Brand Management

Assignment on
Brand Management

Submitted By:

Anish Bhat Lidhoo

System & Finance

09020541014

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Brand Management

Hypotheses:

H0: Brand first; retail outlet next

H1: Retail outlet first; brand next

Introduction:

Decision-making with regard to retail outlet selection is very

similar to consumer decision-making on brands where the
consumer goes through a process starting from identifying
needs to post-purchase issues. There are a few interesting and
important dimensions associated with consumer behaviour and
retail outlet selection.

• Does the retail outlet have psychological implications on

the target segment?
• Does selection of outlets vary in accordance with types of
product categories?
• What is the sequence in which consumers are likely to go
about their decisions? Will they select the brand or the
category first before choosing the outlet?
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• What is the impact of the image developed by a retail

outlet?
• Would consumers be interested in store or retail brands?

Retail outlets be it exclusive showrooms, malls or conventional

stores having multi-brands in the offering have special
implications on the consumer mind. Many companies branded
themselves as elite brand by focusing on exclusive showrooms
like Titan when they collaborated with Timex. Many customers
wanting lower end watches felt the showrooms to be too elitist
and to an extent had a negative impact in the marketing sense,
but Titan easily was perceived to be a better brand than HMT,
which was the market leader at that time. On the same lines,
ITC introduced their apparel brand, Wills Lifestyle, targeted for
the upper market segment. ITC had a chain of exclusive Wills
Lifestyle showrooms which helped it to be looked as a premium
brand.

With the continual increase in the product range offering by the

companies, customers usually get caught in buying dilemma
about which brand and which product to choose. In buying a
car or a two wheeler a customer may not find this difficulty but
when it comes to FMCG goods or consumer electronics,
customers may not be updated about the new offerings by a
company, so they would want to go through the offerings first

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and choose an outlet which would offer them maximum brands

and maximum products. While buying a TV or a washing
machine, would consumers visit an exclusive showroom of LG,
Samsung or Sony, or would they visit a multi-brand outlet like
an e-zone or a croma?

Customers are getting brand conscious day by day and the

product differentiation is getting narrower day by day.
Customers don’t want to feel cheated by choosing a wrong
product of a preferable brand or a preferable product of a
wrong brand. Moreover, with hyper competition, prices are
falling and offerings are becoming even from the customer’s
point of view. To buy a car, the customer will choose the brand
first and then go for an outlet while to buy a soap, the customer
may visit the nearest store and choose the brand according to
the offer favourable to him/her. Thus wherever the capital at
stake is higher, the brand will be chosen first.

Buying a product is getting simpler in terms of paying and

complex in terms of deciding. To overcome this difficulty,
customers want to be informed about various offerings. This is
the only difference between organised and un-organised retail,
where the customer gets to choose from a large variety of
products (in case of organised retail). Be it Reliance fresh or
Croma, customers spend a lot of time before choosing a
product living upto their expectations. This improves customer
satisfaction and the perseverance in choosing the right retail
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outlet. So the image developed by the retail outlet matters a lot

to the present customers.

Traditionally, retailers have been carrying manufacturer’s

brands. But now-a-days, supermarkets like More, Reliance fresh
etc have started carrying retail or store brands. This strategy is
also carried out by Big Bazaar, Central, and Shopper’s Stop etc,
wherein store brands are also sold alongside the
manufacturer’s brands. Some examples can be summarised
like Feaster’s by More, DJ&C by Big Bazaar, Bare Denim by
Central and many more. It is seen that the retailers push their
own brands as they find a higher margin in selling these
products. Customers are attracted by offering discounts,
special offers and increasing the brand image by strategic
location of the store brands. This increases the attractiveness
of the store brands and thus resulting in finding new
customers. It has been seen, in the recent times that store
brands are selling at par with other brands available in the
retail outlet.

Marketers need in-depth knowledge about the various

dimensions which link retailing and consumer behaviour. There
is research required to handle retail decisions in a competitive
context. McDonald's found that a major chunk of its consumers
decide to eat a few minutes before they make the purchase
decisions and hence it is building small outlets in large
supermarkets. It is providing play areas to ensure a number of
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families visit its outlets with children. A few companies also

operate through kiosks in airports, malls and high-traffic areas.
Sunglass Hut is a brand which operates kiosks at various places
which displays about 1,000 different models along with their
prices. Consumers could place an order through these kiosks
and the product is home-delivered.

Retail outlet selection and brand selection

There are three fundamental patterns which a consumer can

follow and they could be:

(i) Brand first, retail outlet second

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(ii) Retail outlet first, brand second

(iii) Brand and retail outlet simultaneously.

A consumer wanting to buy a car may collect information on

brands and purchase it from a retail outlet based on his
perception of price offered or after-sales service provided by
the outlet (typically, search for information on brands is
followed by retail outlet selection in durables). In certain
product categories, especially where `category killers' exist,
consumers may think of the retail outlet initially and then the
brands (television, refrigerator and audio products retailed
through outlets like Croma or Dass in pune, could be an
example).

One more dimension may be to compare brands in the evoked

set at retail outlets which also exist in an evoked set of their
own. This is highly possible, especially in the Indian context
where dealers develop a social relationship with consumers,
especially in semi-urban and rural areas. Primary research
could be used to discover the specific sequence involved in a
situation of this kind. A `brand first' dimension may need
feature-based advertising and a `retail outlet first' dimension
may require a set of point-of-purchase (POP) materials and
special training to sales personnel to recognise the needs of
consumers.

Further, if it is known that a number of consumers may be

oriented to visit their favourite retailer (before obtaining
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information on brands) in a geographical area, there would

have to be more emphasis on regional/local advertising which
highlights the retail shop rather than regular brand-based
national advertising.

Strategies and sequences

Retail outlet first and brand second:

When a number of consumers follow this sequence of decision-

making, display of point-of-purchase material and building the
image of the outlet becomes important. The manufacturer of
the brand may have to ensure that the brand (and the variants
demanded) will be available at the key outlets in a locality.
Point-of-purchase materials which are to be used at the retail
outlet may require primary research - should visuals be used,
should product features be used, should the POP material be in
the regional language. There may also be a need to monitor
competition from other retail outlets to ensure that consumers
are kept satisfied in terms of service, price, promotional deals
and ambience. This is especially applicable to durables retailing
in India (in cities). Retailers attempt to increase consumer
traffic by providing a number of `add-ons'.

Brand first and outlet second:

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The brand was probably thought of by the consumers because

(i) the consumers may not have developed a relationship with
any retailer which is strong enough to get into the `evoked
retail set' or (ii) the brand has got into the evoked set because
of advertising or positive word of mouth. Local advertising with
the mention of brand names which have already got into the
evoked set would enable consumers to be `pulled' to the outlet.

Primary research may be required to identify the brands in the

evoked set. This feedback may have to be provided by the
manufacturers of a brand to retailers in various regions
(especially if it is a brand with a major chunk of the market and
one which is nationally advertised). Even multinational outlets
could make use of this approach and mention the brands in the
evoked set (in a given geographical area). This is likely to
improve traffic to the outlet. Besides, the evoked set could also
change from time to time depending on the strategies of
brands.

About two decades ago, brands like Weston, National and

Crown may have been top-of-the-mind (in a specific
geographical area) but slowly gave way to other brands. The
local advertising could be different from the national
advertising for the brand. A brand may be advertised on
features nationally but the retail outlet in may prefer to
highlight the effective after-sales service associated with the

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brand as this may be a priority of consumers. The combination

of `push-pull' strategy is shown in the table.

The interest generated in the brand would have to be backed

by good pre-sale services at the outlet.

Brand and retail outlet simultaneously:

When consumers think of the brand and retail outlet together,

it means that they have a certain preference for the outlet and
would like to check the evoked set of brands there. The
marketer would have to carry out primary research to find out
specific markets where consumers have a very positive
relationship with retailers. This is important because of the
influence of retailers over the purchase behaviour of consumers
in the Indian context.

It may also be worthwhile to check if the evoked brands are

carried by the retailers who have a positive relationship with
the target segments. This is to ensure that the retailers who
have a favourable perception among the target segment carry
the desired brands. Failing this, consumers may turn to a
different retailer, which would be to the disadvantage of a
retailer who has already won the confidence of consumers.
Retail sales personnel also become important in this situation.
The prospective consumers are "carried over" to the purchase

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stage by the store personnel and hence there should be

incentive programmes for the store personnel.

If a company such as LG or Videocon is dealing with a number

of brands/sub-brands, it has to ensure the availability of
specific brands which may interest the consumers. If the retail
outlet is a large one dealing with a number of brands (like
Croma), a shop-in-shop arrangement may be preferable. This
model puts the brand in focus and reinforces the positive
association a consumer may have about it. A considerable
amount of pre-sale service would have to back up the shop-in-
shop concept.

The shop-in-shop concept creates an aura of exclusivity.

Consumers tend to have higher expectations about the pre-sale
service and the attention given to them. A large store also is
likely to stock several brands and hence all brands in the
evoked set would have to compete with each other to progress
from the evoked set to choice set. Large outlets may also have
a built-in provision for a lower price (because of volumes) and
hence may be in a better position to clinch the deal with
consumers who may simultaneously consider both the brand
and the retail outlet.

Examples:

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Uninor opens retail outlet in Madurai:

Uninor opened an exclusive Company Owned Customer Outlet

(COCO) in Madurai on 3 February 2010. The outlet located at
No – 20,North Veli Street, Madurai – 1, has a floor space of
about 696 Sq Ft. This is one of the experience stores that
Uninor provides its customers – a one-touch interface for Uninor
customers in Madurai. This exclusive store will provide a whole
gamut of services such as new connections, product plans,
recharge, providing unique numbers, address grievances, etc.

Uninor plans to establish exclusive retail outlets in the top 10

districts in Tamil Nadu and expand further progressively.
Madurai is a significant retail point for Uninor’s growth plans. At
present Uninor operates one COCO in Chennai, one in
Puducherry and one in Cochin. By December 2010, the
company plans to have in place another 15 COCOs in the Tamil
Nadu and Kerala Hub. Uninor is also planning on 150 FOFOs
(Franchisee owned Franchisee outlets) for the Tamil Nadu
-Kerala Hub by the end of this year. Each COCO employs 8
Customer Relationship Executives (CRE) and a FOFO

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(Franchisee owned outlet) employs two CREs. Overall, Uninor

COCOs and FOFOs will provide employment to about 500 CREs
by December 2010.

Wills Lifestyle plans 100 new stores, expansion of e-commerce:

It has completed a decade of operation and, with the market

looking up; Wills Lifestyle plans to expand in a big way by
opening 100 new stores in the next three years and
concentrating on online buyers. Wills has 50 stores in 30 cities,
and in the next phase the company would focus on tier-two
cities and open two stores every month for the next six months
in cities such as Nashik, Nagpur and Jaipur.

Central Malls:

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Launched in May'04 at Bangalore, Central is a showcase,

seamless mall and the first of its kind in India. The thought
behind this pioneering concept was to give customers an
unobstructed and a pure shopping experience and to ensure
the best brands in the Indian market are made available to the
discerning Indian customer.

Central offers everything for the urban aspirational shopper to

shop, eat and celebrate. Located in the heart of the city,
Central believes its customers should not have to travel long
distances to reach us; instead we must be present where
customers frequently visit.

Central houses over 300 brands across categories, such as

apparels, footwear and accessories for women, men, children
and infants, apart from a whole range of Music, Books, Coffee
Shops, Food Courts, Super Markets (Food Bazaar), Fine Dining
Restaurants, Pubs and Discotheques. The mall also has a
separate section for services such as Travel, Finance,

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Investment, Insurance, Concert/Cinema Ticket Booking, Bill

Payments and other miscellaneous services. In addition,
Central houses Central Square, a dedicated space for product
launches, impromptu events, daring displays, exciting shows,
and art exhibitions. Central is an integral part of the city and in
the long run a City should become part of CENTRAL!

In a short span of its existence Central has revolutionized and

redefined the shopping experience in India. At Central,
customers no longer only shop, they get SHOP-ATAINED!

Shoppers’ Stop:

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 twenty seven (27) stores across the country
and three stores under the name HomeStop. Shoppers Stop has
also begun operating a number of speciality stores, namely
Crossword Bookstores, Mother care, Brio, Desi Café, Arcelia.

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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.

Shoppers Stop launched its e-store with delivery across major

cities in India in 2008. The website retails all the products
available at Shoppers Stop stores, including apparel, cosmetics
and accessories.

Croma:

Buyers of consumer electronics products face a problem of

plenty: hundreds of brands, thousands of products, a mind-
boggling range of features, which one to choose?
You can shop for 6000 products across eight categories in a
world-class ambience.

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Croma is promoted by Infiniti Retail Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of

Tata Sons. Woolworths, one of the world’s leading retailers,
provides technical and strategic sourcing support, ensuring that
you buy nothing but the best.
Croma's first store opened on October 9, 2006 at Juhu in
Mumbai, and it's rolling out many more stores across India.

Bharti Airtel launches India’s first Mobile App Store – Airtel App
Central:

Bharti Airtel, Asia’s leading integrated telecom service provider,

today announced the launch of India’s first mobile applications
store - Airtel App Central. Now, Airtel mobile customers can
transform their basic phone into a Smart Phone by accessing
over 1250 Apps across 25 categories for their business, games,
books, social networking and other needs. Offering an easy
single click purchase – with no credit card required – the cost is

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automatically added to the customer’s mobile bill or deducted

from the available talk-time. Starting as low as Rs. 5, Airtel App
Central will offer local and regional Apps for customers across
the length and breadth of the country.

Reliance:

Post launch, in a dramatic shift in its positioning and mainly due

to the circumstances prevailing in UP, West Bengal and Orissa,
it was mentioned recently in news dailies that, Reliance Retail
is moving out of stocking fruits and vegetables. Reliance Retail
has decided to minimise its exposure in the fruit and vegetable
business and position Reliance Fresh as a pure play super
market focusing on categories like food, FMCG, home,
consumer durables, IT and wellness, with food accounting for
the bulk of the business.

The company may not stock fruit and vegetables in some

states. Though Reliance Fresh is not exiting the fruit and
vegetable business altogether, it has decided not to compete

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with local vendors partly due to political reasons, and partly

due to its inability to create a robust supply chain. This is quite
different from what the firm had originally planned.

When the first Reliance Fresh store opened in Hyderabad last

October, not only did the company said the store’s main focus
would be fresh produce like fruits and vegetables at a much
lower price, but also spoke at length about its “farm-to-fork’’
theory. The idea the company spoke about was to source from
farmers and sell directly to the consumer removing middlemen
out of the way.

Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart, Reliance Digital, Reliance

Trendz, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Jewels,
Reliance Timeout and Reliance Super are various formats that
Reliance has rolled out.

In addition, Reliance Retail has entered into an alliance with

Apple for setting up a chain of Apple Specialty Stores branded
as iStore, starting with Bangalore.

Apple Store:

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The Apple Store is a chain of retail stores owned and operated

by Apple Inc., dealing in computers and consumer electronics.
As of December 2009 Apple has opened 294 stores; 231 in
41 US states, 25 in the United Kingdom (21 in England, 2
in Scotland, 1 in Northern Ireland and 1 in Wales), 14
in Canada, 7 in Japan, 6 in Australia, 3 in Switzerland, 3
in Germany, 2 in Italy, 2 in France, and 1 in the People's
Republic of China.

Bajaj Probiking:

Bajaj introduced a series of showrooms across the country

called the Bajaj Probiking. These showrooms, targeted for the
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youth, provided access to the newest models from the Bajaj,

Pulsar and the Avenger. Customers could have a test ride of
these performance bikes before making up their mind to buy
one.

Koutons Retail:

Koutons Retail India Ltd. is the leading retailer of readymade

and fashion wear brand in the country today. With more than
1400 outlets across India, it has a wide range of apparel
designs suited for all segments including corporate, formal and
casual dressings. Koutons aptly creates the conducive
environment for a family outing, making family shopping the
best experience at an affordable price - all at one place.

Koutons was born in 1991 as Charlie Creations and are now

Koutons Retail India Ltd. Koutons started primarily as a denim
brand but are today manufacturing and selling complete men,

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women and kids wardrobe under the brand name Koutons, Les
Femme and Koutons Junior respectively. Another brand from
the stable of Koutons is Charlie Outlaw, which caters to the
teens of the country with apparels including jeans, T- shirts,
jackets etc. Koutons Brand is catering to the Upper & Upper
Middle Class of Society with a vast target age group between
18-60 years.

"Value for Money and High on Fashion" being their USP,

Koutons has given the brand an extension delving into specific
consumer segments. The garments are made keeping in view
the overall need of the niche market and the basic/fashion
demand of the Indian masses. Our product range also caters to
the tastes of all segments. Our Brand is placed as the most
dynamic brand of India.

Cafe Coffee Day:

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Café Coffee Day is a division of India's largest coffee

conglomerate, Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company
Ltd. (ABCTCL), popularly known as Coffee Day, A Rs. 750 crore
ISO 9002 certified company. Coffee Day sources coffee from
5000 acres of coffee estates, the 2nd largest in Asia, that is
owned by a sister concern and from 11,000 small growers. It is
one of India’s leading coffee exporters with clients across USA,
Europe & Japan. Its different divisions include: Coffee Day Fresh
n Ground (which owns 400 Coffee bean and powder retail
outlets), Coffee Day Xpress (which owns 895 Coffee Day Kiosk),
Coffee Day Take away (which owns 12000 Vending Machines),
Coffee Day Exports and Coffee Day Perfect (FMCG Packaged
Coffee) division.

The Mobile Store:

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The MobileStore format is a one stop mobile solution shop that

provides, multi brand handsets, accessories, connections,
repairs, VAS etc all under one roof.

The MobileStore currently has more than 1050 outlets and the
vision is to have a network of 2500 stores by 2010 across 650
cities, thus covering virtually every major town in every state
across India. The MobileStore outlets are in three formats:
Large - 1000-1500 square feet, Medium- 800-1000 square feet
and Corner-150-200 square feet, with smaller formats located
primarily in large malls. Key thrust areas for the retail format
are: Comprehensive Product Range, Knowledgeable Store Staff
& Interactive Environment, Competitive Prices and Handset
Repairs.

The MobileStore caters to the Indian consumer's choice of the

widest and most comprehensive range of mobile phones with
special offers from all the key brands available across the
globe. The MobileStore offers complete telecom solutions right
from handset purchase to the choice of service operator and
miscellaneous services like monthly bill collections etc., the
stores also offer connections (pre paid and post paid),
accessories and VAS including the latest ring tones, wallpapers
and gaming and prompt after sales service, available not only
in the city of purchase but in all The MobileStore outlets across
the country.

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All the above examples are corresponding to the organised

retail industry, but in India, the unorganised retail accounts for
close to 98% of the total retail industry. These unorganized
retailers generally consists of mom and pop stores, kiranas,
sabzi mandis, hole-in-the-wall shops, counter stores, street
markets, roadside peddlers etc. Most of these traditional retail
outlets are family run stores characterized by lack of quality in
inventory and retail chain management, low standards, and
essentially operated by anyone who has something to sell.

Textiles sector with companies like Bombay Dyeing,

Raymond's, S Kumar's and Grasim first saw the emergence of
retail chains. Later Titan successfully created an organized
retailing concept and established a series of showrooms for its
premium watches. The latter half of the 1990s saw a fresh
wave of entrants with a shift from Manufactures to Pure
Retailers, e.g., Food World, Subhiksha and Nilgiris in food and
FMCG; Planet M and Music World in music; Crossword and
Fountainhead in books. Post 1995 onwards saw an emergence
of shopping centres, mainly in urban areas, with facilities like
car parking targeted to provide a complete destination

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experience for all segments of society. Emergence of hyper and

super markets trying to provide customer with 3 V’s - Value,
Variety and Volume Expanding target consumer segment: The
Sachet revolution - example of reaching to the bottom of the
pyramid.

Driven by the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and apparel

segments, the Indian retail market which is currently estimated
to be around US$ 350 billion is expected to witness growth by
nine per cent annually touching US$ 521 billion by 2012.

Retail companies in India are seeing their margins from FMCG

companies go up from 14-15 per cent to 17-19 per cent as they
compete for shelf space with retailer’s private labels. Some

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FMCG companies say that as retailers acquire scale, they also

deliver supply chain efficiency and organized scale. The Indian
food market, which at US$ 182 billion accounts for about two
thirds of the total Indian retail market, has seen the entry of
Yum! Restaurants which announced it will invest up to US$ 150
million (about Rs 700 crore) in India where it will compete with
companies in India such as Nirulas and Haldiram in the
country's organized food and beverage retail sector.

Shopping malls have mushroomed all over the major metros of

India, spreading its tentacles far and wide, like the proverbial
hydra. Gurgaon, Noida, and a few other satellite townships in
the NCR (national capital region) of India’s capital city Delhi,
have been standing witnesses and silent partners to this mall
mania. Called as the Shopping-mall capital of India, Gurgaon
has been a focal point of the this rising tide, with monolithic
glass structures, colossal trade towers and a lot of glitzy
skyscrapers manning the entire length and breadth of this
erstwhile urban village. Many others have followed suit, as they
jump into this bandwagon of a modern India, cashing in on the
rising spending potential of the great Indian middle class.

Retail companies in India have missed the woods for the trees,
as the trend in the market shows that there has been a

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complete mismatch of consumers and brands. It’s true that the

foot-falls in most of the major malls have been great and
phenomenal, matching those in any developed retail markets;
but, not all footfalls generate business. Other than the few
multiplexes and the fast food chains, most of the retail
endeavours have run into big troubles. Not everyone who
enters the mall is a prospective consumer, as majority of them
come just to hang out, and indulge in window shopping in an
air-conditioned environment for free. With high real estate cost,
many of these retailers have failed to break even, and business
has been abysmally low, even non-existent at times.

Conclusion:

From the above study, we follow that consumer behaviour does

depend upon the selection of the brand and the retail outlet. A
consumer may take any of the three paths discussed earlier,
but what mainly influences him/her in doing so is the type of
product he/she chooses.

In our study, we also discussed the Indian retail industry in very

brief, which mainly compromises of the unorganized sector.
The Indian organized sector, mostly in the urban areas is

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catching up with the unorganized sector at a fast pace,

although the gap to be bridged is too large. There has been an
increasing trend in the opening of new malls and exclusive
retail outlets of various brands. The consumers are getting
more brand conscious and thus look forward in choosing a right
brand, suiting their personality. So, most of the companies are
focusing on opening their own exclusive retail outlets on
franchisee basis to increase brand loyalty and brand recall.
Moreover, we see almost all the brands having a shelf space in
the malls and other retail outlets. The only exception of brands
having their own exclusive stores is the FMCG companies which
mainly depend on the unorganized retail outlets and the
supermarkets. So in their case, the consumer may not follow
the path of selecting a brand first but choose the product after
selecting a retail outlet.

Thus our initial hypothesis: brand first; retail outlet second

holds true in sectors like the apparel stores, consumer durables
like notebooks, automobile showrooms etc. In case of these,
the consumer does an extensive research about the product to
be bought and selects the brand. After the brand is selected,
the customer chooses any feasible location to get the product
from.

Our alternate hypothesis: retail outlet first; brand next holds

true in FMCG, consumer durables like the mobile phones etc,
and shopping malls.

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In support of the alternate hypothesis, we can also take the

case of the booming Indian economy, with which the per capita
income has increased and people have more of disposable
income to spend. We see a typical urban Indian spending
his/her weekend at the nearest mall or a shopping arcade or a
place which he/she does not pre-plan. So, most of the people
go for a purchase at a retail outlet without planning about the
brand to be bought. This can be seen in case of the apparels,
FMCG, consumer durables etc.

So from the study, it is clear that our initial hypothesis holds

well in the traditional markets where the consumer knows what
he is buying. This can mainly be because of the influential
brand endorsement or brand loyalty. But as we have also
studied the recent advancements in the retailing
methodologies, like the coming up of the mall culture and the
companies focusing on exclusive showrooms, our alternate
hypothesis easily gets more weightage than the initial
hypothesis. Although we can’t totally neglect our initial
hypothesis, but we conclude by saying that RETAIL OUTLETS
FIRST; BRANDS NEXT is the future.

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