaar.com. 

A subsidiary company, Home Solutions Retail (India) Limited, operates Home Town, a large-format 

home solutions store, Collection i, selling home furniture products and E-Zone focused on catering to 

the consumer electronics segment. 


I�TER�ATIO�AL & �ATIO�AL AWARDS 

Pantaloon Retail was recently awarded as: 

1. International Retailer of the Year 2007 by the 

US-based �ational Retail Federation (�RF) and 

2. The Emerging Market Retailer of the 

Year 2007 at the World Retail Congress held in Barcelona. 

3. Best of the BEST RETAILER 2006 & 2007, by ASIA PACIFIC TOP 500, SI�GAPORE. 

4. Business Leadership Award in retail by �DTV, 

5. Readers Digest Trusted Brands Platinum Award. 

6. C�BC AWAZ most preferred Large Food & grocery Super market. 

7. Hewitt international BEST 15 EMPLOYER in I�DIA. 

Pantaloon Retail is the flagship company of Future Group, a business group catering to 

the entire Indian consumption space. 


Now we are going to discuss about all LINE OF BUSINESS come under PANTALOON’s RETAIL. 

Table 3.1 line of business 

LOB NAME SIZE(PER SQR.FT) FORMAT TYPE 

FASHION PANTALOONS 25,000 LIFESTYLE 

CENTRAL 1,25000 LIFESTYLE 

BIG BAZAR 50,000 VALUE 

FASHION STATION 15000 VALUE 

FOOD FOOD BAZAAR 10000 LIFESTYLE & VALUE 

GM, BOOKS & BIG BAZAAR 50,000 VALUE 

MUSIC DEPOT 1,000 TO 6000 LIFESTYLE & VALUE 

HEALTH ,BEAUTY STAR & SITARA 1,000 TO 2,000 VALUE 

& WELL NESS 

(BEAUTY PRODUCTS) 

STAR & SITARA 

(SALON) 

2,500 

VALUE 

HEALTH VILLAGE 25000 

LIFESTYLE & VALUE 

COMMUNICATION 

GEN M 

M PORT 

M BAZAAR 

500 TO 1,000 

1500 TO 2000 

250 TO 500 

SUBSIDIARY – HOME SOLUTIO� RETAIL(I) LTD. 

Table 3.2 

LIFESTYLE 

LIFESTYLE 

VALUE 

LOB NAME SIZE(PER.SQR.FT) FORMAT TYPE 

ELECTRONIC GOODS 

& CONSUMER APPLIANCES 

FURNITURE,FURNISHINGS 

& ACCENTS 

HOME IMPROVEMENT 

E-ZONE 

ELECTRONIC BAZAAR 

COLLECTION I 

FURNITURE BAZAAR 

12,500 

3,000 TO 6,000 

10,000 

3,000-6000 

LIFESTYLE 

VALUE 

LIFESTYLE 

VALUE 

HOME TOWN 1,25,000 LIFESTYLE & VALUE 


JOI�T VE�TURES: 

Table 3.3 

LOB NAME SIZE(PER.SQR.FT) FORMAT 

RESTAURANT ,LEISURE 

& ENTERTAINMENT 

FOOT WEAR RETAILING 

FOOTMART RETAIL(I)LTD 

FASHION & SPORTS 

WEAR 

KIDS WEAR RETAILING 

HEALTH ,BEAUTY & 

WELLNESS 

AIRPORT(DUTY FREE 

SHOPPING) 

INSURANCE 

REITS & MALL MGMT 

(50:50) J V 

Source: PANTALOON PRESS 

BLUE FOODS(50:50) 

GALAXY 

ENETRTAINMENT 

BOWLING COMPANY 

F123-ARCADE & 

GAMES 

FINE DINING 

RESTAURANT 

(15.73%)STAKE 

30,000 

LIFESTYLE 

7000-20,000 LIFESTYLE 

SPORTS BAR 2,500 LIFESTYLE 

CHAMOSA 100 VALUE 

LIBERTY SHOES (51:49) 

SHOE FACTORY 

PLANET RETAIL(49:51) 

6,000-15,000 VALUE 

LIFE STYLE 

GJ FUTURE FASHIONS 

LTD.(50:50) 

GINI & JONY 1,500-5,000 LIFESTYLE 

MANIPAL HEALTH 

SYSTEMS 

MANIPAL CURE & 

CARE (50:50) 

TAWALKAR’S(50:50) 

ALPHA AIRPORTS 

ALPHA FUTURE(50:50) 

ASSICURAZIONI 

GENERALI (ITALY) 

FUTURE 

GENERALI(58:16:26) 

CAPIA LAND 

RETAIL.LTD 

(SINGAPORE) 

LIFESTYLE & VALUE 


CE�TRAL’S 

Launched in May'04 at Bangalore, Central is a 

showcase, seamless mall and the first of its kind in India. The thought behind this pioneering concept 

was to give customers an unobstructed and a pure shopping experience and to ensure the best brands 

in the Indian market are made available to the discerning Indian customer. 

Central offers everything for the urban aspiration shopper to shop, eat and celebrate. Located in 

the heart of the city, Central believes its customers should not have to travel long distances to reach 

us; instead we must be present where customers frequently visit. 

In a short span of its existence Central has revolutionized and redefined the shopping experience in 

India. At Central, customers no longer only shop, they get SHOP-ATAINED! 

Fig 3.1 central strategy 

Central strategy 


Applying the Retailing concept in Relation to Central 

1. Customer Orientation – central determine the attribute and needs of it's customers. 

2. Coordinated Effort – central integrates all plan and activities to maximize efficiency. All the 

employees make their best service to customer. 

3. Value Driven – central offer good value to customers whether it to be discounter or up sale 

this means having the price appropriate for the level of product and customer service 

4. Goal Orientation - central set goals and then uses a strategy to attain them. central set goal to 

achieve the one hundred crore target in 2008. 

To relate the marketing concept to retailing, with an emphasis on the total retail 

experience customer service, and relationship retailing. The marketing concept (known as retailing 

concept when applied to retail situations) should be understood and used by all the retailers. 

The total retail experience includes all the elements in retail offering that encourage 

consumers during their contact with retailer. Many elements such as number of sale people, displays 

price. The brands carried, and inventory in hand are controllable by a retailer, others like the adequacy 

of on-street parking, the speed of on line shopping and sale taxes are not. If some part of the total 

retail experience is unsatisfactory, consumers may not buy a given good or service. 

The total retail experience of CE�TRAL is very good. There is goods systematic display of 

goods. Synapses indicate price of the goods. Smart sales people, they always maintain eye 

contact with customer. There are good branded item's are available in CENTRAL store. 


Feedback 

Strategic Planning in Retailing 

A retail strategy is overall plan that guide a firm. It consists of situation analysis objectives 

identification of customer market, broad strategy specific activities, control and Feedback. 

Situation Analysis 

Objectives 

Identification 

Overall 

Strategy 

Element of Retail Strategy 

Fig 3.2 retail strategy 

Organisational mission 

Ownership Management alternatives 

Goods/Services Category 

Sales 

Profit 

Satisfaction of Publics 

Image 

Mass Marketing 

Concentrated Marketing 

Differentiated Marketing 

Specific 

activities 

Controllable Variables 

Uncontrollable Variables 

Control 

Daily and Short term Operations 

Responses of environment 

Evaluation 

Adjustment 


Objectives are the retailer's long term and short term goal. A firm may pursue one or more of 

their objectives Sales (growth, Stability and market share) Profit (level, return on investment, 

and efficiency) Satisfaction of public (Stockholders, consumers and others) and image 

pinioning (customer and industry perception) 

Next consumer characteristics and needs are determined and a retailer elects a target market. 

A firm can sell to a broad spectrum of consumers (Mass Marketing) Zero in an one consumer 

group (concentrated Marketing) or aim at two or more distinct group s of consumers 

(differentiated marketing) with repeated retailing approaches for each. 

A broad strategy in then formed. It involve controllable variables (aspects of business a firm 

can directly affect) Uncontrollable variable (factors of a firm cannot control and to which it 

must adapt) 

Controllable Variables Uncontrollable Variables 

1. Store Location 1. Consumers 

2. Managing business 2. Competition 

3. Merchandise management 3. Technology 

and pricing 

4. Communicating with the 4. Economic Condition 

Customer 5. Seasonality 


Central Mall 


Store Location - 

Controllable Variables of “Pune central” 

1. It Cover the customer of shivajinagar, aundh, & north-western part of Pune, which has 

emerged as an IT hub. 

2. Central provides a complete shopping service for a major part of consumer shopping. 

Central also include for certain type of home wares & other thing. 

Managing of Business – 

The record area of strategic planning managing a business into two major element human resources. 

The Retail Management - Management look like promotion, display are very good at central 

there are special promo area for different event. 

Special price policy like Buy 2 gets one Free. 

At the end of week central give special offer in merchandise. 

Merchandise Management and Pricing: 

Product Mix – Central keep all the category of merchandise. Different choices of 

merchandise are in the More is according to their classification. 

Price - Central charge medium& high price but offer wide range of deep assortment. With 

regard to pricing central choose several pricing techniques (such as leading following, cost 

plus/demand oriented and so on) then decide what range of price is set, consistent with the 

More is image and quality of goods and service offered. 

Uncontrollable Variables : 

Consumers - Basically central target upper medium& high class people According to this 

central learns about its target market and from a strategy consistent with consumer trends and 


desire. Selecting a target market is within a retailer's control but the firm cannot sell goods or 

services that are beyond the price range of its customers not wanted, or not displayed or 

advertised I n proper manner. 

Competition - Competition in retail sector increasing in India. Retail industry even organized 

retail is fragmented industry in India. Every region has local competitors (Margin Free in 

Kerala, Subiksha ,Nilgiri in Chennai) Big Bazaar , Reliance and Spencer are close rivals of 

More make a good presence in Maharashtra while R.P.G. make good presence in south India. 

Government has gave the approval F.D.I. in retail sector so it will increase competition n 

retail rector wall Mart J.C Penny, Mark & Spencer could inter in Indian Market. 

Technology - In today's world of retailing technology is advance rapidly. Computer system is 

available for inventory control and check out. Operation. Bar coding has revolutionized 

merchandise handling and inventory control. 

Economic Conditions - Economic condition of India is more better than one decade before. 

Per capita income as increase by 5.2% in this fiscal year. G.D.P. also increase people have more 

disposal income. Unemployment Interest rate, inflation tax levels and the annual gross Domestic 

product (GDP) are Just some economic factors with which a retailer copes and which it cannot change 

In outlining the controllable to consider and adapt to forecast about international, national state and 

local economics. 


WORK DO�E 

� Understanding the Retail operations. 

I did my summer project from Central 2. In Central there are 5 floors and each floor is divided into 

each segment . 

more . 

Ground floor is having all international brands like Lacoste , Tommy Hilfiger , Nautica and many 

First floor is having ladies and kids section and Shoes section . 

Second floor is divided into 2 sections in which 1 section is for all Casuals in which we have 

brands like Lee, Levi’s, Lee Cooper etc. and the another section is for Planet Sports in which all main 

brands are existing like Adidas , Nike , Puma , Converse etc. 

Third Floor is for all Men’s formal dressings like Arrow, Excalibur, Peter England, Urbana,Van 

Hausen, Wills lifestyle etc. and we also have ethnic wears also in which we have Akkriti and 

Manyawar. 

Fourth Floor is for Casual’s wearing and Home Furnishing also in casuals we have brands like 

Provogue, Status quo, M Square, Proline and many more brands. 

Fifth Floor is divided into 2 segments. 1 is for Food court named as “Spoon the food court” and 

another section is for Food bazaar in which you can get all the FMCG goods . 

These are the segments and floors in which central 2 is divided. I did my project basically for 3rd 

floor which is known for FORMAL’S SECTION. 

In each floor there is the Floor Manager, ADM(asst. departmental manager), Team leader, 

CSA’s. all these people working for a floor. 


After my 3 months project in CENTRAL I can say there are 6 PARAMETRES OF RETAIL 

OPERATIONS. These are the parameters which is to be followed and maintained by every 

organization . 

1 STOCK. 

2 STAFF. 

3 CUSTOMER& CUSTOMER SERVICE. 

4 SALES. 

5 VISUAL MARCHE�DISI�G. 

6 MARKETI�G & PROMOTIO�AL EVE�TS. 

STOCK 

Stock is very essential part of operation. We should know about the stock presence on the floor. 

On which brand we have a full option & cut option .so we have to make option plan of the floor 

every Monday. 

We makes stock requirement also of those product which is fast moving & on demand items. 

A manager should also aware about each and every brand requirement and he has to make sure about 

the refilling and replenishment of the stock . The stock has to be refilled accordingly. 

Sometimes some of the items are not moving in brands then we send it back to the vendors or 

sometimes we send it to Brand Factory. 

Profit Maximization- In Retail industry at the end of the day the one thing which matters is 

only one thing that is profit . In central for earning profit we daily distributed the targets for each and 

every brands and these brands have to perform better for the achievement of the their targets . They 

also got there brands targets on monthly , quarterly and yearly bases . For the achievement they do 

hard work and if they succeed in achieving their targets then they get incentives according to their 

contribution. 


Staff 

In Operations Staff plays a important role in achieving the targets . Sales executives are the persons 

which are directly interacted to the customer and they know what the customer actually want. 

Customer can’t meets to the Managers directly. 

So it’s necessary that staff should be well groomed & interactive to the customer. 

We daily check the grooming of staff just like hair cut, clean clothes, etc & their eye contact, body 

language, communication skill etc. 

We should train the staff time to time like: 

• How to communicate with customers? 

• How to increase the selling? 

• How to make the customer to purchase more? 

Customer & customer service 

Customer is most important thing in retail . 

In retail, this idea of focusing on the best current customers should be seen as an on-going 

opportunity. To better understand the rationale behind this theory and to face the challenge, 

we need to break down shoppers into five main types: 

• Loyal Customers: They represent no more than 20% of our customer base, but make up more 

than 50% of our sales. 

• Discount Customers: They shop our stores frequently, but make their decisions based on the 

size of our markdowns. 

• Impulse Customers: They do not have buying a particular item at the top of their “To Do” 

list, but come into the store on a whim. They will purchase what seems good at the time. 


• �eed-Based Customers: They have a specific intention to buy a particular type of item. 

• Wandering Customers: They have no specific need or desire in mind when they come into 

the store. Rather, they want a sense of experience and/or community. 

If we are serious about growing our business, we need to focus our effort on the loyal 

customers, and merchandise our store to leverage the Impulse shoppers. The other three types 

of customers do represent a segment of our business, but they can also cause us to misdirect 

our resources if we put too much emphasis on them. 

We can delight our customer if we give them better service. In Central’s we give some 

following service to our customers : 

• Discounts. 

• Gift wrapping. 

• Some time we do home delivery also 

• Exchange in 7 days. 

• Free alterations. 

VISUAL MERCHA�DISE- Visual Merchandising is the art of displaying 

merchandise in a manner that is appealing to the eyes of the customer. It sets the context of 

the merchandise in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, presenting them in a way that would 

convert the window shoppers into prospects and ultimately buyers of the product. A creative 

and talented retailer can use this upcoming art to breathe in new life into his store products. 

Visual merchandising is acted as a silent communicator to the customer. The main function 

of V.M is to aware about what merchandise is available in store. 


Visual merchandising includes window displays, signage’s, interior displays, cosmetic promotions 

and any other special sales promotions taking place. 

V.M also helps to customers as – 

Sales 

� Educating the customers about the product/service in an effective and 

creative way. 

� Establishing a creative medium to present merchandise in 3D environment, 

thereby enabling long lasting impact and recall value. 

� Setting the company apart in an exclusive position. 

� Establishing linkage between fashion, product design and marketing by 

keeping the product in prime focus. 

� Combining the creative, technical and operational aspects of a product and 

the business. 

� Drawing the attention of the customer to enable him to take purchase 

decision within shortest possible time, and thus augmenting the selling 

process. 

How will you survive and grow in profitability in today's very competitive marketplace? 

Consider these facts. 

1. Your margins are already stretched. 

2. You're stretching your advertising dollars as far as they'll go. 

3. You don't have the brand or product loyalty that you once had. 

Then how will you compete? 


It's simple! 

You'll compete by maximizing your greatest source of productivity -- your people! 

Look at these realities. 

1. Few companies budget sufficient dollars to professionally train their sales 

And customer contact people. 

2. Most retail salespeople are poorly trained in professional selling skills. 

3. Most training is product training. 

4. Old-fashioned sales techniques are outmoded and contribute to turnover and poor job performance. 

Modern day, value-focused selling can usually increase a salesperson's effectiveness 

Around 15% to 25%. 

As a Manager we have to look up following thing, so that we know about our actual selling & 

achievement of our target:- 

• Walk ins- no. of customers is coming in our mall? 

• �o. of bills- how many customers are purchasing out of them? 

• Average bill value- total sale/no. of bill 

• Floor contribution towards mall- for ex. Floor 3 contributes 15 to17 % of mall selling. 

• Specific brands contribution towards mall- Van hausen, Arrow etc. is the brands who are 

contributing higher in floor 3. 

• Sq. feet return of the brand- each brand has to provide a specific area in sq. feet 

Sales in month /sq. feet area =sq feet return in month/ no. of days. 


Managing Promotions, Events, Alliances and partnership- 

� In order to ensure the success of an event or promotion, it is necessary that the store where 

action is to take place be geared for the same. 

� Managing alliances and partnership with local partners is also an important part of store 

operations. 

� Display of merchandise and point of purchase material has to be managed at the store level. 

� An integral part of managing a super market is an understanding of fresh produce and its 

storage needs and replacing the product when needed. 

� Control of perishables and sanitations are two important aspects of the operations of the store. 

During my project in central they organized event named as “THE GREAT FRENCH AFFAIR” 

The main purpose of this event was to get familiar our customers with the French culture. 

By celebrating this festival they tried to experience the French culture. 

Marketing promotion& events 

It can be defined as strategic and tactical planning program and the attendant execution exercises for a 

brand using the full mix of communication. 

(Short term) Consumer promotion can do 

1. Increase sales 

2. Build Market share 

3. Generate awareness and trial of new brand 

4. Stimulate retrial 

5. Encourage repeat purchases 

6. Generate purchase continuity 

7. Provide alternate usage suggestions. 

8. Stimulate trade-up to larger sizes 

9. Temporary adjust pricing 

10. Defense against competitive activity 

11. Excite the sales force. 


I was the part of 3 events in PU�E CE�TRAL 

1. The Great French affair. 

2. Youth buzz. 

3. EOSS (end of season sale). 

The Great French Affair 10th May - 1st June 2008. 

Come fall in Love! With the spirit of France... 

Experience the glamour of Eiffel Tower at Central 

� Wine Tasting: Come get a heady taste of the finest French wines on all weekends. 

� French Feast: Watch mouth watering French delicacies being whipped up by a renowned 

chef on all weekends. 

� Le Pastry: Delectable French pastries will have you begging for more. 

� Paris Runway: Watch the leading models sizzle on the ramp in designer French collections 

on May 17th & 24th 2008. 

� French Makeover: Get a stunning 'Ooh la la' French Style makeover. 

� La Troupe: Sizzle, Shake and Cheer with French Cancan dances on May 10th 2008. 

• Dance Classes: Learn charming French moves from leading dancers on all weekends 

• Art De Portrait : Get your portrait sketched by a true blue French 

Youth buzz : 

� Double your shopping. 

� Double your eat 

� Double celebrate 

Youth buzz offering you no. of discounts & offers like 

• Denim exchange mela. 

• Magic weekend 

• Offering apparels like future C.E.O., Saturday night fever. 

Overall response from the customer was good. 


EOSS: (E�D OF SEASO� SALE) 

THE BIGGEST DISCOU�T CHALLE�GE BY CE�TRAL’S 

HAPPI�ESS SALE UPTO 50% OFF* 

Basically EOSS means stock clearance sale. During this period there were huge no. of discounts 

are over there. 

During this sale period huge crowd was there, because of discounts on each and every item. 

Main thing in this period is stock. Before 10 days of the sale period we send requirement of the stock 

to each and every company for this period. 

Main work during this season is to manage all thing including signage’s, proper updates of offers. 

There were special offers on 15 th ,16 th ,17 th AUGUST because of INDEPENDENCE DAY, RAKSHA 

BANDHAN. 

� How can you better present your store and products to the buying public? 

Front Signage: 

Start by doing a basic evaluation of your store. 

• Is your sign up-to-date or is it old and dated-looking? 

• Is your sign clearly visible and in good repair; no holes, cracks or burned out bulbs? 

• Does your sign tell customers what type of products you sell at a glance? 

• Do you have adequate signage for your building as it relates to street visibility? 

• Does your signage make a strong statement about your company? 

Interior Signage: 

• Is your product signage uniform in design? 

• Does your product signage describe the high points or features of the product? 


• Is signage up to date? 

• Is directional signage easy to see and understand at a glance? 

• Do you use signage as part of your visual merchandising? 

Floor Coverings: 

• Is your floor clean and fresh looking? 

• Is your carpet clean, lying well, and vacuumed? 

• Is your entry clean and in good repair? 

• Are you using multiple styles of floor coverings to direct traffic flow and distinguish between 

departments? 

Lighting: 

• Are all of your bulbs operating and in good condition? 

• If using fluorescent bulbs are all bulbs the color temperature? 

• Is your appliance area bright in contrast to the more subdued electronics area? 

• Are you using Track or spotlights to create focal points? 

• Good white light 3500 to 4100K should be used to light an appliance section. 

Housekeeping: 

• Is your store clean? Are floors waxed and buffed, carpet shampooed and vacuumed? 

• Is your product neat and tidy? 

• Are your aisles free of clutter and boxes? 

• Is your exposed office area neat with continuity? 

Store Display Fixtures: 

• Do your store fixtures match or are they a conglomeration of manufacturer's displays? 

• Are your fixtures broken or in disrepair? 

• Are your fixtures being used for the products for which they were intended? 


• Does your store use store fixturing? (Appliance fixtures, built-in fixtures, platforms, 

gondolas, etc.) 

Apart from these there are some work which were performed by me as a “Management 

Trainee”. 

1. Daily distributing sales report to each and every CSA including target & last night’s 

sale. 

2. Daily check the global counting book of the stock. 

3. Keep details of all the inwards & outwards on the floor. 

4. Check whether the staging & color blogging is perfect or not. 

5. At the weekends (sat. & sun) help cashiers for packing & sometimes for billing also. 

6. On the Mondays collect the details of fast moving merchandize from each and every 

brand & their requirement of stocks also. 

7. During the GREAT FRENCH AFFAIR I had perform the job to tell every customer 

what is the French festival is all about? 

8. After this festivals, I also work for “Customer Feedback Counter”. Where I had to 

request each and every customer to feel the feedback form. From which I can get 

more knowledge of customer behavior, there expectation from the mall. 

9. During the sale period (eoss) lots of work there which I performed.(staging, color 

blogging, stock inwards, placing of gondola’s, rearranging the section because of a 

huge stock in each section. 

10. During EOSS sometimes I help for alteration also. 

11. On the billing counters it really tough to handle the customers over there, for that 

purpose I was always there to solve all the problem. 

This is all about my project profile during my internship. 


DATA A�ALYSIS 

Research 1: 

Objective: To collect whole detail about the awareness of customers towards FUTURE CARD. 

Sample size: 200 customers 

How often do you buy apparels (clothes)? 

OPTIONS RESPONSE 

Once a year 25 

Once a month 35 

Twice a month 65 

Thrice a month 75 

TOTAL 200 

How often do you buy apparels (clothes)? 

34% 

Fig 3.3 often buy apparels 

30% 

16% 

Institute Of Business Studies & Research Pune (Satish P.Goyal) Page 55 

20% 

Once a year 

Once a month 

Twice a month 

Thrice a month

2. From where do you buy your apparels (clothes)? 

Options Response 

Pyramid 60 

Central 80 

Shoppers 50 

Mega mart 10 

Total 200 

Fig 3.4 where do u shop? 

3. Age of the customer ? 

Below 18 yrs 45 

Between 18 to 63 

25 yrs 


35 yrs 


45 yrs 

Above 45 yrs 10 

25% 

5% 

40% 

30% 

pyramid 

Central’s 

shoppers 

Mega mart 


Fig 3.5 age of customer 

4. Gender of the customer? 

a. Male 

b. Female 

Fig 3.6 gender 

5. Income range of the customer (per month)? 

Options response 

>15000 12 

20000-25000 62 

25000-30000 56 

30000 above 70 


Fig 3.7 income range 

6. How much do you normally spend on apparels (clothes) bought from shopping malls in a 

single shopping ? 

32 

Less than 

500 

Between 500 

to 1000 

43 

Between 

1000 to 2000 47 

Between 

2000 to 5000 43 

More than 

5000 

15 

Not 

Applicable 

20 


22% 

8% 

NORMALLY SPEND ON 

SHOPPING 

10% 

23% 

16% 

Fig 3.8 spend on shopping 

21% 

LESS THAN 500 

BETWEEN 500- 

1000 

BETWEEN 1000- 

2000 

BETWEEN 2000- 

5000 

MORE THAN 5000 

NOT APPLICABLE 

7. Customers aware of “FUTURE CARD” Loyalty Programme in CE�TRAL’S ? 


Yes 60 

No 140 

TOTAL 200 

Fig 3.9 

CUSTOMER AWARE OF 

FUTURE CARD 

70% 

30% 

Institute Of Business Studies & Research Pune (Satish P.Goyal) Page 59 

YES 

NO

8. Reasons for not being aware of FUTURE GROUP? 


Don’t have any idea 70 

Not inform by any CSA 60 

Don’t have any display 70 

Total 200 

FIG 3.10 RESO�S 

9. Do you have FUTURE CARD? 


Yes 50 

No 150 

TOTAL 200 


FIG 3.11 

10. Are you interested to be a part of FUTURE CARD? 


Yes 150 

No 50 

TOTAL 200 

FIG 3.12 

THIS RESEARCH IS BASICALLY FOR THE LOYALTY SCHEMES. 

This questionnaire is totally about loyalty card in CENTRAL’S 


Second research has been done to collect data about the comparative analysis among 

the competitors. 

Research 2 : 

Objective : To collect data for COMPARATIVE A�ALYSIS with respect to other 

stores in PU�E. 

Sample size: 200 customers. 

PARAMETERS PU�E 

CE�TRAL 

Table no. 3.4 

SHOPPERS 

STOP 

PIRAMYD WESTSIDE MEGA MART 

Price 68 29 34 23 46 

Brands 

Available 

79 34 45 17 25 

Product Range 67 23 42 34 34 

Trial Rooms 87 17 23 43 30 

Offers 78 21 72 12 17 

Customer 

Service 

85 34 46 23 12 

Parking 98 23 33 32 14 

Store Layout 103 22 36 29 10 

Events 110 32 34 18 06 

Ambience 98 12 54 23 13 

Food court 167 08 10 10 05 

Loyalty scheme 33 75 80 12 00 


Q.1) Which store you find the price best? 

FIG 3.13 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: From the above chart we can say that on the basis of price as a 

parameter 34% people likes to shop in CENTRAL’s. The main reason behind is the in house brands 

of PANTALOONS which are really very affordable to everyone who comes for shopping & wide 

range of options & sufficient space for each and every brand & good service. As compare to price 

range there is close competition. So CENTRAL have to keep focus on each & every brands. 

Q.2) Which store you find that there is a good range of brands available? 

FIG 3.14 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: From the above chart we can say that on the basis of brands 

available 39% people prefer to shop in CENTRAL’s. The reason is availability of various brands as 


well as various in-house brands. As compare to other competitors CENTRAL’S have more space for 

each and every brand, wide range of options. 

Q.3) Which store has a good product range available? 

FIG 3.15 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: From the above chart we can say that on the basis of product 

range 33% people prefer to go with CENTRAL’S. It has a good range of products as various in-house 

brands are also available with economical prices. They can still improve upon by getting various other 

brands and introducing various in-house brands. 

Q.4) Which store has a good trial room facility? 

FIG 3.16 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: After interpreting the chart we come to know that 43% people 

are satisfied with the trial rooms at CENTRAL’S as compared to other stores in Pune. So 


CENTRAL’S should maintain the service of trial room in the same manner. Another reason is enough 

space in each trial room, which made by latest technology. 

Q.5) Which store has got good promotional offers? 

FIG 3.17 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: After interpreting the chart we come to know that 39% people 

feel the offers in CENTRAL’S are really good & attractive. So customers are satisfied with the offers 

that CENTRAL’S launches at regular intervals. 

Q.6) Which store provides the best service? 

FIG 3.18 


I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: Taking into consideration the above statistics we can see that 

42% people feel that the service (free alteration, exchange policy, staff suggestions, redeem parking 

coupon etc.) given by CENTRAL’S are much better as compared to other stores in Pune. So they 

should keep enhancing the loyalty program and should keep in mind that customer is the king so we 

need to provide best services to keep the customers loyal. 

Q.7) Which store has a good parking facility? 

FIG 3.19 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: We can interpret from the above chart that 49% people find 

that parking is not a problem at CENTRAL’S. As compare to other stores in PUNE, only 

CENTRAL’s has its own space for parking other than others , because they are parking on the sharing 

basis. Its parking is in basement that why customers get more space for parking. While paying the 

shopping bill they can redeem the parking coupon. There is the lift facility for customers to the 

basement. In central’s they provide valet parking also which is not there in other stores in PUNE. 


Q.8) Which store has a good store layout? 

FIG 3.20 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: We can interpret from the above chart that 54% people feel 

that it is comfortable to move around in the store. The items in the store are visible and it’s convenient 

to shop. Each section gives enough space that customers can easily go and select their favourite item. 

In CENTRAL mall each section is divided in to various section. There is food court also which also 

encourage customer to shop inside the mall. 

Q.9) Which store has organize good events? 

FIG 3.21 


that events organised in CENTRAL’S is better than other stores in PUNE. During my internship we 

organised various events such as “YOUTH BUZZ” in this we organise SALSA DANCE competition, 


“DENIM EXCHANGE MELA”, “electronic AUCTIONS” etc. In all these events there is huge 

response of customers because of that during those days sale of the mall also increases. 

Q.10) Which store has good ambience? 

FIG 3.22 


that ambience in CENTRAL’S is better than other stores in PUNE. Basically CENTRAL’s pays more 

attention towards the customer’s requirement what they want? What are their expectations towards the 

mall. 

Q.11) Which store has good food court? 

FIG 3.23 



that events organised in CENTRAL’S is better than other stores in PUNE. Because only CENTRAL’S 

goes with the concept that , “SHOP ,EAT, & CELEBRATE”. That is the slogan of CENTRAL’s. 

Other stores not allow any type of food stuff inside the mall. That the reason why there is huge 

approach of customers in CENTRAL’S. 

Q.12) Which store has good loyalty scheme? 

FIG 3.24 

I�TERPRETATIO� & SUGGESTIO�: We can interpret from the above chart that only 16% people 

goes with CENTRAL’s. Only in this section CENTRAL’s lack behind others stores in PUNE. 

CENTRAL’s has to keep more attention towards this. 



From this above given questionnaire following are the observations & recommendations. 

Observations: 

1. From this research, there are majority no. of customers who buys more than 3 times in a 

month as compare to other customers. So these customers are loyal customers for 

CENTRAL’S. No of other customers who buys more than 2 times, 1 time in a month are 

also there. These are also the targeted customers for the CENTRAL’S. 

2. There were higher percentage of customers who like to buy from CENTRAL as compare 

to other competitors.( pyramid, shoppers etc.) means majority of customers are like to 

shop from CENTRAL’S. So by organizing some events or with good product range & 

discounts, these remaining customers get diverted towards CENTRAL. 

3. As per the data collected through this survey, we can say higher no. of customers are 

youngsters. Along with professionals, businessmen etc. between the age group 25-35. 

4. Majority of females customers are there, as compare to male customers. 

5. As per income range is concern, majority of customers are high class customer’s means 

income(30000+/month).who loves to shop in CENTRAL’s. They are really brand 

conscious. 

6. There are higher no. of customers who spend more than 3000 for their 1 time shopping, 

more than 3000 also. Some customers are there who even shop more than 10000 also. 

Basically main objective behind this questionnaire is to collect information about the 

awareness about FUTURE CARD among the customers. 

As per the data collected by questionnaire, i am very disappointed by the result that is 

only 30% customers were aware about the FUTURE card. 

The main reason behind it is that they don’t have any idea about FUTURE CARD. Only 

few of them know about it. The main reason behind it is, there is no display inside the mall 


for FUTURE CARD. All the employees working over there are not aware of that, among 200 

customers only 30% customers have the FUTURE CARD. 

After that i ask for their interest in FUTURE CARD, more than 75% customers are 

interested to be a part of FUTURE CARD. They are really very interested to be a member of 

FUTURE CARD. They want more information about the FUTURE CARD. 

Recommendations: 

As per all this data, as per my opinion is concern, CENTRAL’s have to think more about 

the FUTURE CARD. Because as we discuss above more than 75% customers really very 

interested to be a part of the FUTURE CARD. 

This one is really very important thing where CENTRAL’S have to be concentrate. 

Because of this they get more LOYAL customers. CENTRAL’S have to arrange some events 

for promotion of FUTURE CARD. Including proper displays inside the mall, informing every 

employees over there to tell every customers about the FUTURE CARD. 

At the cash counter keep any executive to give information to each and every customer. 

Or make a proper section for FUTURE CARD at the entrance of the mall. By that every 

customer get idea about FUTURE CARD. 



WEBSITES 

� www.retailbiz.com 

� www.google.com 

� www.retailyatra.com 

� www.wikipidea.com 

� www.timesofindia.com 

� www.economictimes.com 

� www.future.com 

� www.amazon.com 

� www.futurebazaar.com 

BOOKS & MAGAZI�ES 

� Retail management book by CHETAN BHAGAT 

� Book “RETAILING” by PATRICK M . DUNNE 

� Retail management book by SUJA NAIR 

� ICFAI JOURNALS. 

� BUSINESS TODAY 

� HARVADS JOURNALS 

� MARKETING MANAGEMENT BY PHILIP KOTLER 

� “IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA” BY KISHORE 

BIYANI. 


1) �AME : 

2) AGE: 

3) ADRESS: 

4) GE�DER: 

5) How often do you buy apparels (clothes)? 

Once a Week 

Once in 15 days 

Once a month 

Once every three months 

Once every 6 months 

Once a Year 

6) From where do you buy your apparels (clothes)? 

Pyramid 

Central’s 

Shopper’s 

APPENDIX 

QUESTIO�AIEER 


Mega mart 

7) How much do you normally spend on apparels (clothes) bought from shopping malls in a 

single shopping 

Less than 500 




More than 5000 

Not Applicable 

8) Customers aware of “FUTURE CARD” Loyalty Programme in CENTRAL’S ? 

Yes 

No 

11. Do you have FUTURE CARD? 

Yes 

No 

10) Are you interested to be a part of FUTURE CARD? 

Yes 

No 


Research 2 : 

QUESTIO�AIEER 

Objective : To collect data for COMPARATIVE A�ALYSIS with respect to other 

stores in PU�E. (CE�TRAL, PRAMID, SHOPPER’S, WESTSIDE, MEGA MART) 

Sample size: 200 customers. 

Q.1) Which store you find the price best? 

Q.2) Which store you find that there is a good range of brands available? 

Q.3) Which store has a good product range available? 

Q.4) Which store has a good trial room facility? 

Q.5) Which store has got good promotional offers? 

Q.6) Which store provides the best service? 

Q.7) Which store has a good parking facility? 

Q.8) Which store has a good store layout? 

Q.9) Which store has organize good events? 

Q.10) Which store has good ambience? 

Q.11) Which store has good food court? 

Q.12) Which store has good loyalty scheme?

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