“Customer satisfaction”

At

“Shoppers Stop”

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of

The degree of

Master of Business Administration

Submitted to:

Bangalore University

Bangalore

By:

“Vivek Kumar”

“Regd No”

9212400268

Under the guidance of

“Dr. Madhusudan Zalki, Faculty of IIBS (Bangalore)”

#70, 2nd Main Road, 3rd Cross, Kanaka Nagar, Nagawara,

BANGALORE – 560 032

2009 – 11

1
 DECLARATION

I hereby declared that this project titled “ Customer satisfaction at Shoppers’ stop “ , is
submitted to the Punjab Technical University as a partial requirement for the award of
Degree of Master of Business Administration, during the year 2009-2011It is the record of
an original & independent study carried out by me, under the able guidance and supervision
of Professor. Dr. Madhusudhan Zalki of International Institute of Business Studies,
Bangalore. This project report has not been submitted earlier by me or by anybody else for
the award of any other degree in any University in India or abroad.

Date : Signature of the Student

Place : ( Name of the Student )

Vivek Kumar

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The toughest of endeavors in this world is not possible without the support of
a helping hand which guides and motivates a person to take on any challenge
head on. Inputs from such helping hand are always like very essential because
more often or not certain mistakes which go unnoticed from our eyes. I VIVEK
KUMAR express my thankfulness toward my faculty Dr. Madhusudhan Zalki for
giving such a nice opportunity to work something related to practical exposure
of retail industry & extending his untiring guidance to us, by constantly
discussing the project matter and helping us in clarifying our thinking in several
pertinent issues and providing a meaning full insight into the subject.

VIVEK KUMAR

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction of research:
Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products
and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Organizations
need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Measuring customer
satisfaction provides an indication on of how successful the organization is at providing
products and/or services to the marketplace.
Customer satisfaction is measured at the individual level, but it is almost always reported at
an aggregate level. It can be, and often is, measured along various dimensions.

Introduction of the organization:

Shoppers’ stop is not just another hypermarket. It caters to every need of your family
style. Where Shoppers’ stop scores over other stores is its value for money proposition
for the Indian customers. Shoppers’ stop was founded by K. Raheja group in the year
1991. At Shoppers’ stop, you will definitely get the best products at the best prices -
that’s what we 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.
And this is just the beginning. Shoppers’ stop plans to add much more to complete your
shopping experience.

The foundation of Shoppers' Stop was laid on October 27, 1991 by the K. Raheja group of
companies, one of India's biggest hospitality and real estate players. The Group crossed
yet another milestone with its lifestyle venture-Shoppers' Stop. With its immense
expertise in the service industry and creditability, Shoppers' Stop today boasts of 37 retail
outlets across the country and is planning to spread its wings with futuristic expansion
plans to meet the challenges of the retail industry. A benchmark for the Indian retail
industry to follow, Shoppers' Stop has progressed from a single brand shop to a Fashion
& Lifestyle store for the families. Shoppers' Stop is a household name, known for its
superior quality products, services and above all, a complete shopping experience.
Shoppers' Stop was the first to redefine shopping experience and creating a niche for
itself in the service industry. As India's first specialty chain with outlets in Mumbai,
Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Chennai, Shoppers' Stop offers a complete range
of garments and accessories for the entire family. More than 35,000 walk into Shoppers
Stop everyday to feel the experience of shopping. Andheri was the first store to be
opened in India. The initiative of this store was taken by B.S.Nagesh at a time when the
concept of retail industry was just coming into the market. As on today, the current
investors in Shoppers‘ Stop are ICICI, IL&FS Investments and Zodiac clothing. Their
combined shareholding in Shoppers Stop is 19% while 79% is held by Raheja Group &

4
balance 2% is held by its employees. It has more than 1.5 million loyal customers. The
total turnover of Shoppers’ stop is Rs.1400 crore with worth total asset of Rs.500 crore.
Total 40 store were target to opened till last year including present 37 stores.

Objectives:

I. To study marketing strategy of Shoppers’ stop

II. To study of effectiveness of sales promotion in Shoppers’ stop
III. To study the customer satisfaction in Shoppers’ stop

Methodology:

The research design was descriptive in nature. The primary data was collected by survey
using structured questionnaire. Secondary data was collected through the internet. The
population of study consists of customer of this segment of retail store. Sample was 100 and
Sample area was Gaduda mall shoppers’ stop Bangalore. Non-probability judgment
technique was followed.

Conclusion and recommendations:

Conclusion and recommendation for shoppers’ stop are as follows:-

Shoppers’’ stop is lacking behind in some services in which it is not considered as good as
compare to competitors like stock availability, music and other facilities like snacks parlor.
They can go for some innovative ideas as they have always done before.

Overall shoppers’ stop should leverage on all its strong point and let more customer START
SOMETHING NEW. Because after all customers are the heart and soul of business, like any
other.

 They should introduce more schemes, discounts, sales to increase the sales.

 They should introduce Low rate Brands which will attract the middle class customers
also or brands for masses.

 The stores becomes a bit messy because of a large footfall & small size of stores so
they should have larger outlets

 They offer parking space only for the ―first citizen‖ card holders which acts as a
constraint for many first visitors to visit the malls.

5
 Shoppers stop‘s competitors used aggressive medium of advertisement like
television commercial ads, thus to gain a competitive advantage over the
competitors Shoppers Stop should also use such medium of marketing.

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Objectives of study

I. To study marketing strategy of shoppers’ stop

II. To study of effectiveness of sales promotion in shoppers’ stop
III. To study the customer satisfaction in shoppers’ stop

7
 Table of content
Sr. No Title Page No.
1 Acknowledgement 2
2 TABLE/
Executive GRAPH NO.
Summary PAGE NO. 3-5
1 Bar chart showing response of 65,66,68,70,71,74,75
3 Objective customers 6
4 2 Pie chart showing response of 62,65,67,70,71,74
Introduction 8-25
customers
5 Research3 Methodology
Bar chart showing No. of 80 26-28
footfall
6 Literature Review
4 Bar chart showing No. of footfall 81 30
converted into customer
7 Company Profile 32-56

8 Competitor’s list 57

9 SWOT Analysis 57-58

10 Data interpretation and questionnaire 60-72
11 Findings 74
12 Conclusion 74
13 Recommendations 74-75
14 Bibliography 75

15 Annexure 75-79

TABLE & GRAPH

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9
 CHAPTER – I
INTRODUCTION

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Customer

A customer (also known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is usually used to refer to a current

or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called
the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically
through purchasing or renting goods or services. However, in certain contexts, the
term customer also includes by extension any entity that uses or experiences the services of
another. A customer may also be a viewer of the product or service that is being sold
despite deciding not to buy them. The general distinction between a customer and a client is
that a customer purchases products, whereas a client purchases services.
The word derives from "custom," meaning "habit"; a customer was someone who
frequented a particular shop, who made it a habit to purchase goods of the sort the shop
sold there rather than elsewhere, and with whom the shopkeeper had to maintain a
relationship to keep his or her "custom," meaning expected purchases in the future.
The slogans "the customer is king" or "the customer is god" or "the customer is always
right" indicate the importance of customers to businesses – although the last expression is
sometimes used ironically.
However, "customer" also has a more generalized meaning as in customer service and a less
commercialized meaning in not-for-profit areas. To avoid unwanted implications in some
areas such as government services, community services, and education, the term
"customer" is sometimes substituted by words such as "constituent" or "stakeholder". This
is done to address concerns that the word "customer" implies a narrowly commercial
relationship involving the purchase of products and services. However, some managers in
this environment, in which the emphasis is on being helpful to the people one is dealing
with rather than on commercial sales, comfortably use the word "customer" to both
internal and external customers.
OBSOLETE meaning: In the early 17th century customer was defined as a "common
prostitute".

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 Types of customer

There are six types of customers:

 1. External Customer. These are the people and organizations who have a need for
your product or service. They purchase your stuff in exchange for money. They have
a budget and will give you some of it in exchange for a solution that meets their
needs and expectations. Given that, I affectionately refer to external customers as
ones with thebag of money. They have the financial autonomy to decide where and
how they will spend their budget—the bag of money. The question is, who gets the
bag of money, you or your competitor? Who has earned the confidence and trust of
the customer? You and your competitor are vying for a piece of their budget—the
best solution wins. Know this: Customers vote with their money and complain with
their feet.
 2. Allies. These are the users of your product or service, not the ultimate decision
maker. These customers usually don't have a bag of money but they play a vital role
in your success. They do not make the final decision but they may have tremendous
impact on the outcome. They are often closely connected to the bag of money and
positioning them as an ally to your cause is critical for your success. You must earn
their trust and confidence if you expect them to support you at the bag of money
level. A caution about allies: They have veto power, the authority to say no. They can
give you a hundred no's but can't give you the one yes needed to close the deal. I
have seen countless selling hours wasted on allies with the hope of closing the deal.
However, allies can be a tremendous wealth of information. Pick their brains and
learn how you can differentiate yourself from the competition. Customers buy
differences, not similarities. It can sometimes be difficult to ascertain who the bag of
money is and who the allies are. Ask questions early in the call to determine who's
who in the zoo. Shrink your sales cycle by understanding the players within your
accounts. Simply ask them who else may be involved with decisions.
 3. Internal Customer. These are fellow employees and managers within your place
of business. They support you and make you look good to your external customers.
Appreciate them and treat them with respect. Unfortunately, they are often the
victims of your blamefest: "The jerks in production screwed up again ..." or "The
idiots in shipping messed up . . ." or "Management gave me a lousy price . . ." and so
it goes. Poor internal relationships can have fatal consequences for your external
customers. I recently saw an anonymous quote that supports my point. "We have

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less to fear from outside competition than from inside conflict, inefficiencies,
discourtesy, and bad service." So true. Take ownership for customer concerns. After all,
you are an ambassador for your company, so don't abdicate responsibility for late
deliveries, poor service, and inadequate support. Customers really don't care whose
fault a problem is or how it happened. Customers aren't interested in fixing the blame.
They want to fix the problem. It's up to you to quarterback all of the company's
resources to resolve their problem. When you work in harmony with your internal
customers, external customers become the beneficiary of your internal relationships. In
company after company, I see sales working in isolation from other departments. Sales
cannot fly solo and expect to service the expectations of external customers. Long-term
success means having your entire company and all its resources focus on its customers.
Be aware too of your own personal internal customers, such as family, spouse, and
parents. View your kids, spouse, or significant other as your personal internal customers.
They also deserve respectful treatment.

 4. Repeat Customer. They are the jewels of your business. Do the job well the first
time and you often get rewarded with another opportunity to serve them. And guess
what? They give you more money! You may have heard that it costs up to five times
as much to replace a customer as it does to keep one. So, keep them happy.
Underpromise and overdeliver.
 5. Born-Again Customer. These are previous customers who no longer do business
with you. For some reason they have forgotten about you or they are still upset with
you. I suggest you dig up their file, give them a call, and settle any outstanding
grievance. Put your ego aside and offer restitution to satisfy the customer. Do what it
takes to resolve the situation. Make amends. Very frequently they will once again be
receptive to doing business with you. They often become loyal customers provided
you resolve the problem to their satisfaction. As you work with your customers, you
will find the Sequential Model is applicable to all six types. Remember: Pay particular
attention to your internal customers.
 6. Bag of Wind. You guessed it, these people have little or no impact on the decision.
They are often an easy point of entry into an account but they seldom contribute to
the sales process. In fact they do more harm than good by creating a false sense of
authority. There is nothing worse than wasting valuable selling hours on people who
cannot help advance the sale. However, I'm not suggesting to ignore these people
but rather exploit their knowledge to deepen your understanding and confidence
about the account. They may also provide clarity as to who the allies are and who
the bag of money is. Knowing these people can prove to be a huge advantage;
knowledge is power.

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 Customer segmentation

In the snowmobile example, the served market consisted of one segment. But conceivably,
the served market could be much broader in scope. For example, the company could decide
to serve all industrial customers (large, medium, small) by offering diesel-driven
snowmobiles for delivery use. The “broader” served market, however, must be segmented
because the market is not homogeneous; that is, it cannot be served by one type of
product/service offering. Currently, the United States represents the largest market in the
world for most products; it is not a homogeneous market, however. Not all customers want
the same thing. Particularly in well-supplied markets, customers generally prefer products
or services that are tailored to their needs. Differences can be expressed in terms of product
or service features, service levels, quality levels, or something else. In other words, the large
market has a variety of submarkets, or segments, that vary substantially. One of the crucial
elements of marketing strategy is to choose the segment or segments that are to be served.
This, however, is not always easy because different methods for dissecting a market may be
employed and deciding which method to use may pose a problem. Virtually all strategists
segment their markets. Typically, they use SIC codes, annual purchase volume, age, and
income as differentiating variables.

Categories based on these variables, however, may not suffice as far as the development of
strategy is concerned. RCA, for example, initially classified potential customers for color
television sets according to age, income, and social class. The company soon realized that
these segments were not crucial for continued growth because potential buyers were not
confined to those groups. Later analysis discovered that there were “innovators” and
“followers” in each of the above groups. This finding led the company to tailor its marketing
strategy to various segments according to their “innovativeness.” Mass acceptance of color
television might have been delayed substantially if RCA had followed a more traditional
approach. An American food processor achieved rapid success in the French market after
discovering that “modern” Frenchwomen liked processed foods while “traditional” French
housewives looked upon them as a threat. A leading industrial manufacturer discovered
that its critical variable was the amount of annual usage per item, not per order or per any
other conventional variable. This proved to be critical since heavy users can be expected to
be more sensitive to price and may be more aware of and responsive to promotional
perspectives. Segmentation aims at increasing the scope of business by closely aligning a
product or brand with an identifiable customer group. Take, for example, cigarettes. Thirty
years ago, most cigarette smokers chose from among three brands: Camel, Chesterfield, and

14
Lucky Strike. Today more than 160 brands adorn retail shelves. In order to sell more
cigarettes, tobacco companies have been dividing the smoking public into relatively tiny
sociological groups and then aiming one or more brands at each group. Vantage and Merit,
for example, are aimed at young women; Camel and Winston are aimed mostly at rural
smokers.

Cigarette marketing success hinges on how effectively a company can design a brand to
appeal to a particular type of smoker and then on how well it can reach that smoker with
sharply focused packaging, product design, and advertising. What is true of cigarettes
applies to many, many products; it applies even to services. Banks, for example, have been
vying with one another for important customers by offering innovative services that set
each bank apart from its competition. These illustrations underscore not only the
significance of segmenting the market but also the importance of carefully choosing
segmentation criteria.

Segmentation Criteria
Segmentation criteria vary depending on the nature of the market. In consumer goods
marketing, one may use simple demographic and socioeconomic variables, personality and
lifestyle variables, or situation-specific events (such as use intensity, brand loyalty, and
attitudes) as the bases of segmentation. In industrial marketing, segmentation is achieved
by forming end use segments, product segments, geographic segments, common buying
factor segments, and customer size segments. For a detailed account, however, reference
may be made to a textbook on marketing management. In addition to these criteria,
creative analysts may well identify others. For example, a shipbuilding company dissects its
tanker market into large, medium, and small markets; similarly, its cargo ship market is
classified into high-, medium-, and low-grade markets. A forklift manufacturer divides its
market on the basis of product performance requirements. Many consumer-goods
companies, General Foods, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola among them, base their
segments on lifestyle analysis. Data for forming customer segments may be analyzed with
the use of simple statistical techniques (e.g., averages) or multivariate methods.
Conceptually, the following procedure may be adopted to choose a criterion for
segmentation:

1. Identify potential customers and the nature of their needs.

2. Segment all customers into groups having

a. Common requirements.

b. The same value system with respect to the importance of these requirements.

15
3. Determine the theoretically most efficient means of serving each market segment,
making sure that the distribution system selected differentiates each segment with respect
to cost and price.

4. Adjust this ideal system to the constraints of the real world: existing commitments, legal
restrictions, practicality, and so forth.

A market can also be segmented by level of customer service, stage of production,

price/performance characteristics, credit arrangements with customers, location of plants,
characteristics of manufacturing equipment, channels of distribution, and financial policies.
The key is to choose a variable or variables that so divide the market that customers in a
segment respond similarly to some aspect of the marketer’s strategy. The variable should be
measurable; that is, it should represent an objective value, such as income, rate of
consumption, or frequency of buying, not simply a qualitative viewpoint, such as the degree
of customer happiness. Also, the variable should create segments that may be accessible
through promotion. Even if it is feasible to measure happiness, segments based on the
happiness variable cannot be reached by a specific promotional medium. Finally, segments
should be substantial in size; that is, they should be sufficiently large to warrant a separate
marketing effort. Once segments have been formed, the next strategic issue is deciding
which segment should be selected. The selected segment should comply with the following
conditions:

1. It should be one in which the maximum differential in competitive strategy can be

developed.

2. It must be capable of being isolated so that competitive advantage can be preserved.

3. It must be valid even though imitated.

The success of Volkswagen in the United States in 1960 can be attributed to its fit into a
market segment that had two unique characteristics. First, the segment served by VW could
not be adequately served by a modification to conventional U.S. cars. Second, U.S.
manufacturers’ economies of scale could not be brought to bear to the disadvantage of VW.
In contrast, American Motors was equally successful in identifying a special segment to
serve with its compact car, the Rambler. The critical difference was that American Motors
could not protect that segment from the superior scale of manufacturing volume of the
other three U.S. automobile producers. The choice of strategically critical segments is not
straightforward. It requires careful evaluation of business strengths as compared with the
competition. It also requires analytical marketing research to uncover market segments in
which these competitive strengths can be significant. Rarely do market segments
conveniently coincide with such obvious categories as religion, age, profession, or family
income; or, in the industrial sector, with the size of company. For this reason, market
segmentation is emphatically not a job for statisticians.

16
Rather, it is a task that can be mastered only by the creative strategist. For example, an
industrial company found that the key to segmenting customers is by the phase of the
purchase decision process that they experienced. Accordingly, three segments were
identified: (a) first-time prospects, (b) novices, and (c) sophisticates. These three segments
valued different benefits, bought from different channels, and carried varying impressions of
providers. A technology-consulting firm, Forrester Research Inc., separates people into ten
categories: “fast forwards, techno-strivers, hand-shakers, new age nurturers, digital
hopefuls, traditionalists, mouse potatoes, gadget-grabbers, media junkies, and sidelined
citizens.” For example, “Fast forwards” own on an average 20 technology products per
household. Several of their clients have found this kind of classification useful in identifying
segments to serve. Market segmentation has recently undergone several changes. These
include: 16

• Increased emphasis on segmentation criteria that represent “softer” data such as attitudes
and needs. This is the case in both consumer and business-to-business marketing.

• Increased awareness that the bases of segmentation depend on its purpose. For example,
the same bank customers could be segmented by account ownership profiles, attitudes
towards risk-taking, and socioeconomic variables. Each segmentation could be useful for a
different purpose, such as product cross-selling, preparation of advertising messages, and
media selection.

• A move towards “letting the data speak for themselves,” that is finding segments through
the detection of patterns in survey or in-house data. So-called “data mining” methods have
become much more versatile over the past decade.

• Greater usage of “hybrid” segmentation methods. For example, a beer producer might
first segment consumers according to favorite brand. Then, within each brand group,
consumers could be further segmented according to similarities in attitudes towards beer
drinking, occasions where beer is consumed, and so on.

• A closer connection between segmentation methods and new product development.

Computer choice models (using information about the attribute trade-offs that consumers
make) can now find the best segments for a given product profile or the best product profile
for a given market segment.

• The growing availability of computer models (based on conjoint data) to find optimal
additions to product lines products that best balance the possibility of cannibalization of
current products with competitive draw.

• Research on dynamic product/segment models that consider the possibility of competitive

retaliation. Such models examine a company’s vulnerability to competitive reactions over
the short term and choose product/segment combinations that are most resistant to
competitive encroachment.

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• The development of pattern-recognition and consumer-clustering methods that seek
segments on the basis of data but also respect managerial constraints on minimal segment
size and managerial weightings of selected clustering variables.

• The development of flexible segmentations that permit the manager to loosen a clustering
based only on buyer needs (by shifting a small number of people between clusters); the aim
might be to increase the predictability of some external criterion, such as household
profitability to a company, say, selling mutual funds.

Customer service

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a

purchase.
According to Turban et al. (2002), “Customer service is a series of activities designed to
enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has
met the customer expectation."
Its importance varies by products, industry and customer; defective or broken merchandise
can be exchanged, often only with a receipt and within a specified time frame. Retail stores
will often have a desk or counter devoted to dealing with returns, exchanges and
complaints, or will perform related functions at the point of sale; the perceived success of
such interactions being dependent on employees "who can adjust themselves to the
personality of the guest, "according to Micah Solomon quoted in Inc. Magazine.
From the point of view of an overall sales process engineering effort, customer service plays
an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue. From that
perspective, customer service should be included as part of an overall approach to
systematic improvement. A customer service experience can change the entire perception a
customer has of the organization.
Some have argued that the quality and level of customer service has decreased in recent
years, and that this can be attributed to a lack of support or understanding at the executive
and middle management levels of a corporation and/or a customer service policy. To
address this argument, many organizations have employed a variety of methods to improve
their customer satisfaction levels, and other KPIs.

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Types of customer service:

There are 8 Types of Customer Service

1. High Touch Customer Service

This is a popular style of customer service in high-end stores. There’s a well refined script
that involves approaching customers when they enter and saying something they can agree
with (e.g. “isn’t it a nice day?”), wandering off and straightening things, then watching them
and re-approaching when they express interest in something and proceeding with a soft-
sell. When done correctly this leads to great experiences for customers and companies.
.

2. Low Touch Customer Service

Customer service characterised by a low level of personal contact with customers, low-
touch customer service is primarily automated or provided by vending machines, such as
automatic telling machines at banks, self-service petrol pumps at garages, etc.

3. Bad Touch Customer Service

Employees are in the store but are not helpful. They follow you around and try to make
sales but don’t actually have the information or authority to provide good service. This is
often the result of commission based pay for medium to low priced goods. Making returns is
impossible, and customer loyalty takes a back seat to this week’s sales.

4. Transparent Customer Service

You can see exactly how things are working and are welcome to manage things at the level
you like. San Francisco Taquerias (and Subway) work like this: you can see all the food being
prepared, and you can talk to the customer service person the whole time and get your
burrito exactly how you like it (super veggie, black beans, no onion, tomato, or cilantro,
green salsa, extra avocado).

5. Understanding but Inflexible Customer Service

This is sometimes a hard one to spot. The customer service person listens to you, tries to
understand your problem, acknowledges how frustrating it is, then tells you that the
company is prepared to do absolutely nothing to remedy the situation. Some of my better
Verizon experiences were with senior customer service people who would listen to me and

19
talk with me for as long as I wanted, then do nothing. It actually made me feel better to be
heard, even though I knew it was just a trick.

6. Clueless Customer Service

This one is frighteningly common, especially in call centers. The Customer Service person is
given no training whatsoever, and is generally reading from a set script. They don’t work for
the company, don’t understand the product, don’t use the product, and are primarily
judged by how fast they can get you off the phone. You can never get the same person
twice, so you have to re-describe your problem to each person. If your question is outside
the set scripts they can do literally nothing for you.

7. Evil Customer Service

The goal is to trick customers into paying more or agreeing to something by using extremely
specific language and refusing to stop talking. It sounds like they’re saying one thing when
they’re actually saying another. Rather than doing what you ask they bully you into doing
what the company wants.

8. Perfect Customer Service

The perfect customer service is one which results in customers becoming 

advocates for the company, creating referral, retention and profitable growth.

 5 tips of perfect customer service

I. Your customer service representatives are more valuable than the customer service
they provide. If you think that by paying them low wages, giving no benefits and no
bonuses and providing little or no training you would expect them to give their best
performance, then you are mistaken. A happy customer service representative
usually means that they will keep your customers happy as well.

II. Your sales representative will treat your customers they same way you will treat
them. The employees tend to adopt the manners of their management, the same
way they take after their parents. If you would address your employees
enthusiastically everyday day; so would they to the customers. When a customer
complains of your representatives being rude, then the fault lies at your feet.

20
 III. You should know your customers inside out. We all want to feel special and
important. When we go to a shop, we want to be called out by our name and the
representative should remember important things about us like what our favourite
colour is, what our favourite meal is or what our favourite drink is. A customer
service representative should know all this about his customer, if the customer
comes on regular basis.

v. Do your customers know who you are? You should be so good in dealing with
customers that if they see you in the market they should call you out by name. It is
often seen in some firms and organizations that they put their managers and
employees pictures on the main offices or store entrances so that the customers
would know the face of the person who is in charge. This can increase the confidence
they have in your company by associating a human face with your company.

vi. For excellent customers, be prepared to go the extra mile. If a customer is regular and
brings in steady money, you should make every effort to retain them. Details like
thank you notes, birthday cards and gifts will go a long way to insure they stay a
customer.

Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products

and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer
satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers,
whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services exceeds specified
satisfaction goals.

Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They
focus employees on the importance of fulfilling customers’ expectations. Furthermore,
when these ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability.
These metrics quantify an important dynamic. When a brand has loyal customers, it
gains positive word-of-mouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective. In
researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product or service
has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind
satisfaction. When customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will
be disappointed and will likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this
reason, a luxury resort, for example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a

21
 budget motel—even though its facilities and service would be deemed superior in
“absolute” terms.

Purpose to know customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase intentions and
loyalty. Customer satisfaction data are among the most frequently collected indicators of
market perceptions. Their principal use is twofold

1. Within organizations, the collection, analysis and dissemination of these data send a
message about the importance of tending to customers and ensuring that they have
a positive experience with the company’s goods and services

2. Although sales or market share can indicate how well a firm is performing currently,
satisfaction is an indicator of how likely it is that the firm’s customers will make
further purchases in the future. Much research has focused on the relationship
between customer satisfaction and retention. Studies indicate that the ramifications
of satisfaction are most strongly realized at the extremes. On a five-point scale,
individuals who rate their satisfaction level as “5” are likely to become return
customers and might even evangelize for the firm. (A second important metric
related to satisfaction is willingness to recommend. This metric is defined as "The
percentage of surveyed customers who indicate that they would recommend a
brand to friends." When a customer is satisfied with a product, he or she might
recommend it to friends, relatives and colleagues. This can be a powerful marketing
advantage.) Individuals who rate their satisfaction level as “1,” by contrast, are
unlikely to return. Further, they can hurt the firm by making negative comments
about it to prospective customers. Willingness to recommend is a key metric relating
to customer satisfaction.

Measuring customer satisfaction

Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non-customers. Measuring
customer satisfaction provides an indication on of how successful the organization is at
providing products and/or services to the marketplace.
Customer satisfaction is measured at the individual level, but it is almost always reported at
an aggregate level. It can be, and often is, measured along various dimensions. A hotel, for
example, might ask customers to rate their experience with its front desk and check-in
service, with the room, with the amenities in the room, with the restaurants, and so on.
Additionally, in a holistic sense, the hotel might ask about overall satisfaction “with your
stay.”

22
As research on consumption experiences grows, evidence suggests that consumers
purchase goods and services for a combination of two types of benefits: hedonic and
utilitarian. Hedonic benefits are associated with the sensory and experiential attributes of
the product. Utilitarian benefits of a product are associated with the more instrumental and
functional attributes of the product (Batra and Athola 1990)
Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of
the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to
product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and
physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviours such as return and
recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the
customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the
organization's products.

Factors affecting customer satisfaction:

 Factors influencing customer satisfaction:

Marketing researchers have identified four distinct factors, which influence the
customer satisfaction, which are as follows:

I. Product: Basic design: How familiar designers are with customer needs, what
incentives drive the designing, manufacturing and quality control.

II. Sales activity: What messages the company sends out in its advertising and
promotion programmers, how it chooses and monitors its sales force /
intermediaries, and the attitudes that it projects to the customer. The figure 2 is a
classical example of positive messages sent to customer through its promotion.

III. After- sales: Guarantees, parts and service, feedback, complaints, handling, and
overall responsiveness to a customer with a problem.

IV. Culture: Intrinsic values and beliefs of the firm as well as the tangible and intangible
symbols and systems it uses to initial these into employee behavior at all levels.

23
Marketers when studying satisfaction must understand that a distinction has to be made
between one’s core product offering and one’s supplements (or sometimes called value
added service).

 Chart showing the factors influencing customer satisfaction:

Product

After-sales Customer satisfaction Sales activity

Culture

Retail in India

24
Retailing consists of those business activities involved in the sale of goods and services to
consumers for their personal, family, or household use. Retailing comprises of four elements
customer orientation, coordinated effort, value-driven, and goal orientation.

The word "Retail" originates from a French-Italian word. Retailer - someone who cuts off or
sheds a small piece from something. Retailing is the set of activities that markets products
or services to final consumers for their own personal or household use. It does this by
organizing their availability on a relatively large scale and supplying them to customers on a
relatively small scale. Retailer is a Person or Agent or Agency or Company or Organization
who is instrumental in reaching the Goods or Merchandise or Services to the End User or
Ultimate Consumer. The topic “customer satisfaction at shoppers’ stop” present in any
retail store greatly influences the customer satisfaction level and the customer perception
towards that store. Merchandising is one of the hot issue in todays retail competition world
which is very important for all the retail store to follow that.

This study was done to know that, do shoppers’ stop is really satisfying with its
merchandising Mix to the customers and also to find out how the store envirnoment
influences the shopping behaviour of the customer and to know which section in the
shoppers’ stop have good merchandising mix and to know how the store environment can
be improved.

Indian Retail Industry:

Indian retail industry is the largest industry in India, with an employment of around 8% and
contributing to over 10% of the country's GDP. Retail industry in India is expected to rise
25% yearly being driven by strong income growth, changing lifestyles, and favorable
demographic patterns.

It is expected that by 2016 modern retail industry in India will be worth US$ 175- 200
billion. India retail industry is one of the fastest growing industries with revenue expected in
2007 to amount US$ 320 billion and is increasing at a rate of 5% yearly. A further increase of
7-8% is expected in the industry of retail in India by growth in consumerism in urban areas,
rising incomes, and a steep rise in rural consumption. It has further been predicted that the
retailing industry in India will amount to US$ 21.5 billion by 2010 from the current size of
US$ 7.5 billion.

Shopping in India has witnessed a revolution with the change in the consumer buying
behavior and the whole format of shopping also altering. Industry of retail in India which has
become modern can be seen from the fact that there are multi- stored malls, huge shopping
centers, and sprawling complexes which offer food, shopping, and entertainment all under
the same roof. Indian retail industry is expanding itself most aggressively; as a result a great
demand for real estate is being created. Indian retailers preferred means of expansion is to

25
expand to other regions and to increase the number of their outlets in a city. It is expected
that by the end of 2010, India may have 600 new shopping centers. In the Indian retailing
industry, food is the most dominating sector and is growing at a rate of 9% annually. The
branded food industry is trying to enter the India retail industry and convert Indian
consumers to branded food. Since at present 60% of the Indian grocery basket consists of
non- branded items. Indian retail industry is progressing well and for this to continue
retailers as well as the Indian government will have to make a combined effort. Indian
retailing industry has seen phenomenal growth in the last five years. Organized retailing has
finally emerged from the shadows of unorganized retailing and is contributing significantly
to the growth of Indian retail sector. The “India Retail Sector Analysis report helps clients to
analyze the opportunities and factors critical to the success of retail industry in India.

Indian retail industry is going through a transition phase. Most of the retailing in our
country is still in the unorganized sector. The spread out of the retails in US and India shows
a wide gap between the two countries. Though retailing in India is undergoing an
exponential growth, the road ahead is full of challenges.

KEY CHALLENGES:

 Location  Merchandise

 Pricing  Target audience

Types of Indian retail

 Convenient stores  Branded stores

 Specialty stores  Departmental stores

 Super markets  Discount stores
 Hyper markets  Shopping markets

26
 CHAPTER – 2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

27
  Statement of the problem

While it is critical to be in sync with the overall business objectives of the organization, it is
also critical to be in tune with information requirements of users, and the value they find in
services provided by the Info Center.

In order to be perceived as integral assets to their organizations, most information

professionals are concerned with expanding their activities, and serving more customers
better. Building on a loyal customer or user base is the best and easiest way to grow your
business. Just as companies find it costs approximately five times more to acquire new
customers than it costs to keep a customer, Info Centers will find it most cost effective to
grow by building on the services now provided to loyal, committed customers. To continue
earning that customer loyalty, information professionals must keep tabs on the satisfaction
levels and perceptions of value held by Info Center users. Strategies to develop new
business should always be balanced by strategies to retain existing business and ensure
ongoing satisfaction of existing customers.

There are also real bottom-line reasons for measuring customer satisfaction. Positive results
from customer satisfaction studies will make a strong statement in support of continued
funding for Info Center activities.

 Need for studying customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase intentions and

loyalty. Customer satisfaction data are among the most frequently collected indicators of
market perceptions.
There was a time when customers were less critical and vocal if not totally satisfied when
dealing with a business. This is not the case today.
Today, customers are becoming increasingly more demanding, less to learnt and very
critical when not having their expectations met.
There was a time when the choices available on where and who to deal with was limited.
The power belonged to the business owner, customers had nowhere else to go and
therefore customer satisfaction was not so important.
Today, customers have lots of choice on where and who to deal with. As a result the power
has now shifted to the customer. If they feel you can not satisfy their expectations they will
simply vote with their feet and deal with someone who will satisfy their needs.

28
  Methodology

I. Primary source of data

• Personal interaction with customers

• Structured questionnaire

II. Secondary source of data

 Websites of shoppers stop
• www.corporate.shoppersstop.com

• www.shoppersstop.com

• www.scribd.com

• Other retail related websites

29
 CHAPTER – 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

30
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Merchandise mix and the store envirnoment present in any retail store
greatly influences the customer satisfaction level and the customer perception
towards that store.Merchandising is one of the hot issue in todays retail
competition world which is very important for all the retail store to follow that.

This study was done to know that, do customers are really satisfied with
the merchandising Mix present in the Shoppers’ stop and also to find out how
the store envirnoment influences the shopping behaviour of the customer and
to know which section in the Shoppers’ stop have good merchandising mix and
knows how the store environment can be improved.

31
 CHAPTER - 4
COMPANY PROFILE

32
 Company profile

Shoppers’s Stop

In general satisfaction is a person’s feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from

comparing a products perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his/her expectations. If
the performance falls short of expectations, the consumer is dissatisfied. If the performance
matches the expectations the customer is satisfied.

Shoppers’ stop is not just another hypermarket. It caters to every need of your family
style. Where Shoppers’ stop scores over other stores is its value for money proposition
for the Indian customers. Shoppers’ stop was founded by K. Raheja group in the year
1991. At Shoppers’ stop, you will definitely get the best products at the best prices -
that’s what we 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.
And this is just the beginning. Shoppers’ stop plans to add much more to complete your
shopping experience.

The foundation of Shoppers' Stop was laid on October 27, 1991 by the K. Raheja group of
companies, one of India's biggest hospitality and real estate players. The Group crossed
yet another milestone with its lifestyle venture-Shoppers' Stop. With its immense
expertise in the service industry and creditability, Shoppers' Stop today boasts of 37 retail
outlets across the country and is planning to spread its wings with futuristic expansion
plans to meet the challenges of the retail industry. A benchmark for the Indian retail
industry to follow, Shoppers' Stop has progressed from a single brand shop to a Fashion
& Lifestyle store for the families. Shoppers' Stop is a household name, known for its
superior quality products, services and above all, a complete shopping experience.
Shoppers' Stop was the first to redefine shopping experience and creating a niche for
itself in the service industry. As India's first specialty chain with outlets in Mumbai,
Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Chennai, Shoppers' Stop offers a complete range
of garments and accessories for the entire family. More than 35,000 walk into Shoppers
Stop everyday to feel the experience of shopping. Andheri was the first store to be
opened in India. The initiative of this store was taken by B.S.Nagesh at a time when the
concept of retail industry was just coming into the market. As on today, the current
investors in Shoppers’ Stop are ICICI, IL&FS Investments and Zodiac clothing. Their
combined shareholding in Shoppers Stop is 19% while 79% is held by Raheja Group &
balance 2% is held by its employees. It has more than 1.5 million loyal customers. The

33
total turnover of Shoppers’ stop is Rs.1400 crore with worth total asset of Rs.500 crore.
Total 45 store were target to opened till last year including present 37 stores.

Corporate profile:

Vision:

To be a global retailer in India & maintain no.1 position in Indian market in Department
Store Category.

Mission:

“Nothing but the best”

To strive & achieve nothing but the best in terms of processes, practices & deliverables.

Values:

The following values help Shoppers‘ Stop in achieving its mission & vision:

 We shall not take what is not ours

 The Obligation to Dissent (against a viewpoint that is not acceptable)

 We shall have an environment conducive to openness

 We shall believe in innovation

 We shall have an environment conducive to development

 We shall have the willingness to apologize and/or forgive

 We shall respect our customer's rights

 We shall be fair.

Tagline:

34
“Start something new”

Board of Directors:

Mr. Chandru L. Raheja

Chairman and Non-Executive Director
Mr. Chandru L. Raheja, 70, is the Chairman and Non-Executive Director of our Company. He
is a law graduate from Mumbai. Mr. Raheja has extensive experience with the real estate,
hospitality and retail industries across India.

Mr. Ravi C. Raheja

Non-Executive Director
Mr. Ravi C. Raheja, 39, is the Non-Executive Director of our Company. He is a management
graduate from London Business School. Designated as the Group President at the K. Raheja
Corp, Mr. Raheja has over 18 years industry experience with special focus on the group’s

35
Mr. Neel Raheja
Non-Executive Director
Mr. Neel Raheja, 36, is the Non-Executive Director of our Company. He is an alumnus of
Harvard Business School, Masters in Commerce and Law Graduate from Mumbai University
and has over 15 years of experience in real estate development, hospitality and retail.

Mr. B. S. Nagesh
Customer Care Associate, Vice Chairman and Non-Executive Director
Mr. B. S. Nagesh, 52, is the Vice Chairman and Non-Executive Director of our Company. He
holds a degree of Masters in Management Studies from the Benares Hindu University. He
has been with our Company since its inception in 1991.

Mr. Gulu L. Mirchandani

Independent and Non-Executive Director
Mr. Gulu L. Mirchandani, 67, is the Independent and Non-Executive Director of our
Company. He is an alumnus of BITS, Pilani and holds a degree in BE (Mechanical). Mr.
Mirchandani presently serves as the chairman and managing director of Mirc Electronics
Limited.

36
Mr. Shahzaad Dalal
Independent and Non-Executive Director
Mr. Shahzaad Dalal, 52, is the Independent and Non-Executive Director of our Company. He
is a Management Graduate from Northeast Louisiana University (USA). He is the Vice
Chairman of IL&FS Investment Managers Limited (IIML) one of India’s leading Private Equity
Fund Managers.

Prof. Nitin J. Sanghavi

Independent and Non-Executive Director
Prof. Nitin J. Sanghavi, 62, is the Independent and Non-Executive Director of our Company.
He holds Bachelor’s in Science from Saurashtra University, Master’s in Science and PhD in
Retail Franchising from The University of Manchester.

Mr. Deepak Ghaisas

Independent and Non-Executive Director
Mr. Deepak Ghaisas, 53, is the Independent and Non-Executive Director of our Company. He
is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant and Company Secretary. He leads

37
strategy development, visioning and conceptualisation of breakthrough business models for
Gencoval Group,

Mr. Nirvik Singh

Independent and Non-Executive Director
Mr. Nirvik Singh, 46, is the Independent and Non-Executive Director of our Company. He is a
post graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Mr. Singh brings to our board his keen
sense of marketing communications.

Mr. Govind Shrikhande

Customer Care Associate & Managing Director
Mr. Govind Shrikhande, 50, is the Managing Director of our Company. He is a graduate of
Technology from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Mumbai, and is a
management graduate from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune. Mr.
Shrikhande has been with our Company for more than ten years

Business Partners:

Launched as India's premier retail chain for branded apparel and accessories, Shoppers'
Stop has systematically progressed from only branded apparel to private label garments to
home furnishings, and finally into books and music - all focused on our customers' lifestyle
requirements and aspirations. In 2000, SSL diversified into Bookstore Retailing by acquiring
51% stake in Crossword which it later increased to 100% in 2005. SSL has also ventured into
various categories like cosmetics through MAC, mother and infant care through Mothercare,
home solutions through Home Stop, food and beverages (F&B) through Brio and Desi Café,

38
gaming and entertainment through Timezone, Ladies non-apparel and accessories through
its luxury format, Arcelia, and into airport retailing through its 50:50 joint venture (JV) with
the Nuance group. SSL also has 19% stake in the hyper-mart format of HyperCity and has
plans to increase it by 51% by end of June-2010.

 Shoppers‘s Store‘s sister store are:

Crossword aims to be a point of cultural and social interaction where authors and poets
hold court, where children are regaled, where people gravitate to be informed, to be
entertained, even enlightened. The name embodies the vision of Crossword as a place and
space for people who seek information, knowledge or just the pleasure of reading.
Crossword stocks the widest range of Books – Movies- Music- Toys- Stationery- Magazines
and CD ROM’s.
 
With its large children’s section and its focus on making the store a friendly, safe, fun-filled
place, Crossword attracts many families who normally don’t think of visiting bookstores.
Services like Dial-a-book, Fax-a-book and Email-a-book enable customers to shop from their
homes; and when they come to the store, the unobtrusively helpful staffs assist them in
finding the right book, the right CD or the right gift for the right occasion. Facilities like the
Crossword Gift Vouchers, the friendly ‘Return, Exchange & Refunds’ policy, the Cafes within
the stores and the unique store experience make it easy and enjoyable for customers to
shop at Crossword. Over 2.5 lacs loyal customers are rewarded through the Crossword
Book Rewards Program with points, discounts, exclusive discounts & offers and more.
‘eWords’, a monthly e-newsletter with reviews of new books, news about in store events
and bestseller lists, is currently mailed to these Members.
 
Among the numerous writers who have visited the store are Sir V S Naipaul, Arundhati Roy,
Vikram Chandra, Vikram Seth, Kiran Nagarkar, Kiran Desai, Amitav Ghosh, Shashi Tharoor,
Shobhaa De, Charles Handy, Ricardo Semler and Jack Canfield. Crossword bookstores also
promote the reading habit among children with a weekly activity every Sunday morning
across various stores. Promotional events include Pictionary contests, quizzes, slide shows
and the annual affair with Santa and his elves. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull came for a
signing, so did Macho Man Randy Savage, the WWF champion. Crossword also launched the
Crossword Book Award in 1998 to recognise and reward the best of Indian writing.
 

39
Since its inception in 15th October 1992, Crossword has received wide recognition for its
achievements; articles on retailing in India invariably feature Crossword. It has been
featured in Advertising Age International, USA, as one of the Marketing Superstars for 1994.
The Bookseller, UK, has also described it as ‘being on the cutting edge of retailing’ in India.
 
Crossword was ranked the 6th most admired retailer in India by Business world for the
year 2006; it was the only book retailer in the top 10.
 
Crossword won the Reid & Taylor Award for Best Retailer of the year – Leisure &
Specialty at the India Retail Summit 2005 & 2007& 2009.
 
Crossword won the Retailer of the Year Award - Leisure (Books, Music and Gifts Category)
at the Images Retail Awards 2005 & 2007 & 2010.
 
Crossword received the Federation of Indian Publishers Award for excellence in
Publishing for the year 2004 on 18th June 2005 at the hands of Shri Arjun Singh, Minister
of Human Resource Development.
 
Crossword, with Sixty three stores, across Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Amritsar, Bhopal,
Bengalooru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nasik, Pune & Vadodara is
India’s fastest growing chain of bookstores.

HomeStop is a complete home solution chain offering design, style, quality, convenience
and value to the consumer. HomeStop provides high quality products required for homes
with a deeper product assortment. HomeStop, the first of its kind of premium home
concept store from Shoppers Stop Ltd is the destination to transform your dream house into
a reality. Presently in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai & Navi Mumbai. HomeStop offers a choicest
range of home products to give your house that unique look and feel you always wanted.  
 From the kitchen to the dining room, the bathroom to the drawing room, HomeStop has
everything that will add a special touch and exclusivity to your space. It is one-stop-shop for
all your home needs ranging from home decor to furniture & recliners, bath accessories to
bedroom furnishings, mattress to draperies, carpets, kitchen accessories and appliances to
modular kitchen, health equipment and anything else one can think of.
HomeStop houses some of the most reputed national and international brands under one
roof.  High end crockery from Corelle, premium steel utensils from Magpie and  Art d’nox,
exclusive down feather pillows and fine bedding, bed linen and furnishing from Stop, Ivy,
Fern, Portico, Maspar, Bombay Dyeing and home appliances from Phillips and Morphy
Richards, bathroom linen from Welspun.

40
Brio makes Shoppers’ Stop Ltd foray into Food and Beverage which was a step towards
―franchised coffee bars‖. Brio – the cafe bistro is designed provides customers a place to
relax, revive and reflect. It has a classic yet sophisticated ambiance. Brio has 20 outlets in
select cities. Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), the retail division of Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading
(ABCTL), has signed an MoU with Shoppers Stop to run its BRIO outlets.

Desi Café and their operations have been taken over by Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), the retail
division of Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading (ABCTL), has signed an MoU with Shoppers
Stop to run its Desi Cafe outlets.

Hyper City provides customers a wide variety of range of products for shopping in a large
and modern retail environment. It offers a contemporary range of products, sourced from
both local and international markets. The product range covers: Foods and Grocery, Home
ware, Home Entertainment, Hi-Tech, Appliances, Furniture, Sports, Toys & Fashion.

Shopper‟s Stop Ltd. has ventured into catalogue Stores, call and collect stores, internet
retail website and telephone orders through its subsidiary, Gateway Multichannel Retail
(India) Limited under the name of „HyperCITY-Argos‟. Currently there are 5 stores operating
at Thane.

M•A•C (Make-up Art Cosmetics), a leading brand of professional cosmetics, was created in
Toronto, Canada in 1984 to support the special needs of professional makeup artists – a
collection of colors, products and tools that meet the demanding lighting and studio
conditions under which the pros work. The company’s popularity has grown through a
tradition of word-of-mouth endorsement from makeup artists, models, photographers and

41
journalists around the world. M•A•C opened its first location in India in 2005 and is now
available in thirteen stores nation-wide. M.A.C. and Shopper‘s Stop Ltd. entered into a non
exclusive retail agreement with cosmetics major Estee Lauder to open up M.A.C. Cosmetics
stores in India. M.A.C. Makeup-Art Cosmetics - the professional brand of choice, is the first
brand under the Estee lauder Group of Companies portfolio to enter the Indian retail
market. Currently there are 9 M.A.C.

arcelia

Arcelia is a new retail concept aiming at the growing accessories and cosmetics segment,
with a strong emphasis on experience and indulgence and primarily caters to discerning
women shoppers. It retails cosmetics, fragrances, fine jewelry, footwear, handbags.

If mom knows best, here’s something that will help her make an informed choice.
 Mothercare PLC is the largest specialist retailer for infant and toddler care. In a short span
Mothercare has 21 stores across 7 cities in India, namely - Mumbai (7), Pune (2), Hyderabad
(3), Bangalore (2), Chennai, Jaipur (1), Delhi & NCR and (4) Kolkata. .Mothercare stocks a
variety of products for mothers and their babies, toddlers and children till eight years of age
the focus being on style, function and safety. Renowned for its uniformly high standards of
quality worldwide, Mothercare also offers a wide range of the safest and the most
comfortable, yet trendy maternity products. Its products for would-be moms include
maternity nightwear, pregnancy and labour essentials, literature and even swimwear. For
new mothers, the products have been divided into four categories – newborns 0-3 months,
infants 3-18 months, toddlers 18-36 months and kids 3-8 years. There are pushchairs, car
seats and travel equipment, nursery furniture, cots & cribs, you name it. Here, one can also
find bedding, mattresses, highchairs, clothing & shoes, bathing & changing products, child
safety products and not to mention, books & toys too. In fact, one can safely assume that
there is no baby care and maternity product that you will not find in here.

42
Nuance Group with Shoppers Stop makes an entry into airport retailing. The alliance is
marked with a joint venture with The Nuance Group AG of Switzerland, the world‘s leading
airport retailer. Shopper's Stop Ltd. is handling the retail operations at the duty free zones in
international terminals. The joint venture company, called Nuance Group (India) Private
Limited. is operating outlets at the International airports at Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Time zone

Shoppers Stop forayed into the Entertainment sector by acquiring 45% stake in Timezone
Entertainment Private Limited which is in the business of setting up and operating Family
Entertainment Centers (FECs). It has 5 outlets in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Navi
Mumbai and Mumbai.

Clinique

In 1967, Carol Phillips had been an editor at Vogue magazine for more than 25 years. Always
looking to provide extra service to her readers. Carol had met with Dr. Norman Orentreich
for an article entitled “Can Great Skin Be Created?” At the time the predominant attitude
toward skincare was to “cover” rather than “care.” This groundbreaking article actually
helped transform the beauty industry; telling people that great skin actually could be
created with the proper products and care. Soon after the article was published she and Dr.
Orentreich were challenged by Leonard Lauder to create a Allergy Tested, 100% Fragrance
Free line of skin care customized for people’s specific needs. The result was Clinique which
was based upon the groundbreaking 3-Step Skin Care System. 
 
Clinique operates Five stores in India today; We have two freestanding stores in: Delhi,
select city walk Saket and Mumbai Palladium Mall. In Addition we have Clinique counters in
Gurgaon, Shoppers stop Inorbit Mall and Oasis center, Bangalore. Every Clinique counter
and store offers Free skincare and make up consultations as well as a range of Dermatologist
developed, allergy tested, 100% fragrance free products custom fit to the Indian skin needs
for both Male and Female.

Estee Lauder

When Estee Lauder established her beauty business in 1946, she had four products and a
mission to show “as many women as I can reach not only how to be beautiful but stay

43
beautiful.” Over 60 years later, Estee Lauder, the flagship brand of The Estee Lauder
Companies Inc., has fulfilled countless women’s dreams to look and feel beautiful. The
brand is a global leader in skincare, makeup and fragrance and is renowned for high-quality,
innovative and technologically advanced products.Estee Lauder currently has three
freestanding stores in India located in Mumbai in the Palladium at Lower Parel, New Delhi at
Select City Walk, Saket and UB City in Bangalore. All locations feature the brand’s best
selling products around the globe as well as products chosen specifically for Indian
consumers. Key global products include Est & eacute;e Lauder’s Re-Nutriv luxury skin care
line, Time Zone and Perfectionist CP+. Iconic products such as Advanced Night Repair
Synchronized Recovery Complex, Double Wear Stay-In-Place Foundation and fragrances
including Est & eacute;e Lauder classic range of Private Collection perfumes, Pleasures and
Pure White Linen are all available in India.

Customer Profile

Shoppers‘ Stop‘s customers fall between the age group of 16 years to 35 years, the majority
of them being families and young couples with a monthly household income above Rs.
20000 and an annual spend of Rs.15000. A large number of Non - Resident Indians visit the
shop for cultural clothes in the international environment they are used to which means
people from abroad are also interested in shopping in Shopper‘s stop. Their target
customers are upper middle class and upper class.

Customer Rewards

Shoppers Stop‘s customer loyalty program is called The First Citizen

44
. The program offers its members an opportunity to collect points and avail of special
benefits. Currently, Shoppers‘Stop has a database of over 2.5 lakh members who contribute
to nearly 65% of the total sales of Shoppers‘ Stop. They also offer a co-branded credit card
with Citibank for their members.
The Company has pioneered India’s first retail loyalty program - “First Citizens”. The First
Citizens base grew from 781,000 to 10, 13,000 over customers in this year. During the
current year, the First Citizens contributed 65% of the Company’s annual sales. The First
Citizen program has 3 tiers - Classic Moments (entry level), Silver Edge and Golden Glow.
Members fall into the various tiers on the basis of their spends with the company.
First Citizens also earn differential reward basis on their current tier of membership. First
Citizens receive:
• Reward points on all their spends. Reward points can be redeemed for a wide variety of
merchandise at Shoppers Stop.
• Exclusive schemes, benefits and promotions.
• Extended and exclusive shopping hours - specially during the festive season. Special
previews before the sale periods.
• Invitations to exclusive events - both in-store as well as those organized outside the stores.
• Home delivery of altered merchandise.
• Exclusive First Citizens lounge at select stores to relax after hectic shopping.
First Citizens always stay updated with all details pertaining to their membership as well as
the best of offers and privileges available, through a unique service launched last year - First
Citizens First Through this service First Citizens get all the information that they want on
their mobile phones simply by sending an SMS.
In the coming year your Company proposes to announce some ground breaking programs
for it’s First Citizens which will not only enhance front end sales but will also strengthen
customer loyalty for the company.

International Affiliations:

Shoppers‘ Stop is the only retailer from India to become a member of the prestigious
Intercontinental Group of Departmental Stores (IGDS). The IGDS consists of 29 experienced
retailers from all over the world, which include established stores like Selfridges (England),
Karstadt (Germany), Shanghai No. 1 (China), Matahari (Indonesia), Takashimaya (Japan), C K
Tang (Singapore), Manor (Switzerland) and Lamcy Plaza (Dubai). This membership is
restricted to one member organization per country/region.

Objective of Shoppers’ Stop:

45
 Their main objective is to make their customer satisfy and then profit through sales,
employee added after all every organization works to earn money which is possible through
good sales and if our customers are not satisfy then it will be difficult for us. So we put our
effort on retaining our customers because retaining old customers is more profitable than
making new customers. And if we analyze this statement then we come to know that their
65% of their customers are their first citizen customers. Today people goes for variety and
shoppers stop is doing that, they offer total 250 brands to their customers which act as their
strength and help them retaining as well as making new customers. They believe in
producing quality so they offer quality products basically international brands like Louis
Phillip, Black Berry, Police, DKNY, Ferrari, etc. Shoppers’ Stop aims to position itself as a
global retailer. The company intends to bring the world‘s best retail technology, retail
practices and sales to India. Currently, they are adding 4 to 5 new stores every year

Types of Retail Outlets:

Shopper‘s Stop is known as multi-Brand retail outlet because of their verity of Products.
They offer various products like apparels, Accessories, Toys, Fragrances, Beauty Products,
Travelling products, Home Appliances, etc. They offer various products like Apparels,
Fragrance & Beauty, Home & Travel, Gift ideas. Under this they have different Categories,
Brands and Styles to offer customers. They have many other showrooms of Shopper‘s Stop
in Delhi and NCR, so we can say that they have long chain of retail outlets. They also offer
online purchasing which means that they are using new technology to increase their sales.

Brands Offered:
Shoppers Stop retails products of domestic and international brands such as Louis
Philippe, Pepe, Arrow, BIBA, Gini & Jony, Carbon, Corelle, Magppie, Nike, Reebok,
LEGO, and Mattel. Shoppers Stop retails merchandise

its own labels, such as STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Fratini, Elliza Donatein,
Acropolis etc. The company also licensees for Austin

Reed (London), an international brand, who‘s men’s and women’s outerwear are
retailed in India exclusively through the chain.

Different brands offered under each category are given as below:

APPARELS

 Arrow  Louis Phillipie

46
  Park Avenue Parx  Levice

 Van Heusen  Pepe

 Zodiac  Killer
 Stop  Lee Cooper
 Caliber  Wrangler
 Blackberries  Spykar
 Scullers  Life
 Givo  Allen Solly

 Provouge
 Orly
 Wills
 Lee

Jewellery
 Facet  Tanishq FQ  Oyzsterbay

 Carbon  Swaroski  Sarvoski

 Sparkles  Gili  Estelle

Musics

 Planet M

 Music World

Home Décor

 Yamini  Borosil

 Four Seasons  Corning Ware

 Viva  Pedrini

 Welspun  Pyren

Hair Styling

 Habbibs

Books

47
  Crossword

Fragrances
 Christian Dior  Calvin Klein

 Ysl  Boucheron

 Davidoff  Police

 Joop  J'del Pozo

 Diesel  Myrurgia

 Lancaster  Etienne Aiger

 Nicos  Xm

 Jil Sander

Sunglasses
 Ray Ban

Watches
 Casio  Fossil

 Esprit  Titan

Shoes
 Lee Cooper  Stop
 Red Tape
 Life
 Picasso

Stores

Shoppers Stop is one of the leading retail stores in India. Shoppers Stop began by operating
a chain of department stores under the name ―Shoppers‘ Stop in India. Currently Shoppers
Stop has thirty seven (37) stores across the country and Four stores under the name
HomeStop. Shoppers Stop has also begun operating a number of specialty stores, namely
Crossword Bookstores, Mothercare, Brio, Desi Cafe, Arcelia. Shoppers Stop retails a range of
branded apparel and private label under the following categories of apparel, footwear,
fashion jewellery, leather products, accessories and home products. These are
complemented by cafe, food, entertainment, personal care and various beauty related
services.

48
The list of main stores are given below:
North
New Delhi
 Andrew Ganj, Near south extension, Khel Gaon Marg, New Delhi -110049

Jaipur

 Gauravtowers2,plot no 2, Indira palace, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur-302017.

Gurgaon

 Mgf, Metropolitan mall, Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, Gurgaon, Haryana

East

49
Kolkata

10/3 Lala Lajpatrai road (Elgin road),Kolkata-700020.

West
Andheri (Mumbai)

•211-D, S.V. road, Andheri (west), Mumbai-400058.

Chembur (Mumbai)

•Krushal commercial complex, M.G. Road, nr. Chembur flyover, Mumbai -400079.

Mulund(Mumbai)

•Nirmal lifestyle, L.B.S marg, Mulund (w)

Bandra (Mumbai)

•Suburbia, linking road, Bandra (west), Mumbai -400050.

Kandivili(Mumbai)
41, Naman Plaza, opposite Thatai Bhatia Hall,Shanker lane, S.V. road, Kandivili (west).

Pune

Wakdewadi, Mumbai-Pune highway, Shivaji nagar,Pune-411005.

South
Bangalore

Raheja point, 17/2 Ashok Nagar, Magrath road, Bangalore-560025

Chennai

No.2 Harrington road, Chetput, Chennai-600031.

50
Hyderabad

Opp. Aladdin mansion, 1-22-251/1, Begumpet, Hyderabad -500016

Retail Area

Total retail area of Shoppers Stop and its various formats total‟s to 1.6 million sq. ft.

No. of retai outlets:

Sr. No. Formats No. of stores No. of Remark
cities

1. Shoppers Stop 24 12
2.
HomeStop. 03 03

3. Crossword 48 14

4. Mothercare 19 08
5.
Hypercity 01 01
6. Hypercity Argos
05 01 Catalogue stores

7.
Brio 20 -
8.
Desicafe 03 03
9.
M.A.C 04 03
10.
Arcelia 02 02
11.
Nuanc 02 02 Airport retailing
e
12. Timezone 05 04

51
  Manpower
Every Shoppers Stop employee is termed as Customer Care Associate to emphasize the
belief that the customer always comes first. The total number of customer care associates
stands at 3754 in the year end March 31, 2011.

Awards:

 Received the following awards from the “Clothing Manufacturers Association of

India” (CMAI): Retail Professional of the year - Mr. B.S. Nagesh (For 3 consecutive
years)
 Advertising Campaign of the year - Shoppers Stop (For 3 consecutive years)

 “Department Store of the Year” at the Star Retailer Awards

 “Value Retailer of the Year” to HyperCITY at the Star Retailer Awards.

 “Emerging Market Retailer of the Year” at World Retail Congress Awards

 Mr. B. S. Nagesh has been inducted into the World Retail Hall of Fame (The first
Indian to be bestowed with this honour)

 “Retail Destination of the Year” at the Images Fashion Forum (For 4 consecutive
years)
 “Most Admired Retailer – Technology Application” at Images Retail Forum

 “Most Admired Retailer – Leisure Category” to CROSSWORD at Images Retail Forum

 “Most Admired Retailer – Retail Design & Visual Merchandising” to HyperCITY at
Images Retail Forum
 Mr. B.S. Nagesh has been elevated as Vice Chairman of Shopper’s Stop Ltd., Mr.
Govind Shrikhande has been elevated as Customer Care Associate & President & CEO
of Shopper’s Stop Ltd.
August 17, 2009

 Shoppers Stop makes a cut at World Retail Congress 2009

April 07, 2009

52
  Shopper’s Stop Limited and Cafe Coffee Day enter into MOU
February 05, 2009

 Shoppers Stop recognized as ‘Most Respected Company in the Retail Sector’ By

Business World
February 09, 2011

 Shoppers Stop First Citizen Loyalty Programme wins ‘Customer & Brand Loyalty
Award’ in “Retail Sector” at the 4TH Loyalty Summit 
January 28, 2011

PROMOTOR

K Raheja Corp

K Raheja Corp is a success story spanned across decades and continues to achieve higher
targets relentlessly for quality performance and service in diverse fields of real realty
business, hospitality sector and retailing outfits.
 
The group has made an impact on the supply side of the modern day living. A style that has
been the dream of new class of consumers, a style encompassing the whole range of
consumption pattern of the young and the upcoming consumers that has become synonym
with the brand K Raheja Corp.
 
The group has pioneered the trend of setting world class hotels and convention centers
across the country with enhanced facilities to meet the business and leisure needs of the
international and domestic traveler. The higher standards set by the group in its pursuit to
position India on par with the developed economies of the world and with a vision to be and
remain at the commanding height of Real Estate Business

 MARKETING STRATEGIES FOLLOWED BY SHOPPERS’ STOP

53
Shoppers’ Stop basically follows 2 marketing strategies:

1. Guerrilla marketing
2. Interactive marketing

1. Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time,

energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing
tactics are unexpected and unconventional; consumers are targeted in unexpected places,
which can make the idea that's being marketed memorable, generate buzz, and even spread
virally. Guerilla Marketing involves unusual approaches such as intercept encounters in
public places, street giveaways of products, pr stunts, any unconventional marketing
intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. More innovative approaches to
Guerilla marketing now utilize cutting edge mobile digital technologies to really engage the
consumer and create a memorable brand experience.

Principles of guerrilla marketing

Guerrilla Marketing is specifically geared for the small business and entrepreneur.
It should be based on human psychology instead of experience, judgment, and guesswork.
Instead of money, the primary investments of marketing should be time, energy, and
imagination.
The primary statistic to measure your business is the amount of profits, not sales.
The marketer should also concentrate on how many new relationships are made each
month.
Create a standard of excellence with an acute focus instead of trying to diversify by offering
too many diverse products and services.
Instead of concentrating on getting new customers, aim for more referrals, more
transactions with existing customers, and larger transactions.
Forget about the competition and concentrate more on cooperating with other businesses.
Guerrilla Marketers should always use a combination of marketing methods for a campaign.
Use current technology as a tool to empower your business.

2. Interactive marketing is a strategies adopted by then retailers where they allow

customers to customize the product as per their preference. This strategy is mainly followed
by service industries like hotels but Shoppers‘ Stop is able to carve out this facility in a retail
store.

The concept that has already made a debut at Shoppers‘ Stop outlets in Mumbai, allows
customers — who are referred to as guests — to go through various stages of activity in
creating their own teddy bear (or other stuffed toy), including choosing a stuffed animal,
stuffing it, giving it a heart, stitching, fluffing, naming and dressing it. And though the toys

54
are priced at a premium level ranging between Rs 595 and Rs 1,295 for a stuffed animal and
add-ons such as sound chips, clothes and accessories coming at extra cost —the interactive
shopping experience also adds on an element of entertainment for young customers and
can turn into a family affair as well.

 Use of CRM, ERP & SCM at Shoppers’ Stop:

CRM:
Retail chain Shoppers‘ Stop Ltd, is eyeing over 50 per cent sales this year from its customer
relationship management (CRM) initiatives. The company has also lined up an aggressive
expansion plan targeting smaller towns and cities in the country. B.S.Nagesh, managing
director and CEO of Shoppers‘ Stop, told FE that the company has given a new direction to
its CRM initiatives after it acquired a business intelligence software called ‗Business
Solutions‘ about eight months ago. The new software helps generate intelligent data from
Shoppers‘ Stop customer base of about 2,30,000. The company then collects this data and
touches base with customers via direct mailers informing them of all new promotions that is
currently on and also updates them about the upcoming events. Shoppers‘ Stop claims that
it has taken its CRM initiatives to a new height and now calls it‘s loyalty programmes
Customer Experience Management. ―If we find from the data that a customer had bought
a pair of trousers, we tell him about a new range of shirts that we have just brought into our
store, says Mr. Nagesh. ―We are planning to open 45 outlets within year. We have
identified 21 new locations including Kanpur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ahmadabad and Indore,
among others to set up these outlets, Mr. Nagesh said.

ERP:
Shoppers‘ Stop was the first few retailers to use scanners and barcodes and completely
computerize its operations. Today it is one of the few stores in India to have retail ERP
(Enterprise resource planning) in place, which is the best retail planning system in the world.
With the help of the ERP, they are able to open new stores faster and get information about
merchandise and customers online, which reduces the time in taking quick decision.

SCM:
Understanding the importance of distribution and logistics in ensuring that merchandise is
available on the shop floors has led Shoppers‘ Stop to streamline its supply chain. The
company has developed process manuals for each part of the logistics chain. These modules
include vendor management, purchase order management, stock receiving systems,
purchase verification and inventory buildup, fixing of price and store tags, dispatch of stocks

55
to the retail floor and forwarding of bills for payment. If we talk about various brands then
the answer is that they have a direct tie ups with different companies and companies deliver
all the needed products to their door-step means deliver all the goods to every shopper‘s
stop showroom. But there are some companies which do not provide them these services
so for those they have their own carrier.

Controllable & Uncontrollable Factors:

Controllable & Uncontrollable factors are those which are directly or indirectly affect the
retail outlet. The difference between these two factors is that one can be controlled by the
retailer and another cannot be controlled. The variables which are controllable can be
change according to the retailers but if we talk about uncontrollable factors then the retailer
have to change him/her according to those factors. There are various Controllable
&uncontrollable Factors. When we ask about these factors to the employee of Shopper‘s
Stop, he told us the following important things:

Controllable Factors of Shopper’s Stop

 Pricing

 Store Location

 Managing a business/workforce

Pricing
He told us that setting price of a product is in our hands. This is our decision that how much
profit we want to make by selling our products. Sometimes we have to set our prices
according to the competition.

Store Location
Selecting the location for the store is in the hands of retailers because before selecting the
location they have to check many factors like walking traffic, competitor, parking,
infrastructure, etc. They also have to decide that they want to buy the site or they will take
it on rent. So after deciding all these things they reach to the final decision.

Managing a Business/Workforce

56
 He told us that managing the workforce means a lot to them, because they have to decide
that what type of people they need what type of training our employees need, and what will
be the salary of our employees .All these things can be controlled by the retailer.

Uncontrollable Factors of Shopper’s Stop

 Government Policies

 Seasons

 Inflation Rate

 Technology

 Infrastructure

Government Policies
Government policies or Legal Restriction cannot be controlled and the big example of this is
―sealing of illegal shops. The taxes and duties which retailers have to pay to the
government.

Seasons
He told us that natural climates cannot be controlled and they have to go according to that
like in winters they have to change their theme and products also. He also told us that a
sometimes season plays a negative role like in rainy season their sales goes down. So these
things cannot be controlled and they can only launch new marketing strategies to attract
the customers.

Inflation Rate
He told us that as we all know that now inflation rate is more that 12% so it is creating more
problems for us because due to this people are getting more aware of saving money and
due to which our sales is also affected. If we analyze the global market then we will see that
every sector is going down except one or two. And retail sector is also not doing well these
days. Against this we can‘t do anything, we can only wait.

Technology

57
He told us that day by day the technology is upgrading and the problem is that the new
competitor comes with new technology because of which they also have to upgrade their
technology which results more expenditure, which is not good for any business.

Competitors:

In India, as we analyzed we find only few competitors for Shoppers‘ Stop & those are
mainly foreign players and also Individual stores. The name of few competitors is given
below:

 Lifestyle

 Globus

 Central

 Pantaloons

 Westside

 Ebony

 Situational Analysis:
Situational Analysis includes current organizational mission, current ownership and
management alternatives, and current goods/services category. As I have explained above
about the mission management alternatives, current products, so now here I have done the
SWOT analysis of Shopper‘s Stop.

58
  SWOT analysis of Shopper‘s Stop
Strength

 Variety  Low risk

 Range  Good financial position

 Different Brands  Presence across various segments

 Pioneer  Parikrama the festival

 Loyal customer

Weakness

 Very high prices: They provide international Brands due to which their prices are
very high.

 Less Schemes: They do not offer so much schemes, they offer schemes only on
special occasions like Diwali, Independence Day, etc.

 Less Discounts : They offer less discount in their schemes, they basically offer 10% to
20% discount

 Competition from standalone stores

 Late entry into value retailing

 Store makeover expenditure

Threats

 Government Policies

 Entrance of New Players

 High attrition

 Lesser consumer spending

 Entry of foreign players

 Unorganized sector

 Independent stores

59
Opportunities

 Awareness about the brands  Collaborate

 Quality  Private levels

 Youngsters  Tier 2 & tier 3 cities

 Higher disposable income  Enter new consumer goods

segments.

60
 CHAPTER – 5
DATA INTERPRITATION

61
 Questionnaire to the customer who shop at the store:
1. Do you frequently visit shoppers’ stop?

Table: 1

Response No of customer

Yes 72

No 28

Chart 1:

Inference:

From the above chart we can ascertain that majority of customers i.e., around 72% of
customers frequently visits to the store and 28% of the customer visits the store rarely.

2. How frequently do you shop at shoppers’ stop super Centre?

Table:2

Response No of customer

Every week 16

62
 Once in two week 24

Once in three week 34

Once in a month 26

Chart 2:

Inference:

From the above table we can analyze that the majority of the customer i.e. 34out of 100
customer visits store once in three week , followed by 26 customer once in a month. Thus
we can say that majority of customer visit shoppers’ stop once in three week, may be during
weekends. We can conclude that the customer do not visit shoppers’ stop for their petty
daily purchase, they are visit to other stores

3. Why do you shop at shoppers’ stop?

Table: 3

Reason No. of customers

Low price 42

Product variety 26

Quality 08

Location 24

63
Chart 3:

Low price
; 42
No. of customers

Product
variety; 26
Location; 24

Quality; 8

Inference:

From the data collected we can determine that most of the customer visits the store by
perception that product are low price i.e. 42% and 26% for the product variety and 24% for
the location. From this we can say that shoppers’ stop have expand their product
variety.and other 8% of the consumers are visit seeking the quality.

4. Do You feel that you find different variety of product’s in shoppers’ stop super centre?

Table: 4

Response No of customer

Yes 69

No 31

64
Chart 4:

No; 31; 31%

Yes
No
Yes; 69; 69%

Inference:

From the data collected , we can conclude that majority of the customer that is 69 customer
out of 100 customer said that they find different variety of product in shoppers’ stop and 31
customer said they don’t.

5. Do you prefer private level brand to purchase?

Table: 5

Response No of customer

Yes 57

No 43

65
Chart 5:

No of customer
Yes; 57

No; 43

Inference:

Here from the above pie chart, 57 customer said that they find specific brand that they look
in shoppers’ stop and 43 customer said No, from this we can conclude that shoppers’ stop
have different variety of product not that much variety of product and they have to rethink
about the brand available in their store and they have to expand their brand availability.

6. How much time do you spend while shopping at shoppers’ stop super Centre?

Table: 6

Response No of customer

30-60 minutes 22

1-2 hrs 18

2-3 hrs 34

Above 3 hrs 26

66
Chart 6:

30-60 minutes
No of customer
1-2 hrs
2-3 hrs

Above 3 hrs
30-60 minutes ; 22;
22%

Above 3 hrs; 26; 26%

1-2 hrs; 18; 18%

2-3 hrs
; 34; 34%

Inference:

From the chart , we came to know that 34 customer’s out of 100 customer shop up to the
period of 2-3 hour’s and by 26 customer shop up to the duration of above 3 hrs , this means
shoppers’ stop have more product to shop.

8. Do you agree that this store has modern-looking equipment and fixtures?

Table: 8

Response No of customer

Strongly disagree 06

Somewhat disagree 11

Neutral 31

Somewhat agree 47

Strongly agree 05

Chart 8:

67
 Somewhat agree; 47

Neutral; 31
No of
customer

Somewhat disagree;
11

Strongly disagree; 6
Strongly agree; 5

Inference:

From the above chart, we get to know that most of the customer is somewhat satisfied with
modern fixtures and equipment present inside the shoppers’ stop.

9. The store layout at this store makes it easy for customers to find what they need

Table: 9

Response No of customer

Strongly disagree 18

Somewhat disagree 36

Neutral 26

Somewhat agree 12

Strongly agree 08

Chart 9:

68
 Somewhat disagree;
36

No of
customer
Neutral; 26

Strongly disagree;
18

Somewhat agree; 12

Strongly agree; 8

Inference : From the above that, we come to know that majority of the customer said that
the store layout is not up to the mark, i.e. they are not satisfied with the store lay out
present in the shoppers’ stop.

10. The store layout at this store makes it easy for customers to move around the store?

Table: 10
Response No of customer

Strongly disagree 07

Somewhat disagree 13
Chart
Neutral 28 10
Somewhat agree 41

Strongly agree 11

Inference :

From the data collected with this question, we come to know that may of the responses was
somewhat agree that, the store layout at this store makes it easy for customers to move
around the store.

11. How is the cleanliness/Hygienic of floor inside the store?

Table: 11

Response No of customer

69
 Excellent 30

Good 18

Ok 42

Bad 10

Chart-11

Bad; 10; 10%

Excellent; 30; 30%

Excellent
Good
Ok; 42; 42% Ok
Bad
Good ; 18; 18%

Inference:

From the data collected with this question, 42 out of 100 customer to respond about
cleaning of store is ok, 10 customer respond is bad, 30 customer is excellent, and 18
customer respond is good , the inside store cleanliness , so to improve the cleanliness inside
the store,

12. How is the internal environment of the store?

Table: 12

Response No of customer

Excellent 42

Good 28

Ok 20

Bad 10

70
Chart-12

Excellent; 42

Good ; 28

Ok; 20 No of customer

Bad; 10

Inference

From the data collected with this question, we come to know that may of the responses
most of the customers responses is excellent, the inside store environment, but still to
improve the inside the store environment,

13. How do you rate shopping in the shoppers’ stop?

Table: 13

Response No of customer

good for shopping 43

good environment inside shoppers’ 39

stop

Other 18

71
Chart-13

good for good

shopping ; 43 environment
inside big bazaar;
39

Other; 18

Inference :

From this table and respones of the cutomer, out of 100, 43 customers are fell to enter good
shopping in supercentre, 39 customers fell good enviroment inside the shoppers’ stop
supercentre , and 18 customers fell other resons to enter the shoppers’ stop.

14. Which section do you visit first when you enter shoppers’ stop super centre?

Table: 14

Response No. of customer

Casual men’s section 46

Casual women’s section 28

Apparel 16

Formal section 10

72
Chart: 14

Casual men’s section

Casual women’s
section
Apparel
Formal section

Out of 100 people 21 were ladies,

46% of people said they will prefer to visit casual for men section

28 people said they will prefer to visit casual for women

16 people said they will prefer to see fashion apparel

Only 10 people who were office worker and more than 35 yr old, said they will prefer

Formal section rather than other section.

73
 CHAPTER – 6
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS

74
 FINDINGS

Shoppers’ stop is popular because of these reasons:-

 They provide guaranteed best products at the best prices

 Wide range of fashion garment & accessories under one roof

 Affordable price and good product range for middle class

CONCLUSITION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion and recommendation for shoppers’ stop are as follows:-

Shoppers’’ stop is lacking behind in some services in which it is not considered as good as
compare to competitors like stock availability, music and other facilities like snacks parlor.
They can go for some innovative ideas as they have always done before.

Overall shoppers’ stop should leverage on all its strong point and let more customer START
SOMETHING NEW. Because after all customers are the heart and soul of business, like any
other.

I. They should introduce more schemes, discounts, sales to increase the sales.

II. They should introduce Low rate Brands which will attract the middle class customers
also or brands for masses.

III. The stores becomes a bit messy because of a large footfall & small size of stores so
they should have larger outlets

IV. They offer parking space only for the ―first citizen‖ card holders which acts as a
constraint for many first visitors to visit the malls.

V. Shoppers stop‘s competitors used aggressive medium of advertisement like

television commercial ads, thus to gain a competitive advantage over the
competitors Shoppers Stop should also use such medium of marketing.
VI. Always pay attentions on customers’ suggestions and complains
VII. Check out system should be fast

75
VIII. Sales representative should have good product knowledge
IX. Billing system should be more fast

Bibliography and Annexure

Bibliography:
I. www.shoppersstop.com
II. www.corporate.shoppersstop.com
III. www.scribd.com
IV. www.netmba.com
V. www.google.com

Annexure:

Questionnaire

I. Do you frequently visit shoppers’ stop?

a) Yes
b) No

II. How frequently do you shop at shoppers’ stop?

a)Every week
b) Ones in two weeks
c)ones in three weeks
d)ones in a month
III. Why do you shop at shoppers’ stop?

a) Low price b) Product variety

c) Quality d) Location

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 IV. Do You feel that you find different brands of garment in shoppers’ stop?
a) Yes
b) No
V. Do you prefer private level brand to purchase?

a) Yes b) No

Vi. How much time do you spend while shopping shoppers’ stop?

a) 30-60 min b) 1-2 hours c) 2-3 hours

d) Above 3 hours

vii. Which section do you visit first when you enter shoppers’ stop super centre?

a) Food b) Apparels c) House hold

d) Electronic section

viii. Do you agree that this store has modern-looking equipment and fixtures?

a) Strongly disagree b) Somewhat disagree

c) Neutral

iX. The store layout at this store makes it easy for customers to find what they
need

a) Strongly agree b) Strongly digree

c) Somewhat agree d) Strongly agree

e) neutral

X. Do you think, this store has good parking facilities?

a) Yes b) No

Xi. How is the cleanliness/Hygienic of floor inside the store?

a) Excellent b) Good c) O.K

d) Not good

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xii. Do you think, this store has good parking facilities?

a) Yes b) No

xiii. How do you feel about playing music inside the store when you are
shopping?

a) It must c) sometimes ok
b) Good , can be played

d) it is not needed

xiv. Do you agree that this store has modern-looking equipment and fixtures?

a) Strongly disagree b) Somewhat disagree

c) Somewhat agree d) Strongly agree

e) Neutral

SALES ANALYSIS OF SHOPPERS’ STOP

Customer Entry

The opening of new stores coupled with attractive advertising enabled the Company to
attract higher number of customers in new as well as existing stores. Retailers measure
entry as footfalls, which YEAR NO. OF CUSTOMER is the number of people
entering the stores. This is computed through
(in millions)
manual count in all stores during trading
2005 12.2
hours.
2006 14.6
2007 18.3
2008 19.9
2009 25.6
2010 30.1

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 NO. OF CUSTOMER
35

30

25

20 NO. OF CUSTOMER

15

10

0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

(No. of customer in million)

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Conversion Ratio:
Conversion is the ratio of the number of transactions (Cash Memo) versus the total
customer entry into the stores. Tracking conversion helps the retailer understand the
productivity of his front-end store employees and the attractiveness of the Merchandise and
services. Consequent to recent stores being part of malls, the customer entry has increased
but the conversion ratio has dropped. However in absolute numbers customers converted
have shown growth in 2 years.

Year no. of customer converted

(in thousand
2005 317
2006 394
2007 512
2008 537
2009 691
2010 872

no. of customer converted

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

872
691
512 537
317 394

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 3 4 5 6

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 Chart showing no. of footfalls converted into customer (in thousands)

 No. of footfalls converted into customer (in thousands)

In year 2005 -317

In year 2006-394

In year 2007 – 512

In year 2008 - 587

In year 2009 - 691

In year 2010 - 872

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