1

A PROJECT REPORT
ON
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
AT
V MART

TOWARDS THE PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF
POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN RETAIL MANGEMENT (PGDRM)

SUBMITTED BY:
VIVEKANAND MAYANK
One Year Diploma
ROLL NO-


GOVERNMENT POLYTECHNIC BARABANKI
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
JAHANGIRABAD, BARABANKI, U.P.
(2013-14)

2

A
Study on
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
AT V-MART
Submitted to
Board of Technical Education , Lucknow
for the fulfillment of the requirement of one year
post Graduate Diploma in Retail Management

Submitted by
VIVEKANAND MAYANK


Under the Guidance of
Mr. L.B. Prasad Er. K. Ram
B.SC, M.B.A. (Distt) M.Ed, Ph.D (C.W.Delhi) Principal
Head of the Department
Sales & Marketing Management,
1/c Retail Management, and Accountancy,
Government Polytechnic, Barabanki


Session- 2013-14
DEPARTMENT OF RETAIL MANAGEMENT
GOUVERMENT POLYTECHNIC BARABANKI


3

GOVERMENT POLYTECHNIC
(BARABANKI-208002 U.P.)

L.B. Prasad
B.SC, M.B.A. (Distt) M.Ed, Ph.D (C.W.Delhi)
Head of the Department
Sales & Marketing Management,
1/c Retail Management, and Accountancy,


GUIDES CERTIFICATE
This is to certified that, CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
AT V-MART has been prepared by Mr. Vivekanand Mayank S/O Shri
Chandrama Verma in partial fulfillment of the requirement of One Year
Post Graduate Diploma in Retail Management (Session-2013-14) of
Board of Technical Education, Lucknow, U.P. through this Institution
under my supervision, guidance & recommended that it may be
accepted for examination.

Date: 31/03/2014
Place: Barabanki

(L.B.Prasad)




4

GOVERMENT POLYTECHNIC
(BARABANKI-208002 U.P.)

Er. K. Ram
Principal

PRINCIPALS CERTIFICATE

This is to certified that Mr. Vivekanand Mayank S/O Shri Chandrama
Verma is a bonafied student of One Year Pull Time Post Graduate
Diploma in Retail Management in this Institution during Session-2013-
14.
I wish him success for his Project Report as well as successful carrier.

Date: 31/03/2014
Place: Barabanki


(L.B.Prasad)









5


DECLARATION



I Vivekanand Mayank the student of PGDRM by declare that the project
report is my own work and has carried out under the guidance and
supervision of Mr. L.B. Prasad. Further I declare that it has not been
submitted to any other university of examination.




Date: Vivekanand Verma
6

PREFACE


In this age of neck to neck competition, there is much importance given
to practical knowledge. The theoretical knowledge is not sufficient to
understand the boundless field of business management.

Today every person wants to be a master in the field they are in. The
practical training is a life of management student. In modern world the
importance of management is increasing day by day. Industrial training
provide a student sufficient knowledge to develop an education to
connect theory and practical.

So to fulfill our purpose I have done training at V MART



7

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my great pleasure to present this report before you. I sincerely would
like to show my gratitude towards all those persons who have helped me
throughout my project work
I am heartily thankful to Mr. Khalid at V MART for giving me his
valuable guidance for preparing this report. He has been an exceptional
mentor during these two months of training. It has been a great learning
experience of being a trainee under him.
I would like to express my special thanks Er. K. Ram ,our Pricipal who
has helped me a lot during this report. Their critical advices helped me
to make this report more effective.
Moreover, I thanks to Mr. L.B. Prasad ( Faculty Guide) who guided me
before and after the industrial training. He gave me great support to
prepare this project, too. And all who directly or indirectly helped me in
preparing this report.













8

TABLE OF CONTENT























9

CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION


Retailing is evolving into a global, high-tech business. Wal-Mart is
now the worlds largest corporation and has become the largest food
retailer in the United States. French based Carrefour is the worlds second
largest retailer. Retailing in developed countries is big business and better
organized. But the retail scenario in India is different much of it is in
unorganized sector. There are more than 12 million retail outlets of
various sizes and formats. And almost 90% of them are less than 500 sq.
ft. in size and the per capita retail space is only 2 sq. ft. while US has 16
sq. ft.

India has the largest number of outlet in world i.e. 9 outlets for 1000
people. Most of them are independent and contribute to the retail sales.
Because of increasing number of nuclear families, working women,
greater work pressure and greater commuting time, convenience has
become a priority for Indian customers. They ever want things under one
roof for easy access and multiplicity of choice. The growth and
development of organized retailing is driven by two main factors- prices
and benefits the customer cant resist.
India is rapidly involving into a competitive market place with
potential target consumers in the niche middle class segments. The
market trend indicates tremendous growth opportunities. The buying
behavior and lifestyle in India too are changing and the concept of value
for money is fast catching on in Indian retailing. This is the evident from
the expansion of the Pantaloons chain into the large format, V Mart. This
10

growth in retail sector is making the retailers powerful intermediates in
the marketing channel, bridging the gap between manufactures and
consumers.

Keeping in mind the rapid growth of Indian retail industry and its
bright future, this has always been a thrust area for me. V Mart is at the
top position in Indian retail industry. That is why it attracted me to have
summer training (on the job training) in V Mart, Lucknow. V Mart is the
retail chain of Future Retail (India) Ltd. And it provides a wide range of
products availability for the customers.

As a matter of fact, retail is the buzz word of the Indian economy
today. As retail industry is growing at a high pace I wanted to have an
overview of the subject. I have chosen V Mart retail chain for the summer
training (on the job training) because V Mart retail is very upcoming
retail company which is continuously changing its activities with the
change of time. I wanted to understand their marketing activities and
liked to relate how similar or dissimilar it is from what I have studied in
marketing management.

To execute the project, I underwent on the job training at V Mart,
Lucknow. The interaction with the Store Manager, Operational Manager
and other staff personnel was fruitful to me as it cleared many core
concepts when it came to practical application.

The main objective of the project was to get practical training of
what we have learnt theoretical in the classroom. In other words, it was to
get practical exposure of all the marketing skills and how to implement in
the real situation.
11

OBJECTIVES


The other objectives of the project were the following:

To look at the current trends in the Indian organized retail industry.

To understand the V MART

Organization as how systematically it is run by the management
personnel.

To know about the marketing activities of the V Mart done round
the year.

To know the customer queries, comments and suggestions about
the store and its products.

To know about the promotional activities done at V MART to
increase the sales.

To get acquainted with the major issues in the Indian organized
retail industry.






12

SCOPE OF STUDY

In fact, the training was for the practical aspects of the
management skills and it was fruitful as the main objective of the
project was fulfilled satisfactorily. During the training period, I
learnt about the store organization and different activities
performed by staff personnel. V MART brings various schemes for
the festival season and offers wide product choice to the customers.





















13

CHAPTER-2

Industry Profile

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a model for managing a
companys interactions with current and future customers. It involves
using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize
sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support

SALES FORCE AUTOMATION
Sales force automation (SFA) uses software to streamline the sales
process. The core of SFA is acontact management system for tracking
and recording every stage in the sales process for each prospective client,
from initial contact to final disposition. Many SFA applications also
include insights into opportunities, territories, sales forecasts and work
flow automation.

MARKETING
CRM systems for marketing track and measure campaigns over multiple
channels, such as email, search, social media, telephone and direct mail.
These systems track clicks, responses, leads and deals.

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT
CRMs can be used to create, assign and manage requests made by
customers, such as call centersoftware which help direct customers to
agents. CRM software can also be used to identify and reward loyal
customers.

14

APPOINTMENTS
Appointment CRMs automatically provide suitable appointment times to
customers via e-mail or the web, which are then synchronized with the
representative or agent's calendar.

SMALL BUSINESS
For small businesses a CRM may simply consist of a contact manager
system which integrates emails, documents, jobs, faxes, and scheduling
for individual accounts.[citation needed] CRMs available for specific
markets for professional markets (legal, finance) are frequently touted for
their event management and relationship tracking opposed to financial
return on investment (ROI).

SOCIAL MEDIA
Some CRMs coordinate with social media sites
like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google Plus to track and
communicate with customers who share opinions and experiences about
their company, products and services.

NON-PROFIT AND MEMBERSHIP-BASED
Systems for non-profit and membership-based organizations help track
constituents, fund-raising, demographics, membership levels,
membership directories, volunteering and communications with
individuals.

ADOPTION ISSUES
In 2003, a Gartner report estimated that more than $1 billion had been
spent on software that was not being used. According to KEN Insights,
less than 40 percent of 1,275 participating companies had end-user
15

adoption rates above 90 percent. Many corporations only use CRM
systems on a partial or fragmented basis. In a 2007 survey from the UK,
four-fifths of senior executives reported that their biggest challenge is
getting their staff to use the systems they had installed. 43 percent of
respondents said they use less than half the functionality of their existing
system.

MARKET LEADERS
The CRM market grew by 12.5 percent in 2008, from revenue of $8.13
billion in 2007 to $9.15 billion in 2008. The following table lists the top
vendors in 20062008 (figures in millions of US dollars) published
in Gartner studies.

Vendor
2008
Revenue
2008
Share
(%)
2007
Revenue
2007
Share
(%)
2006
Revenue
2006
Share
(%)
SAP AG 2,055
22.5
(2.8)
2,050.8 25.3 1,681.7 25.6
Oracle 1,475 16.1 1,319.8 16.3 1,016.8 15.5
Salesforce.com 965 10.6 676.5 8.3 451.7 6.9
Microsoft
CRM
581 6.4 332.1 4.1 176.1 2.7
Amdocs 451 4.9 421.0 5.2 365.9 5.6
Others 3,620 39.6 3,289.1 40.6 2,881.6 43.8
Total 9,147 100 8,089.3 100 6,573.8 100

16

TRENDS
Many CRM vendors offer subscription-based web tools (cloud
computing) and software as a service(SaaS)). Some CRM systems are
equipped with mobile capabilities, making information accessible to
remote sales staff.[citation needed] Salesforce.com was the first company
to provide enterprise applications through a web browser, and has
maintained its leadership position. Traditional providers have recently
moved into the cloud-based market via acquisitions of smaller
providers: Oracle purchased Right Now in October
2011 and SAP acquired Success Factors in December 2011.

The era of the "social customer" refers to the use of social media
(Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,Google Plus, Yelp, customer reviews
in Amazon, etc.) by customers. CRM philosophy and strategy has shifted
to encompass social networks and user communities.

Another related development is vendor relationship management, or
VRM which provide tools and services for customers to independently
manage their relationship with vendors. VRM development has grown
out of efforts by ProjectVRM at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet &
Society andIdentity Commons' Internet Identity Workshops, as well as by
a growing number of startups and established companies. VRM was the
subject of a cover story in the May 2010 issue of CRM Magazine.

In 2001 Doug Laney developed the concept and coined the term
'Extended Relationship Management' (XRM).[16] Laney defines XRM as
extending CRM disciplines to secondary allies such as government, press,
and industry consortia.

17

CRM futurist Dennison DeGregor describes a shift from 'push CRM'
toward a 'customer transparency' (CT) model, due to the increased
proliferation of channels, devices, and social media.

CUSTOMER
A customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the
recipient of a good, service, product, or idea, obtained from
a seller, vendor, or supplier for a monetary or other valuable
consideration. Customers are generally categorized into two types:
An intermediate customer or trade customer (more informally: "the
trade") who is a dealer that purchases goods for re-sale.

An ultimate customer who does not in turn re-sell the things bought but
either passes them to the consumer or actually is the consumer.

A customer may or may not also be a consumer, but the two notions are
distinct, even though the terms are commonly confused. A
customer purchases goods; a consumer uses them. An ultimate
customer may be a consumer as well, but just as equally may have
purchased items for someone else to consume. An intermediate customer
is not a consumer at all. The situation is somewhat complicated in that
ultimate customers of so-called industrial goods and services (who are
entities such as government bodies, manufacturers, and educational and
medical institutions) either themselves use up the goods and services that
they buy, or incorporate them into other finished products, and so are
technically consumers, too. However, they are rarely called that, but are
rather called industrial customers or business-to-business
customers. Similarly, customers who buy services rather than goods are
rarely called consumers.
18


Six Sigma doctrine places (active) customers in opposition to two other
classes of people:not-customers and non-customers. Whilst customers
have actively dealt with a business within a particular recent period that
depends from the product sold, not-customers are either past customers
who are no longer customers or potential customers who choose to do
business with the competition, and non-customers are people who are
active in a different market segment entirely. Geoff Tennant, a Six Sigma
consultant from the United Kingdom, uses the following analogy to
explain the difference: A supermarket's customer is the person buying
milk at that supermarket; a not-customer is buying milk from a competing
supermarket, whereas a non-customer doesn't buy milk from
supermarkets at all but rather "has milk delivered to the door in the
traditional British way".

Tennant also categorizes customers another way, that is employed
outwith the fields of marketing. Whilst the intermediate/ultimate
categorization is used by marketers, market regulation, and economists, in
the world of customer service customers are categorized more often into
two classes:

An external customer of an organization is a customer who is not directly
connected to that organization.

An internal customer is a customer who is directly connected to an
organization, and is usually (but not necessarily) internal to the
organization. Internal customers are usually stakeholders, employees,
or shareholders, but the definition also
encompasses creditors and external regulators.
19

The notion of an internal customer before the introduction of which
external customers were, simply, customers was popularized by
quality management writer Joseph M. Juran, who introduced it in the
fourth edition of his Handbook (Juran 1988). It has since gained wide
acceptance in the literature on total quality management and service
marketing; and the customer satisfaction of internal customers is
nowadays recognized by many organizations as a precursor to, and
prerequisite for, external customer satisfaction, with authors such
as Tansuhaj, Randall & McCullough 1991arguing that service
organizations that design products for internal customer satisfaction are
better able to satisfy the needs of external customers.

INDUSTRIAL MARKETING
The idea that marketing can potentially eliminate the need for sales
people depends entirely on context. For example, this may be possible in
some B2C situations; however, for many B2Btransactions (for example,
those involving industrial organizations) this is mostly
impossible.[citation needed] Another dimension is the value of the goods
being sold. Fast-moving consumer-goods (FMCG) require no sales
people at the point of sale to get them to jump off the supermarket shelf
and into the customer's trolley. However, the purchase of large mining
equipment worth millions of dollars will require a sales person to manage
the sales process - particularly in the face of competitors. Small and
medium businesses selling such large ticket items to a geographically-
disperse client base use Manufacturers' representatives to provide these
highly personal service while avoiding the large expense of a captive
sales force.


20

SALES AND MARKETING ALIGNMENT AND INTEGRATION
Another area of discussion involves the need for alignment and
integration between corporate sales and marketing functions. According
to a report from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, only 40
percent of companies have formal programs, systems or processes in
place to align and integrate the two critical functions.

Traditionally, these two functions, as referenced above, have operated
separately, left in siloed areas of tactical responsibility. Glen Petersens
book The Profit Maximization Paradox[8] sees the changes in the
competitive landscape between the 1950s and the time of writing as so
dramatic that the complexity of choice, price and opportunities for the
customer forced this seemingly simple and integrated relationship
between sales and marketing to change forever. Petersen goes on to
highlight that salespeople spend approximately 40 percent of their time
preparing customer-facing deliverables while leveraging less than 50
percent of the materials created by marketing, adding to perceptions that
marketing is out of touch with the customer and that sales is resistant
to messaging and strategy.

MARKETING
Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or
service to customers. It is a critical business function for attracting
customers.

From a societal point of view, marketing is the link between a societys
material requirements and its economicpatterns of response. Marketing
satisfies these needs and wants through exchange processes and building
long term relationships. The process of communicating the value of a
21

product or service through positioning to customers. Marketing can be
looked at as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating,
delivering and communicating value to customers, and managing
customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and
its shareholders. Marketing is the science of choosing target
markets through market analysis andmarket segmentation, as well as
understanding consumer buying behavior and providing superior
customer value.

There are five competing concepts under which organizations can choose
to operate their business; the production concept, the product concept, the
selling concept, the marketing concept, and the holistic marketing
concept. The four components of holistic marketing are relationship
marketing, internal marketing, integrated marketing, and socially
responsive marketing. The set of engagements necessary for successful
marketing management includes, capturing marketing insights,
connecting with customers, building strong brands, shaping the market
offerings, delivering and communicating value, creating long-term
growth, and developing marketing strategies and plans.

CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES
Recent approaches in marketing include relationship marketing with
focus on the customer, business marketing or industrial marketing with
focus on an organization or institution and social marketing with focus on
benefits to society. New forms of marketing also use the internet and are
therefore called internet marketing or more generally e-marketing, online
marketing, "digital marketing", search engine marketing, or desktop
advertising. It attempts to perfect the segmentation strategy used in
traditional marketing. It targets its audience more precisely, and is
22

sometimes called personalized marketing or one-to-one
marketing. Internet marketing is sometimes considered to be broad in
scope, because it not only refers to marketing on the Internet, but also
includes marketing done via e-mail, wireless media as well as driving
audience from traditional marketing methods like radio and billboard to
internet properties or landing page.

CUSTOMER ORIENTATION


Constructive criticism helps marketers adapt offerings to meet changing
customer needs.

A firm in the market economy survives by producing goodsthat persons
are willing and able to buy. Consequently, ascertaining consumer
demand is vital for a firm's future viability and even existence as a going
concern. Many companies today have a customer focus (or market
orientation). This implies that the company focuses its activities and
products on consumer demands. Generally, there are three ways of doing
23

this: the customer-driven approach, the market change identification
approach and the product innovation approach

In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all
strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the
test of consumer research. Every aspect of a market offering, including
the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential
consumers. The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for
this approach is that there is no reason to spend R&D (research and
development) funds developing products that people will not buy. History
attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being
technological breakthroughs.

A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known
as SIVA (Solution, Information, Value, Access). This system is basically
the four Ps renamed and reworded to provide a customer focus. The
SIVA Model provides a demand/customer-centric alternative to the well-
known 4Ps supply side model (product, price, placement, promotion) of
marketing management.

Product Solution
Promotion Information
Price Value
Place (Distribution) Access
If any of the 4Ps were problematic or were not in the marketing factor of
the business, the business could be in trouble and so other companies may
appear in the surroundings of the company, so the consumer demand on
its products will decrease. However, in recent years service marketing has
24

widened the domains to be considered, contributing to the 7P's of
marketing in total. The other 3P's of service marketing are: process,
physical environment and people.

Some qualifications or caveats for customer focus exist. They do not
invalidate or contradict the principle of customer focus; rather, they
simply add extra dimensions of awareness and caution to it.

The work of Christensen and colleagues on disruptive technology has
produced a theoretical framework that explains the failure of firms not
because they were technologically inept (often quite the opposite), but
because the value networks in which they profitably operated included
customers who could not value a disruptive innovation at the time and
capability state of its emergence and thus actively dissuaded the firms
from developing it. The lessons drawn from this work include:

Taking customer focus with a grain of salt, treating it as only a subset of
one's corporate strategy rather than the sole driving factor. This means
looking beyond current-state customer focus to predict what customers
will be demanding some years in the future, even if they themselves
discount the prediction.

Pursuing new markets (thus new value networks) when they are still in a
commercially inferior or unattractive state, simply because their potential
to grow and intersect with established markets and value networks looks
like a likely bet. This may involve buying stakes in the stock of smaller
firms, acquiring them outright, or incubating small, financially distinct
units within one's organization to compete against them.

25

Other caveats of customer focus are:
The extent to which what customers say they want does not match their
purchasing decisions. Thus surveys of customers might claim that 70% of
a restaurant's customers want healthier choices on the menu, but only
10% of them actually buy the new items once they are offered. This
might be acceptable except for the extent to which those items are
money-losing propositions for the business, bleeding red ink. A lesson
from this type of situation is to be smarter about the truetest validity of
instruments like surveys. A corollary argument is that "truly
understanding customers sometimes means understanding them better
than they understand themselves." Thus one could argue that the principle
of customer focus, or being close to the customers, is not violated here
just expanded upon.

The extent to which customers are currently ignorant of what one might
argue they should wantwhich is dicey because whether it can be acted
upon affordably depends on whether or how soon the customers will
learn, or be convinced, otherwise. IT hardware and software capabilities
and automobile features are examples. Customers who in 1997 said that
they would not place any value on internet browsing capability on a
mobile phone, or 6% better fuel efficiency in their vehicle, might say
something different today, because the value proposition of those
opportunities has changed.

ORGANIZATIONAL ORIENTATION
In this sense, a firm's marketing department is often seen as of prime
importance within the functional level of an organization. Information
from an organization's marketing department would be used to guide the
actions of other departments within the firm. As an example, a marketing
26

department could ascertain (via marketing research) that consumers
desired a new type of product, or a new usage for an existing product.
With this in mind, the marketing department would inform the R&D
(research and development) department to create a prototype of a product
or service based on the consumers' new desires.

The production department would then start to manufacture the product,
while the marketing department would focus on the promotion,
distribution, pricing, etc. of the product. Additionally, a firm's finance
department would be consulted, with respect to securing appropriate
funding for the development, production and promotion of the product.
Inter-departmental conflicts may occur, should a firm adhere to the
marketing orientation. Production may oppose the installation, support
and servicing of new capital stock, which may be needed to manufacture
a new product. Finance may oppose the required capital expenditure,
since it could undermine a healthy cash flow for the organization.


HERD BEHAVIOR
Herd behavior in marketing is used to explain the dependencies of
customers' mutual behavior. The Economist reported a recent conference
in Rome on the subject of the simulation of adaptive human behavior. It
shared mechanisms to increase impulse buying and get people "to buy
more by playing on the herd instinct." The basic idea is that people will
buy more of products that are seen to be popular, and several feedback
mechanisms to get product popularity information to consumers are
mentioned, including smart card technology and the use of Radio
Frequency Identification Tagtechnology. A "swarm-moves" model was
introduced by a Florida Institute of Technology researcher, which is
27

appealing to supermarkets because it can "increase sales without the need
to give people discounts." Other recent studies on the "power of social
influence" include an "artificial music market in which some 19,000
people downloaded previously unknown songs" (Columbia University,
New York); a Japanese chain of convenience stores which orders its
products based on "sales data from department stores and research
companies;" a Massachusetts company exploiting knowledge of social
networking to improve sales; and online retailers who are increasingly
informing consumers about "which products are popular with like-
minded consumers" (e.g., Amazon, eBay).

FURTHER ORIENTATIONS
An emerging area of study and practice concerns internal marketing, or
how employees are trained and managed to deliver the brand in a way
that positively impacts the acquisition and retention of customers, see
also employer branding.

Diffusion of innovations research explores how and why people adopt
new products, services, and ideas.

With consumers' eroding attention span and willingness to give time to
advertising messages, marketers are turning to forms of permission
marketing such as branded content, custom mediaand reality marketing.





28

DIFFERENCES FROM CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
A contact manager is usually used for instances where the sales
interaction model of the organization is a one-to-many interaction model,
in which a single sales representative is responsible for multiple roles
within a company. Alternatively, a company with a many-to-
many interaction model, in which many sales representatives are targeting
a single job role, a customer relationship management (CRM) system is
preferred.:

CRM's usually extend the features of a contact management solution into
a more comprehensive record of all interactions as now many people
need to collaborate on the same information.[citation needed]

CURRENT MARKET TRENDS
The current trend is an integrated CMS and CRM solutions that can
provide both one-to-one and many-to-many capabilities.[citation
needed] It can allow a user to have their own contact list and manage
their contacts, while at the same time provide complete collaboration
options.[citation needed] These are the optimal solutions as they provide
a SMB or SOHO the option to grow without having to upgrade to a CRM
later on.

Retailing

The word retail is derived from the French word retailer,
meaning to cut a piece off or to break bulk. In simple terms, it implies
a first-hand transaction with the customer.

29

Retailing involvers a direct interface with the customer and the
coordination of business activities right from the concept or design stage
of a product or offering to its delivery and post-delivery service to the
customer. The industry has contributed to the economic growth of many
countries and is undoubtedly one of the fastest changing and dynamic
industries in the world today.

Indian retail industry

The Indian retail industry is the fifth largest in the world.
Comprising of organized and unorganized sectors, India retail industry is
one of the fastest growing industries in India, especially over the last few
years. Though initially, the retail industry in India was mostly
unorganized, however with the change of tastes and preferences of the
consumers, the industry is getting more popular these days and getting
organized as well. With growing market demand, the industry is expected
to grow at a pace of 25-30% annually. The India retail industry is
expected to grow from Rs. 35,000 crore in 2004-05 to Rs. 109,000 crore
by the year 2010.

The retail scenario in India is unique. Much of it is in the
unorganized sector, with over 12 million retail outlets of various sizes and
formats. Almost 96% of these retail outlets are less than 500 square feet
in size, the per capital retail space India being 2 squre feet compared to
the US figure of 16 square feet Indias per capital retailing space is thus
the lowest in the world.

With more than 9 outlets per 1000 people, India has the largest
number in the world. Most of them are independent and contribute as
30

much as 96% to total retail sales. Because of the increasing number of the
nuclear families, working women, greater work pressure and increased
commuting time, convenience has become a priority for Indian
consumers. They want everything under one roof for easy access and
multiplicity of choice. This offers an excellent opportunity for organized
retailers in the country which account for just 2% and modern stores
0.5% of the estimated US Dollar 180 billion worth of goods that are
retailed in India every chain, Wal-Mart.

Growth of Indian retail industry

According to the 8th Annual Global Retail Development Index
(GRDI) of AT Kearney, India retail industry is the most
promising emerging market for investment. In 2007, the retail trade in
India had a share of 8-10% in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the
country. In 2009, it rose to 12%. It is also expected to reach 22% by
2010.

According to a report by North bride Capita, the India retail
industry is expected to grow to US$ 700 billion by 2010. By the same
time, the organized sector will be 20% of the total market share. It
can be mentioned here that, the share of organized sector in 2007 was
7.5% of the total retail market.

India is rapidly evolving into a competitive marketplace with
potential target consumers in the niche and middle class segments. The
market trends indicate tremendous growth opportunities. Global majors
too are showing a keen interest in the Indian retail market. Over the years,
international brands like marks and spencer, Samsonite, Lacoste,
31

McDonalds, Swarovski, Dominos among a host of others have come
into India through the franchise route following the relexation of FDI
(Foreign Direct Investment) restrictions. Large Indian companies- among
them the Tata, Goenka and the Piramal groups are investing heavily in
this
industry.























32

MAJOR RETAILERS IN INDIA

Pantaloon:

Pantaloon is one of the biggest retailers in India with more than 450
stores across the country. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has more than 5
million sq. ft retail space located across the country. It's growing at an
enviable pace and is expected to reach 30 million sq. ft by the year 2010.
In 2001, Pantaloon launched country's first hypermarket V MART. It has
the following retail segments:
Food & Grocery: V MART, Food V mart
Home Solutions: Hometown, Furniture V mart, Collection-I
Consumer Electronics: e-zone
Shoes: Shoe Factory
Books, Music & Gifts: Depot
Health & Beauty Care: Star, Sitara
E-tailing: Futurev mart.com
Entertainment: Bowling Co.

Tata Group

Tata group is another major player in Indian retail industry with its
subsidiary Trent, which operates Westside and Star India V mart.
Established in 1998, it also acquired the largest book and music retailer
in India Landmark in 2005. Trent owns over 4 lake sq. ft retail space
across the country.


33

RPG Group

RPG Group is one of the earlier entrants in the Indian retail market,
when it came into food & grocery retailing in 1996 with its retail Food
world stores. Later it also opened the pharmacy and beauty care outlets
Health & Glow.


Reliance
Reliance is one of the biggest players in Indian retail industry. More
than 300 Reliance Fresh stores and Reliance Mart are quite popular in
the Indian retail market. It's expecting its sales to reach Rs. 90,000
crores by 2010.


AV Birla Group
AV Birla Group has a strong presence in Indian apparel retailing.
The brands like Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter
England are quite popular. It's also investing in other segments of retail. It
will invest Rs. 8000-9000 crores by 2010.

Another big player in the segment will be the Bharti group.
Overhauling this part of the supply chain will be the key to the success of
any retail venture in food and groceries segment.

Wal-Mart, the worlds largest retailer, and Bharti Enterprises have
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore business
opportunities in the Indian retail industry. This joint venture will mark the
entry of Wal-Mart into the Indian retailing industry a retail chain like V
34

MART may be clocking heady sales (growing at 100% year- on- year),
but the dozen odd shops operating in its proximity wear a deserted look,
giving a somewhat hollow ring to the much- talked- about retail boom in
the country. The key players currently operating in the Indian retail
industry includes Future Group, Trent Ltd, RPG Enterprise, Vishal Retail
Ltd, Shoppers Stop Ltd, Bata India Ltd, Provogue India Ltd, Vdeocon
Appliances Ltd, ITC Ltd, Godrej Agrovert Ltd, and DCM-Hariyah Kissan
V mart.

Retailers ranging from Pantaloon to RPG to Piramals or the Tatas
are working towards exploiting this model, perceived by consumers as
more value enhancing. But in the long run, what is most likely to succeed
is a more balanced multi-format strategy. Finally, while in the first flush
of the retail boom, the elimination of traditional intermediaries may bring
windfall gains (as well as bring welcome and much-needed relief to the
producers), this source will increasingly dry out as competition intencifies
and margins come under pressure a few years down the line. What would
set the survivors apart from those who are forced to sell out or go belly-
up will be differentiators like location, value-added services
(convenience), private labels and customer loyalty programs other than
price. The last, a result of retailer-manufacturer tie-ups, state-of-the-art
supply chain infrastructure, global sourcing and scale will be a key factor.
And, if experience in other markets is anything to go by, an uncanny
ability to read shifting trends.

Retail formats in India
Hyper marts /supermarkets: large self-servicing outlets offering products
from a variety of categories.
35

Mom-and-pop stores: they are family owned business catering to
small sections; they are individually handled retail outlets and have
a personal touch.
Departmental stores: are general retail merchandisers offering
quality products and services.
Convenience stores: are located in residential areas with slightly
higher prices goods due to the convenience offered.
Shopping malls: the biggest form of retail in India, malls offers
customers a mix of all types of products and services including
entertainment and food under a single roof.
E-trailers: are retailers providing online buying and selling of
products and services.
Discount stores: these are factory outlets that give discount on the
MRP.
Vending: it is a relatively new entry, in the retail sector. Here
beverages, snacks and other small items can be bought via vending
machine.
Category killers: small specialty stores that offer a variety of
categories. They are known as category killers as they focus on
specific categories, such as electronics and sporting goods. This is
also known as Multi Brand Outlets or MBO's.
Specialty stores: are retail chains dealing in specific categories and
provide deep assortment. Mumbai's Crossword Book Store and
RPG's Music World is a couple of examples.

Challenges facing Indian retail industry
The tax structure in India favors small business
Lack of adequate infrastructure facilities
High cost of real estate
36

Dissimilarity in consumer groups
Restrictions in Foreign Direct Investment
Shortage of retail study options
Shortage of trained manpower
Low retail management skill

The retail industry in India is currently growing at a great pace and
is expected to go up to US$ 833 billion by the year 2013. It is further
expected to reach US$ 1.3 trillion by the year 2018 at a CAGR of 10%.
As the country has got a high growth rates, the consumer spending has
also gone up and is also expected to go up further in the future. In the last
four year, the consumer spending in India climbed up to 75%. As a result,
the India retail industry is expected to grow further in the future days. By
the year 2013, the organized sector is also expected to grow at a CAGR
of 40%.

Categories of Indian Retailers :-

Corporate Houses

Tatas: Tata Trent
RPG group: Food World, Health and Glow etc.
ITC: Wills Life Style
Raheja group: (Shoppers Stop), DLF (DT cinemas).
Nike, Rbk. Zodiac
Multi-brand outlets
Vijay Sales, Viveks etc.
Manufacturers/ Exporters
Pantaloons, Bata, Weekender
37

Classifying Indian Retailers:
1. Modern Format Retailers
Supermarkets (food World)
Hypermarkets (V MART)
Department Stores (shoppers Stop)
Specialty Chains (Ikea)
Company Owned Company Operated
2. Traditional Format Retailers
Kiranas: traditional Mom and Pop Stores
Kiosks
Street Market
Exclusive /Multiple Brand Outlets
3. Hypermarket
V MART
Giants
Shoprite
Star

4. Department
Lifestyle
Pantaloons
Pyramids
Shoppers Stop
Trent
5. Entertainment
Fame Ad labs
Fun Republic
Inox
PVR
38

CHAPTER-3

COMPANY PROFILE

V-Mart is a complete family fashion store that provides its customers true
value for their money.

We offer our customers a great shopping experience each time they visit
us by offering a vast range of products under one roof. Maintaining high
standard s in quality and design, our stores have come up to offer fashion
garments at down-to-earth prices and over time emerged as the
destination of choice for bargain hunters and the fashionable alike.

We primarily operate in tier II & tier III cities with the chain of Value
Retail departmental stores. Our stores cater the needs of the entire family
altogether by offering apparels, general merchandise and Kirana goods.

Price Less Fashion is the Main motto through which we believe in
providing the latest trends to the upwardly mobile Indians at the best
possible price.

We have 84 stores across 71 cities in 12 states and union territories, with
a total area of 6.81 Lac sq.ft(6.32 Thousand Sq mtr.).Our stores are
located in prime cities such as New Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir,
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. We are among the pioneers in setting up
modern ambiance stores or large retail malls across various small towns
and cities including Sultanpur, Ujjain, Motihari and more.

39

History-

First incorporated as Varin Commercial Private Limited under the
Companies Act in 2002 in West Bengal. Then in 2003, we opened our
maiden store in Ahmedabad (Gujarat).

In the Year 2004 we have opened our first store in capital city, new
delhi.

Further in 2006 we have crossed 1 lac sq.ft. retail space and subsequently
renamed to V-Mart Retail Private Limited.

In the year of 2008, we hit the base by registering V-Mart Retail as a
public limited entity and also crossed the turnover of 1,000 million INR
As the time passes by we took the shape of a renowned family brand that
caters the needs of whole family by offering high quality retail products.
Along with growing customers, we achieved a turnover of over INR
2,000 million in 2011-12 In the Year 2012 we have crossed the retail
space of 5 lac Sq. Ft.

Concept-
We have a standalone concept of One Stop Family Shop with a
comprehensive portfolio of retail product offerings and a large assortment
of product categories catering to the entire needs of the family. With
providing contemporary fashion at a reasonable price. V-Mart has been
successful in creating an identity for itself amongst the target segment of
the society. For the convenience of customers as well as to identify the
stores stock requirement and sales pattern, V-Mart has internally created
40

4 divisions/formats that are mentioned below. In certain stores the
company has blended two concepts into one if required.
V-Mart Aspire
This format caters to the young generation and hence the focus of the
company is to provide GEN X latest trends in fashion. The target
customers are the youth and hence the designers in the company study the
market trend to purchase and stock the merchandise accordingly.


V-Mart Plus
These stores cater to all the age groups and serve the basic needs of
customers and provide contemporary fashion as well. Since the store
serves customers of all age group and across the sections of the society,
the company stocks the merchandise accordingly. These stores are
normally in an area where the target customers range from kids to senior
citizens.

Hypermarkets are today synonymous with one stop shopping. The
cheapest prices will normally be found in these stores. Across thre world,
hypermarkets are usually part of a retail park, along with other shops,
cafeterias and restaurants. A key element of differentiation between the
hypermarket and the other retail formats is that they typically have
destination locations. The hypermarkets are designed to attract customers
from a significantly large area with their low price offers, unique range
and offers. It is the largest form of organized retailing today. It is an ideal
shopping experience with an amalgamation of product, service and
entertainment all under of a common roof.

41

The company has been able to leverage on its multi-formats-multi-brand
stores, secure prime locations at the best possible prices and command a
strong bargaining power with suppliers, which provide it an edge over its
competitors.

Customers come in V Mart for purchasing, entertainment and pacing here
and there.

It gives many facility to the customers like; Helpline, Baggage Counter,
Parking, Exchange etc. V Mart trying to provide customer with 3Vs

Value
Variety
Volume

V Mart has different categories; such as

Food V mart
Apparels
General Merchandise:- At V Mart, you will definitely get the best
products at the best prices- thats what it guarantees. With the ever
increasing array of private labels, it has opened the doors into the
world of fashion and general merchandise including home
gurnishings, utensils, crockery, cutlery, sports goods and much
more at prices that surprise us. Here we talk about the department
stores, because V Mart based on the departments.


42

Department Stores:-
Carry broad variety and deep assortment organized into separate
deparment for displaying merchandise,
Major departments includes:-
Utensils
Plastics
Home dcor
Luggage
Toys
Footwear etc.

Chains are very diverse and appeal to different markets. They are unique
in terms of the shopping experience they offer, the services they provide
and the atmosphere of the store. They are promotion- oriented. They
increase competition with discount and specialty stores creating
problems.












43

Store Organization:-











Store
Manager
Assistant
Store Manager
Operational
Manager
Department
Manager
Additional
Department Manager
Team Leader
Team Member
44

CHAPTER -4

Fashion Department at V Mart

Marketing Strategies of V Mart:

At the time of the launch of V Mart in Lucknow last year, there was
no real precedent in the Indian Market. A western model had to be
adapted to suits the needs of the Indian environment. Various local
markets were studied to understand the product mix and the prices
offered.

Savings is to the key to the Indian middle class consumers. The store
that would be launched had to offer value to the consumers. Keeping this
in mind the concept of V Mart was created.

In India, when a customer needs something for home, a typical
thought is to seek it from v mart where a complete range of products is
available to the consumers. As the store offers a large mix of products at
a discounted price, the name V Mart was finalized. The idea was to re-
create a complete v mart, with a large product offering and to offer a
good depth and width in terms of range.

Price was the basic value proposition at V Mart. The V Mart outlets
sold a variety of products at prices which were 5 to 60% lower than the
market price. The line Is Se Sasta Aur Accha Kahin Nahi emphasized
this. The key question faced by the management was whether the low
margins on the products would allow the company to sustain growth.
45

With the aim of answer in order to allow the company decides on the
right locations.
The key learning which came out of this exercise was that for a large
store like V Mart, a large catchments area was needed. The management
decided to stick to the existing market places within the city as the
western model of hypermarkets, where the store was located in large area
on the mid of the city would also really work in India. The cost of time
spent on travels and the cost of petrol in India would really become a plus
point for the customers. Some of the key marketing strategies and
promotional activities that are successfully employed by V Mart are:-

Discount Selling

V Mart sells all its products at a much cheaper price as compared to the
local markets. The range of discounts ranges from 5 to 60%. Although the
store sells the products at a cheaper rates it does not compromises with
the qualities of the products.

Huge No. of Brands

V Mart maintains a huge number of brands under its dispose which give
the customers the liberty of buying the product of their favorite brand.
This helps the customers as they dont go looking out for a product of a
particular brand.

Large Product Line
V Mart also stocks a large product line of a single brand or multiple
brands which give the customers the choice to select the most appropriate
product out of many available at the most economical prices.
46


Frequent Promotional Activities

Frequent promotional programs like Wednesday- Haftey Ka Sabse Sasta
Din, Fashion Shows, Monthly Bachat, Price Challenge, etc. were
conducted in store in which the customers were provided special
discounts, offers in addition to the normal discounts and offers of the
store. The main purpose of this sort of activities is to generate in the dull
days of the week or of the month.

Learning Process for Summer Training at V Mart
The following learning process for summer training at V Mart of
Lucknow city was given to me. According to this learning process, I had
to undertake my summer training in V Mart. The learning process is
given below in brief:-
Merchandising
This includes
Inward,
Display,
Replenishing (FIFO),
Offer Updating,
Top Selling SKUs,
Bottom Line SKUs,
Liquidation Process,
Defective Goods Handling (DAD- Damage & Defective),
Margins,
Buying,
Outward,
Stocktake.
47

Customer Service
It has
CSD (Customer Service Desk) Operations,
Customer Movement,
Customer Touch Point,
After Sale Services,
Home Delivery,
Alteration and Customer Grievance Handling.

Visual Merchandising
It has Signages,
Details of Materials,
VM Frames,
Shelf Talkers,
Focal Piont/ Hot Spots,
Execution of Promotions,
Communication of Offers,
Directional Signages in the Store,
Window Display.

Cash Department
It works on Cash Till Operations,
Billing Process,
Handling Cash,
Tallying Cash,
Allocation of Till wise Cashiers,
Depositing of Cash in Bank,
Shortage/ Excess Cash Treatment,
All Modes of Payments,
48

Checking of Currency Note,
Foreign Exchange,
Cash Float of Cashier,
Grab Process,
Currency Handling & System.

Information Technology
REM Knowledge,
SAP Knowledge,
System Generated Report,
Stock Adjustment,
Scheme Updation,
Hardware Knowledge,
Day Closing Activity.

Human Resources
PERK,
Sanjeevani,
Fun Jone,
Atithee,
Employee of the Month,
HR Policies,
Prerna,
Staff In / Out Management,
Sturday Meeting,
Payroll Process,
Skip Meeting.


49

Operations
Entire SOP,
Opening of Stores,
H. K. Activities throughout the Day,
Security Activities,
H. K. positioning,
Security Positioning,
Discipline & Attire Check of Security & H. K.,
Parking Management,
Trolley management,
Scrap Disposal process,
Waste Management,
Daily Check Points,
Fixed Asset Knowledge,
AMCs Checklist of Fire Safety Equipments,
A/Cs, Electricals, Lifts, Invertors, Chakkis,
DGs, LPC Process & Team Management.

Analysis Study
Stock Cover,
DSR Study, Age Analysis,
Stock Turns, Sales Mix, Sales Trend,
Margin Analysis, Per Sq. Ft. Return Analysis,
Ticket Size, Conversion,
Return on Capital Employed/ Working Capital Analysis.




50

FASHION DEPARTMENT @ V MART, LUCKNOW

Introduction

Fashion department is a Line of Business (LOB) at V Mart,
Lucknow. Location of Fashion department is situated on 3 floor of the
store. Fashion department has large range of Product mix. It has
collection of huge brands. Fashion department plays an important role in
V Mart, Lucknow as it attracts the customers to visit the store. Everyday,
it also contributes almost 25% sale of the entire store.



















51

FASHION AT V MART
Fashion

Fashion is trend to change that whatever happen in some
period
It come In all three month with the new product and with the
modification of old product.
It change simultaneously with the season.

Fashion @ v mart

At V Mart fashion include all apparels
Fashion is a very important LOB for V Mart
V Mart get highest margin by fashion department
The average contribution of fashion in Lucknow V Mart is 23%
The target contribution of fashion sub department in fashion are
Mens wear- 50%, Ladies wear-30% Kids wear-20%

We PROMISE-that from today we will start selling FASHION &
not just apparel & take V MART to the next level by selling more
& more fashion.
Kar ke dikhana hai

Process of Fashion
Warehouse (Receiving)
Sub department
Tagging
On floor
Staking (MPM)
52

Sub department of Fashion

Mens wear
Ladies wear
Kids wear
Home Linen

Mens Wear

Section of mens wear

Men's Casual
Men's Fabric
Men's Formal
Men's Occasion Wear
Suit & Blazer
Men's Accessories
Mens night wear



Mens wear
Brands of products
AFL
53

Knighthood
John Miller
DJ&C
Famous Basics
Signature
Shatranj
VIP
Ladies Wear
Section of ladies wear
Ladies Ethanic
Ladies Western
Saree & Dress Material
Ladies Accessories
Ladies night wear
Brands of Merchandises
Sharisty
DJ&C
SHAYLA




54

Kids Wear
Section in kids wear
Children Wear
Kids Accessories

Brands of Merchandises
PINK & Blue
Power Ranger



55



Tagging pattern

There is three type of tags
Soft Tag
Hard Tag
A AB BP P V V/ /S S A Ac ch hi ie ev ve em me en nt t W We ee ek k 1 1 T To o 5 5
S Su ub b D De ep pt t A AB BP P
A Ac ch hi ie ev ve em me en n
t t
A Ac ch h% %
M Me en n' 's s C Ca as su ua al l 1 11 1. .4 45 5 9 9. .0 03 3 7 79 9% %
M Me en n' 's s F Fa ab br ri ic c 0 0. .1 12 2 0 0. .0 06 6 5 50 0% %
M Me en n' 's s F Fo or rm ma al l 2 2. .6 66 6 4 4. .1 10 0 1 15 54 4% %
M Me en n' 's s O Oc cc ca as si io on n W We ea ar r 0 0. .6 6 0 0. .8 82 2 1 13 37 7% %
S Su ui it t & & B Bl la az ze er r 0 0. .1 14 4 0 0. .1 10 0 7 71 1% %
M Me en n' 's s A Ac cc ce es ss so or ri ie es s 2 2. .1 11 1 2 2. .1 12 2 1 10 00 0% %
L La ad di ie es s E Et th ha an ni ic c 4 4. .0 09 9 3 3. .1 11 1 7 76 6% %
L La ad di ie es s W We es st te er rn n 5 5. .4 41 1 4 4. .9 94 4 9 91 1% %
S Sa ar re ee e & & D Dr re es ss s M Ma at te er ri ia al l 2 2. .2 24 4 1 1. .4 47 7 6 66 6% %
L La ad di ie es s A Ac cc ce es ss so or ri ie es s 0 0. .5 51 1 0 0. .4 49 9 9 96 6% %
C Ch hi il ld dr re en n W We ea ar r 9 9. .2 23 3 6 6. .8 83 3 7 74 4% %
K Ki id ds s A Ac cc ce es ss so or ri ie es s 0 0. .5 51 1 0 0. .5 53 3 1 10 04 4% %
B BB B- -F Fa as sh hi io on n 3 39 9. .0 07 7 3 33 3. .6 60 0

8 86 6% %
56

String Tag
Types of Tag

String Tags



These tags are the hard plastic tags or could be paper
sandwich
tags with a non-deactivable soft tag placed inside.
These tags are reusable like the hard tags
Use only the non-deactivating soft tags
Used on all items below Rs.400 in value and have been
developed as an alternative to hard tags.
The tags are attached to the item using a hard nylon fastener.
To check if the tags are working, simply place them on
the deactivating pad. If the tag does not beep stop use of the
tag.






57

Hard Tags



Has got two specific parts- The pin and the tag.
Used for apparels above Rs.400 and in certain categories
on all the items.
Tags will ring only if the pin is inserted properly Never
use bent, damaged or rusty pins while tagging.
The pins can be removed only using a detacher, thus care
should be













58

Soft Tags



Soft tags are the flat paper tags.
Must always be used on flat clean surfaces.
A tag must be bent, do not bend any of the pink area of the circuit.
bend 1 cm on one side only & no more than 90 degrees.
They should not be used on garments, as they will leave a stain.
These tags should not be put on metal or foil products unless there
is at least 1 cm space between the security tag and the product, or
else they wont work.
These tags get deactivated on the deactivation pad.











59

Importance of mpm In fashion


MPM (merchandise presentation manual)
mpm is related to the visual merchandise.
What is visual merchandising ?
merchandise is briefly defied as presentation of a store
as merchandise in the way that will attract the attention of potential
to the customer and motivate them to make purchase.

Advantage of mpm

Arranged merchandise properly
Easy to find
Easy to pick
Easy to buy
to put best forward the merchandise highlight I terms of
colour ,quality
Who can we make effective mpm Product should be tagged
from manufacturing house.
Focus light should be o the flor.
Availability of Proper mannequins For all the product.
Hygienic product should be packed.
Stock should be properly displayed.

Birthday Celebrations at V Mart
16
th
-25
th
J uly

60

V Mart Store located in the heart of Lucknow city had completed its
third year since opening in the city in the month of July 2010. Keeping in
mind its third anniversary, the store was celebrating it with the customers
in the form of Birthday Celebrations. The store celebrated it for ten days
from 16
th
July to 25
th
July 2010. The slogan for the birthday celebrations
was Khushiyon Ke Din Khushiyon Ke Upahaar.

V Mart was celebrating its 3th Birthday from 16
th
to 25
th
July. The
theme for this celebration was come celebrate with us, get fabulous gifts,
bumper prizes, and enjoy loads of exciting activities in store.

Continuing its efforts to provide the best shopping deals and savings
to Indian consumer, V Mart was all set to celebrate this Birthday
Anniversary with its Customers. It was truly memorable eith rock bottom
prices, best possible discounts, mega offers and lucky draw also. Apart
from the flagship V Mart and its Food V mart, other departments like
FurnitureV mart, Electronic V mart, Depot, General Merchandise, and
Fashion Department were also the part of this celebration.

From daily household needs of food and grocery to apparels,
footwear, toys, luggage, kitchenware, home decor, furniture and
electronics; Birthday Celebrations had an exciting array of attractive
offers, deals and discounts, ensuring something for everyone in the
family, to shop for, and a maximum value for money for all customers.
With this new shopping concept, V Mart touches the heart of its
customers and also maintains the company-customer relationship.

During the Birthday Celebrations, the following were the main offers in
the Food V mart:
61

Space Mix and Space Management

Space Mix

For the retailer space is money. The store has to be planned in such a
way that it optimizes the selling area and minimizes the non-selling parts.
The selling area is used to present the merchandise and the non-selling
part is accounted for by circulation space, staircases, lifts, facilities, the
back area, etc. The area mix in a typical department store is: selling area
about 60%, circulation area 15%and back area 25%.



















62

Area Mix




2





Circulation 15%
Back Area 25%
Selling 60%



Space Management

The placement of merchandise within the store in the most
profitable manner is called space management .it is one of the most
important activities, because the location of merchandise at different
location have different values. Some parts of store are more valuable
because customers visit those more frequently, which results in higher
sales. It is easier to make sales along.

Space closest to the entrances and exits is the most is the valuable,
and values decrease further into the store.



60% 15%




25%
63

Retail Marketing Mix

The basic function of retail is to provide the right goods to the consumer,
at the right place and time. Through the retail marketing mix we can
compete with our competitors and achieve the sales target. The marketing
tools that a retail organization uses to pursue its marketing objectives are
termed as the retail marketing mix.

The most channels are:

Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Presentation
Customer Service
People











64

The channels are illustrated in figure given below:















Channels of Retail Marketing

Product

One of the main elements of the retail marketing mix is the products and
/or services that store offers to the customer.

Products are also termed as merchandise. The different products that the
store offers are together termed as the merchandise mix.

People

Place

Presentation

Promotion

Customer
Service

Price
Retail

Marketing

Mix

Product
65

For example, if we consider the Fashion at department store, the
merchandise line comprises:

Mans wear
Mans accessory
Party wear
Ladies wear
Kids wear
Home fashion


Price

Pricing is an integral part of the retail marketing mix. The price policy
that the organization decides to follow depends on the customer profile of
the target audience for its range of products.

V Mart gives the good price to the customer .price makes the good
relationship to the customers.

V Mart has a punch line Isse Sasta Aur Accha Kahin Nahi

It gives the high discount on the price like; foods products (20%, 25%,
35%), non food products (10%, 20%, 35%), buy one get one free Top
Price, buy 3 get one free Park Avenue soap, etc.

66

V Mart gives many offers to the customer like; the great Indian festival
Big Days, Sabse Saste 3 Din, etc. In these types of days it gives the huge
discount on the products.

Place
The location of the retail store was considered to be the most important
element of the retail marketing mix.
V Mart is situated at premier location in Lucknow, where Levis, E-Zone,
Cafe Coffee Day, and Reebok like stores are situated. It is the best place
for V Mart.

Promotion
The advertising budget, sales promotion, publicity and the public
relations play a very important role in the competitive world of retailing
.these help the store to achieve the short term goals. Promotion may be
price led or occasional led, in which case special merchandise offered by
the stores only for the occasion. Most retail organization run promotions
during festival seasons.
V Mart also provides the promotional offers on festival like Diwali, New
Year, ID, Valentine day, etc. Discounts depend on the products.

Presentation
The manner in which the merchandise is presented at the store level is
very important. This aspect not only deals with the store layout and the
ambience created, but also with visual merchandising.

Visual merchandising is the orderly, systematic way of putting stock on
display in the retail store.

67

V Mart presents the store as per the season and occasions like; on Diwali
store is decorated with candles and flowers, on Christmas store is
decorated with stars, ribbons, balloons, Christmas tree and on
Independence Day and Republic Day store is decorated with green,
orange, and white balloons, etc. that attract the customers.

Customer Service
The support services that a retailer offers have become very important
today. The credit policies and the product returns policies need to be clear
marketing, buzzwords in the industry today and all these are aimed at
enhancing customer service.

In the V Mart, the product range is good and availability of the products
is very easy. Bag V mart provides the low price comparison to the other
retailers.
V Mart provides the good services to their customer like; baggage
counter, parking, product, help line, etc.


People
Retailers operate in a unique environment. The retail industry is
characterized by a large number of inexperienced workers, who need to
put in long hours of work. Most of the time, these employees are in direct
contact with the customer and may face irate or unreasonable customer.

The people who work at the front-end of a retail organization are very
important, as they are the manners and products knowledge plays a very
important role in building long term relations with the customer.

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Retail Communication Mix
Communication is an integral part of the retailers marketing strategy.
Primarily, communication is used to inform the customers about the
retailer, the merchandise and the services. It also serves as a tool for the
building the store image.

The retailer can used various platform / channel for communication. The
most tools are:
Advertising
Sales Promotion
Public Relation
Personal Selling
Point of Purchase (POP) Displays
















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The tools are illustrated in figure given below:







Advertising
Advertising can be defined as any paid form of non- personal presention
and communication through mass media. It is popularly believed that one
of the main aims of the advertising is to sell to wide mix of consumers
and also to induce repeat purchase.

However, a retailer may use advertising to achieve any of the following
objectives:


Advertising
Retail
Communication
Mix
Public
Relations
Point of
Purchase
(POP)
Displays
Sales
Promotion
Personal
Selling
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Creating awareness about a product or store
Communication information in order to create a specific image in the
customers mind in terms of the store merchandise, price, quality,
benefits, etc.
Create a desire to want a product.
To communicate the stores policy on various issues.
Advertising can also help identify a store carrying nationally advertised
brands.
It can also help in repositioning the store in the mind of the customer.
To increase sale of specific categories or to generate short term cash
flows by way of sale, bargain days, midnight madness, etc.
Advertising can also help reinforce the retailers corporate identity.

For advertising, the retailer may use one or a combination of the
following mediums:

Press advertisements
Posters and leaflets, brochures, booklets
Point of purchase displays

Advertising can also be done through mediums like radio, television,
outdoor hoardings and the internet.

Sales Promotion
Sales promotion helps a retailer by way of attracting customer traffic and
enables quick result to be achieved. Depending on the type of promotion
carried out, it can help increase impulse buying, generate excitement and
can motivate other channel members.

71

Common retail promotions are illustrated:

Coupon:
A coupon allows the buyer a reduction in price on specific
merchandise or products, when the coupon is redeemed .coupons
may be delivered through newspaper, magazines, post or in
products.

Contests:
A contest needs consumers to compete and the prizes are based on
skill. In the case of sweepstakes, the customer only needs to enter
in his name and the winner is determined by chance. Many retailers
allow customers to enter into competitions on the basis of the
amount of purchases they have made.

Demonstrations:
Demonstrations are used to show the customer, the performance
capabilities of the products. Videos may also be used to aid the
demonstration and show the use of the products.

Product /Brand Promotions and Schemes:
This is a straightforward scheme in which the consumer either gets
a monetary discount on the purchase of a particular product/s or
gets two products of the same type for the price of one the by
one get one free scheme is example of same.

V Mart also does this type of sales promotion like; in plastics
department important container buy one get one free.

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Samples:
Sampling provides the consumers with an opportunity to use the
product at no cost. Various techniques may be adopted for
sampling and this may take the form of in-store sampling-where
the in-store staff hands out the samples.

Shopping Card:
Many retailers make the own shopping card. It is very easy to
promote the sales.
Future group introduces the new future prepaid card .it is easily
used in all future groups retail outlets.

Public Relations and Publicity
Public relations (PR) are a marketing communication function,
which aims at fostering goodwill. An important component of
public relations is publicity. By way of public relations, the retail
organization strives to create and sustain a favorable image with
consumer, shareholders, suppliers and the public at large. The job
of public relation is usually handled by an outside Public Relations
firm and it may be under taken to promote goodwill for the
organization, to promote a particular product or to counteract
negative publicity.

Publicity is a non paid form of media coverage. In todays world, it
is rarely free and a fair amount of skill has to be exercised by the
organization to ensure that right media coverage is achieved.

Examples of events in retail which merit publicity are:
Store openings
73

Store renovations
Celebrity visits and affiliations
Designer associations
New product ranges and launches
Awards received by the retailer
Fashion shows and sponsored events


Personal Selling
Personal selling is a paid form of personal advertising where
salespeople assist customer in satisfying their needs though a
person-to-person exchange of information .it is a process of
learning the needs and the wants of the buys and striving to satisfy
them with the required product or service. Personal selling may
occur within the environs of the retail store-where personal selling
requires the sales person to satisfy the needs of the consumer. It
may also occur outside the retail store, where orders taken form
customer by way of the telephone, internet or mail and them
serviced. Personal selling is precise. It is aimed at a specific
individual/s. Developing a strong sales force is hence an expensive
proposition, as the sales person has to be trained on various aspects
of communication, like understanding the body language of the
customer, etc. He also needs to be knowledgeable about the
features of products and services being offered by the retailer.

Point of Purchase (POP) Displays
The dictionary of retailing defines Point of Purchase
communication as the promotional signs and interior displays,
74

often located at the point of sale or alongside displays merchandise.
Point of Purchase (POP) Displays have become integral to retail
today. They help reinforce in-store product branding, enhance
retail sales floor communication and provide information to the
customer. The basic function of pop in a retail store, include
posters, danglers, flyers glow signs, translites, banners, etc.

The role of POP changes significantly with the type of product
being sold and the customers involvement in the purchase.
Different types of POP material would relevant in different types
of stores and environment.

In the case of a supermarket, POP may be used to indicate prices,
the location of products and any special or bargain offer in the
store. POP in a store selling consumer durables and electronics
may lay stress on the features of the product, the warranties and
guarantees and the after sales services provided by the outlet.



.
75


Therefore, v mart is the organised sector i.e. organized retailing, in India,
refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers, that is, those
who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These include the
publicly traded supermarkets, corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail
chains, and also the privately owned large retail businesses
V mart is a kind of hypermarket:-
V mart is a kind of hypermarket .i.e. hypermarket provides s variety and
huge volume of exclusive merchandise at low margins. The operating
cost is comparatively less than other retail formats.









RETAIL
ORGANISED
SECTOR
UNORGANISED
SECTOR
76

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research based will be Descriptive Research.

TYPE OF DATA
1.Primary data
2.Secondary data

Primary data
The primary or the first hand data will be collected with the help of
handing out the questionnaire to the customers &employees.

Secondary data
The major source of secondary or supporting data will be internet .
Using this data measurement technique, information was collected by
personal interviews.
Secondary data was collected through company websites, discussions
with company guide.
The collected data was processed through S.P.S.S. Package.
Sampling Design

The research was mainly opted on customers survey, advisers
survey as well as sales officers survey.
77

The sample selected for survey was stratified sample. Sample size
is 50 Customers, 10 Sales officers and 50 advisers.
Sample Character
Respondents are sales officers, and existing customers of reliance
insurance and the advisers. .
Sampling Plan
For Customers
Sampling unit : Individuals.
Sampling Method : Non Probability, Convenience Sampling.
Sampling Size : 50 Customers.
For sales officers
Sampling unit : 10 Sales officers

Tools and Technique of Data Collection
Personal Interviews
Where customers, sales officers and advisers were interviewed
personally that face to face interaction were done.

Questionnaire:
It is a systematic designed questionnaire is used for collecting
primary data. These data are used for further descriptive research.

78

FOOT FALL ACCORDING TO AGE AND GENDER


PURPOSE OF VISIT TO THE MALL

INTERPRETATION:
visited V mart.
eating out also visited V mart to buy the products.
V mart.








Sales
watching movie
Eating
shopping
v mart
79

VISITORS ACCOMPAINED BY-


















Sales
alone
friends
family
80

FINDINGS
1. The sample size of the visitors in V mart is 841, out of which 500 are
males and 341 are females.
2. According to the survey, we found that the visitors from the age group
of 26-30 are more and followed by 18-25 and 31-35.
3. Number of people visiting to V mart is from Zirakpur followed by
Chandigarh and panchkula.
4. Out of three catchments of Chandigarh region 52.52% of people
belong to secondary catchment.
5. On similar basis out of three catchments of panchkula region 54.96%
of footfall is from primary catchment.
6. People from other regions such as rajpura, bannur, nahan, derabassi,
baddi, ambala etc. also visited V mart and the percentage is 11.65 % (out
of sample size 841).
7. It is good to know that 559 visitors out of 841 are exclusively coming
for v mart followed by shopping in mall i.e. 21.04%.
8. Even if people are coming for watching movie, eating out and
shopping in the mall also visit V mart.
9. V mart is treated as the family destination for shopping. Number of
people coming to V mart with family is 72.89%. Followed by people
coming to V mart with friends is 16.65%.
10. 32.10% of the footfall to the V mart is on weekly basis whereas
29.01% of footfall is on monthly basis.
11. We have found that many people like to come in offer days and
festival season.
12. 58.15% people are not aware Wednesday V mart.
13. Yes 27.35% of the people are aware of Monthly Bachat V mart.
14. Out of 741 respondents, 342 responded that fashion @ V mart falls
under the category of Affordable Fashion.
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15. 12.55% of the respondents feel that fbb apparels are of good quality.
This show that V mart has to work on the quality of the quality of V mart.
16. Newspaper is the most preferred medium by the visitors for receiving
information of offers.
17. Moreover, 165 males preferred newspaper as the communication
medium in comparison to 116 females.
18. FBB apparels are rated on three parameters:

Quality: 296 respondents say that quality is good.
Price: Large no. of respondents, i.e., 294 people feels prices are good
whereas 273 say it is average.
Style: 303 respondents rate style as good.
19. 537 out of 841 respondents agree on the statement that prices at V
mart are competitive.
20. 70.39% of the visitors agree that good quality products are available
in V mart.
21. 49.70% & 19.99% of the footfall agree & strongly agree respectively
that whatever they plan before coming to V mart, they always get those
products.









82

As a matter of fact, this on the job training was fruitful for me as I
learnt many management skills practically during training period at V
Mart. Right from the beginning of my training I observed so many things
which are the part of daily routine of V Mart, Lucknow. The store works
smoothly as it is the chain of a well- known reputed organization. The
retail staff personnel are of helping nature as they supported and co-
operated me during training period and tried their level best to give me
proper training of the retail store.


I also learnt how to apply all the management skills in the real
situation in any organization. During my on the job training, however, I
observed the following things at V Mart, Lucknow:-

Everyday many people came only for visit at V Mart.

The foot- falls of customers are good at V Mart, Lucknow.

Mostly middle class family prefers V Mart.

Customers come at V Mart because it gives the huge discounts and
offers.

During big days (5 Days Mahabachat), it has huge crowd of
customers and the sale is very high.

The offers/discounts changed any time if there is technical problem
or shortage of stock.

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Team members sometimes do not pay proper attention to the
customers on the floor.

Sinages were not maintained on the floor by team members.

There were more than 10 cash counters at the store but they didnt
open every day. All cash counters are open only on festival season
or on the mega offers of V Mart.

The order processing take huge time and sometimes gets delayed
due to lack of stock at the vendor side.

The collection of vegetables and fruits are done from local markets
and local farmers.

There was at least one meeting of Store Manager with employees
in a week.

Communication between the employer and employee is good.

Employees have the good knowledge about the products in their
own sections.







84

CONCLUSION

From all the available results this can be concluded that people have
huge expectations from the company. They not only want all the things
they are getting from other companies but in addition they also want
some other benefits which in turn can give them security of being a part
of V Mart as a customer in long run.

V Mart has many brands in Food V mart such as Nestle, HUL,
Cadbury, Amul, Tata, Parle, Bikaji, Marico, Adanis Suffola, etc. but
after that they do not have the large product range of these brands that is
why they are losing their customers. Since many customers have different
brand preferences.

In Food V mart they have big brands as mentioned above but many
times they do not achieve the target due to the arrangements of
merchandise is not good and employees interaction with customers are
very less.

However, Food V mart contributes almost 50% of daily sale of the
store. But sometimes in normal days, Food V mart does not achieve the
target. In fact, during festival offers and Big Days, Food V mart has the
major contribution in attracting customers and increasing the store sale.

So we can say that customers want huge offers and discounts. If V
Mart gives huge discount and offers, it will definitely increase its sales.


85

Although V Mart provides many services yet there are many areas
where customers demand for more than what they should get and which
is beyond company policy like, free servicing, additional free gifts and
extra term benefits.

Company also facing some problems from its previous customers side
that had some bad experience about the company product and service. It
is due to the less attention of team members to the customers and not
giving them complete information about the products. V Mart also needs
good service at CSD for their customers. In brief, the organization is
working on all these aspects continuously by filling feedback forms from
customers and conducting market research on products range and
customers preferences.
















86

SUGGESTIONS


The following suggestions could be made for the better performance of V
Mart, Lucknow:-

Review of everyday discounts/offers at signage whether they are
updated properly or not.

Signages should be displayed properly on the floor and near the
entrance gate.

More security gadgets and checks should be there to control thefts
and employees working.

Availability of products in each size should be at the floor.

At least 6 to 8 cash counter should remain open everyday to avoid
crowd at cash counter.

Increase the number of supporting staff (team members) on the
floor of Food V mart to pay proper attention to the customers.

Increase the brand and products range in the Food V mart to
increase the sale.

Interaction should be there between employees and customers.

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Sitting arrangement and drinking water facilities on the floor for
customers should be maintained regularly.

The arrangement of merchandise should be proper on the floor.

























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Bibliography


Pride, William M., and Ferrell O. C. Marketing: Concepts and
Strategies. 12
th
ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., USA, 2005

Ramaswamy, V. S., and Namakumari S. Marketing Management:
Planning, implementation and Control. 3
rd
ed. Macmillan India
Ltd., 2002

Kotler, Philip, and Keller Kevin Lane. Marketing Management.
Pearson Education, Inc., 2006

Kotler, Philip, and Armstrong Gary. Principles of Marketing. 11
th

ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006

Pradhan, Swapna. Retailing Management. Tata McGraw Hill, 2004

Web Sites:
www.wikimedia.com
www.retailindia.com
www.google.co.in