GRADUATION PROJECTS

MFM (07-09)

Name: Aditi Mishra Organization: Lifestyle International Pvt. Ltd. Project Title: Devising a floor plan to optimize sales

OBJECTIVE
To study & create a feasible floor layout plan on excel for Goregaon stand alone- HC (matched to scale with the actual floor plan) to work as a monitoring tool to identify problem areas. To calculate & analyse the Hit ratio for Jan-march period age wise & department wise for both the warehouses of LS for Goregaon store to confirm if the low SPF pockets are due to absence of merchandise on floor. GAP analysis for product- Furniture & Household in terms of FMS, SMS. To do a service gap survey with the help of SERVQUAL system. Competitors survey (Home stop & Hyper city) on options, retail space allotted & brands present to study their focus areas.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

WAREHOUSE All location Inventory controllers should send the damages and loss data to the corporate office every Saturday. While sending the data, Inventory controllers should discuss the circumstances under which the loss or damaged occurred with the Store manager. The review of cause, analysis of data should be done to find out the lapse in the control system. Drill down the exact cause and recommend penalization of the concerned staff in case of frequent damage by staff. Overall stock holding was less in the off sale period since most of the expected consignments were delayed & more discounts were required for certain categories. All of this boils down to three simple things: A better co ordination between the Buying-Merchandising-Front end to give timely & appropriate discounts & discontinue the slow movers; the front end staff should be intimidated about the discounts A.S.A.P. so that they can display stocks on floor accordingly. Constant movement of information from merchandiser to supplier via buying to inform the former about in demand styles & the flaws with old styles along with any consignment related stock issues esp. during sale period. Streamlining the supply chain flow to ensure that the aging stock reaches the floor in the first couple of days. Warehouse should target at least 80-90% hit ratio; floor staff should make sure that stock is highlighted on the floor for a speedy clearance.

Name: AISHWARYA.S Organization: MADURA GARMENTS Project Title: Preparing An Optimum Core Mix Of Shirts & Trousers For Peter England

OBJECTIVE

Arriving at an optimum core assortment plan for all the 119 PE stores across India Store profiling in terms of the brand/ category mix (PE, Elite, Elements, S&B) Store categorisation wrt overall core behaviour in PE Detailed analysis of core range across various parameters of core category, MRP, colour, sizes, sleeves and pleats

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The assortment plan for each individual store has been developed on the basis of detailed analysis of core merchandise at various levels. Since Core sales are expected to be flat, only the best sellers have been allocated in each category. Hence the stores do not have to contend with weak sellers which usually end up in seconds stores thereby lowering profitability. This assortment plan works on ideal option capacity rather than actual capacity thereby increasing sell- thrus and also profitability. Space Rationalization has been done to align the space allotted to the brand with the sales to arrive at an optimum space mix for the stores.

Name: Amitesh Organization: BENETTON INDIA PVT. LTD. Project Title: Comparative analysis of sale of gift vouchers and analysis of loyalty program

OBJECTIVE
OBJECTIVES To Understand the elements involved in successful launch of sale of GIFT VOUCHERS at store as well as online. To determine the critical success factors involved in sale of G.VS. To design a process for sale of gift voucher for BENETTON INDIA stores Design the life cycle of GIFT VOUCHERS. OBJECTIVES To design a TRAINING MODULE for retail staff To determine the standard operating procedure for staff To incorporate requisite product knowledge for staff To incorporate theme knowledge for the current season (subject to change every season) To include system training . To develop a system for periodical checks on learning of store staff OBJECTIVE To compare and analyse various brands offering loyalty programs and suggest improvements in the BENETTONS LOYALTY PROGRAM

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

LOYALTY PROGRAM
The LOYALTY card enrollment takes too much of time. The customers dont know what gifts they would be getting. There is no incentive for the customer after crossing a purchase slab to another. That is the value of gift stays at 15 % on each slab. The helpline no. are in defunct state. There is absence of verification of customer details

GIFT VOUCHER
Printing the vouchers centrally, without any unique identification code. Supply Chain to do a stock transfer to a store, after which each GV shall be bar coded After the stock transfer in APDS, the relevant unique bar code numbers will get activated in ETP-POS. This unique bar code number will be used as an item at store level to be sold as a regular commodity. After the store sells the voucher to ultimate customer, the "issued" vouchers will become activated in all stores for redemption.

TRAINING MODULE
TRAINING MODULE will incorporate the following CUSTOMER INTERACTION Product knowledge Theme knowledge Etp-pos system training Store operations guidelines Guidelines for promotions and scheme launch

Name: Dhruv Sethi Organization: : FEMELLA FASHIONS LTD. Project Title: Retail Store Operations Femella Fashions Ltd.

OBJECTIVE
Phase i: To study the operating costs and suggest various approaches to meet them or reduce them. Phase ii: To study the retail store operations and suggest various promotional measures to enhance the footfalls. Phase iii: To conduct a market research survey for the mass designer wear category and that for upcoming store locations for the brand. (Excluding signature collection of designer wear)

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The operating expenses at the front-end could be deducted by 75% if the S.O.R. to S.O.H. Approach is implemented and the lease charges which are included in operating costs can be met by 85%. (S.O.R. Space on Rent, S.O.H. Space on Hire) The operating software at front-end need to be changed at first, to maintain customer record, merchandise movement record, reduce errors in recording transactions, etc. The product code on tags need to be changed so as to be more precise on the product features and add-on to the product. The jewelry need to be replaced with a more pleasing collection as it was rated below average by most of the people surveyed through Market Research. The awareness of Plus-Size Category and Extra-Small Category must be increased. The gift vouchers should be replaced with the cash redemption vouchers so as to push existing stock of jewelry.

Name: Karthik.M Organization: Levis Strauss & Co Project Title: Analysis of Indian apparel market with reference to Levis Strauss Signature and to identify key opportunity areas

OBJECTIVE
Objectives: To study the Indian apparel market in detail To estimate the market size of various apparel categories in different states To estimate the market share of Levis Strauss Signature in different categories across different states. To identify future investment opportunities for of Levis Strauss Signature.

Urban India has major share in spending and the per capita expenditure of urban India (15750 INR per annum) is much higher than rural India (8341.92 INR per annum) and also the per capita expenditure on clothing in urban India is much higher (843 INR per annum) than rural India (509 INR per annum) But rural because of huge population (778361700) compared to urban population of (248392500) has a huge market which is largely untapped. But at the current moment even though rural market is very large because of the backwardness in development does not form a huge market for branded readymade wear. Urban India spends about 5% of the total expenditure on clothing while rural India spends 6% As India becomes more modernized the percentage expenditure on clothing decreases as other expenses like rent, education, travel takes a greater share but expenditure on clothing in terms of absolute number increases The percapita income of some states like Kerala, Punjab ,Goa ,Chandigarh, Delhi, Kanataka, Haryana have very high percapita income and higher education levels compared to the other states Punjab has the highest percapita expenditure on clothing in rural India followed by Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh and Harayana Uttar Pradesh has the largest market size for clothing in rural India followed by Bihar, Maharastra, West Bengal and Andra Pradesh Chhattisgarh has highest percapita expenditure on clothing in urban India followed by Punjab, Jammu,Arunachal Pradesh, Maharastra and Kerala. Maharastra has the largest urban market size followed by UP, Tamilnadu, Andra Pradesh and West Bengal. LSS mainly has its sales in Maharastra, Delhi, Karnataka, UP and Tamilnadu. Denim is the major product category accounting for 51% of the sales followed by Tshirts 26% and Shirts 14%. Majority of the denim sales has been to Maharastra, Delhi, UP, Karnataka and Rajasthan. Majority of t-shirts have sold in Karnataka, Maharastra, Delhi, Rajasthan and UP LSS has a highest market shares in Uttarnchal (Dehradun), Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan And least market shares in Chattisgarh, Jharkand, Gujurat, Kerala, West Bengal and Andra Pradesh

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Name: Meenakshi Rewaria Organization: VISHAL RETAIL LTD. Project Title: To identify gap between customer Expectation and actual customer Experience at vishal megamart

OBJECTIVE
Identify the variables that constitute the customer expectations from a hypermarket in India. The level of customer loyalty, retention rate at Vishal Megamart The gap between customer expectation and actual customer experience at Vishal Megamart

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Most important factors that a customer consider while making a hypermarket as a shopping destination are price factor which explains 26% variance, product- 18.3%, time factor- 17.8%, entertainment- 16.4%. Loyalty program is in critical area and needs the immediate attention because it is high on expectation and low on performance Factors which are in the moderate area of improvement are Discounts, Variety of merchandise, Quality of apparel, Billing, Display, Parking facility, employee service, cafeteria. Values for money, Variety in price are the strengths of Vishal Megamart while Proximity to home performance is at par with the expectation levels Majority of customers visiting vishal megamart fall in the age group of 18-40 which is 70 % Majority of customers fall in the income group of 10000-20000 which is 48%. Next income group is 20000-30000 which is 22.5%. Majority of customers 89.5% are buying monthly. Thus the frequency is good to moderate. From the finding it is evident that 51% customers probably would not recommend the company to others although 80% claims that they will repurchase. These customers are satisfied but not loyal to the company. Even 15% say that they would not visit other stores but also none of the respondent said that they would definitely recommend the company to others. Thus we cannot say that these 15% are loyal customers.

Name: Preeti Choudhary Organization: adidas INDIA MARKETING PVT. LTD. Project Title: Analysis of sales performance of brand adidas

OBJECTIVE
To Understand the elements involved in promoting a business, including sales promotion, visual merchandising, and publicity. To determine the role of VM in the increase the sales. To conduct a market survey to analyse the current Store Promotion Strategies of different brands in the market followed by suggestion to increase the visibility of a store. To analyse the effectiveness of Promotional Schemes. To Conduct a Market Survey to analyse the popularity and effectiveness of current promos by adidas.

To analyse the stocking of merchandise at store level to boost sales To determine the Top Ten Articles in all categories and to analyse their balance stock in terms of availability popular sizes. To determine the Sales through percentage (sports category-wise) To conduct a comparative analysis of 4 stores of Chandigarh in terms of Top Selling Articles contribution.

To maintain updated 2009 Target Sheet to keep control on achieved Primary Sales. To design SOP for Claim Management.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Visual Merchandising Change in the store leads to increase of the secondary sales, which proves the effectiveness of Visual Merchandising. Hence VM Concepts and Standards should be followed seriously. As the Secondary Sales Data shows the positive effect of Bag and Voucher promo, we can conclude how important it is to keep offering such promotional schemes. Update of the market is also required to choose best of the scheme for the specific period. Customer feedback also required to judge the success of a promo. It is beneficial to fill the gap to meet customer expectations. We could see that top ten sellers contributes 20 to 40 percent of the business sales. Hence inventory check is required every week so that refill orders could reach the store on time without hampering the sales. As we analysed in the target sheet that there is a gap, which could be filled by additional orders left for primary sales. Hence Targets Sheets are really important to keep a track of where we are moving and where we are facing shortfalls, a corrective plan will help in such cases. Standard operating procedure are really important for franchisee/distributors to understand, so that loses can be controlled by keeping standardize formats. Apart from that, the Loyalty program should be employed in the stores of RON to Boost Sales.

Name: Richa Pant Organization: Central ,Bangalore (Pantaloons India Private Ltd.) Project Title: Analysis of sales performance of brand adidas

OBJECTIVE
Category Analysis of Mens wear in Central, Bangalore for the period Sept08 to Dec08 - Analysis of sales contribution (qty wise, value wise, brand wise, merchandise category wise) - Calculation of Top 5 and bottom 5 contributing brands volume wise. - Gap analysis in Service quality.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Top 5 brands John Miller Allen Solly Blackberry Scullers Louis Phillipe Bottom 5 Brands Indian Terrain Wills Classic Genesis John Player Excalibur Fastest moving category Formal Shirts Slowest moving category- Blazers September was the month of Maximum sales. Reliability is the most preferred factor in service quality by customers. Central Needs to focus more on Reliability. Customers feel that the billing counters need to be more efficient. They also need to focus on timely service.

Name: Rishika Sharma Organization: Central ,Bangalore (Pantaloons India Private Ltd.) Project Title: Category Analysis of Kids wear in Central, Bangalore for the period Sept08 to Jan09

OBJECTIVE
- Analysis of sales contribution (qty wise, value wise, brand wise, merchandise category wise and age wise) - Analysis of stock mix (qty wise, value wise, brand wise, merchandise category wise and age wise) - Analysis of Average Selling Price

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Highest ASP : Barbie (Rs. 827) Sales contribution

Age wise sales contribution

Highest Qty wise Gini n Jony and Meemee(11%) Value wise Gini n Jony (14%) Lowest Qty wise Kanz (1%) Value wise Kanz (1%) Highest Qty wise Gini n Jony(19%) Value wise Gini n Jony(21%) Lowest Qty wise Kanz (2%) Value wise Kanz(2%)

Highest Qty wise Kids(46%) Value wise Kids(45%) Lowest Qty wise Toddlers(2%) Value wise Toddlers (1%) Highest Qty wise Kids (39%) Value wise Kids(40%) Lowest Qty wise Toddlers(2%) Value wise Toddlers(2%)

Age wise Stock Mix

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Stock contribution
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Name: Sania Dewan Organization: Levi Strauss and CO. Project Title: Analysis of Sub-Brands Region-wise and thereby create a Business Tool to Assess Brand Growth

OBJECTIVE
To Understand Levis as a Brand To Comprehend and Analyze its performance over the past year, 2008. To Develop apt Business Tools to Analyze Brand Growth over 2009 so far Find the possible weak links in the Business To give Suggestions to further strengthen the Brand

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

501 has had large growth. Premium brands do not have much growth. It is the higher priced merchandise which is contributing to the over all Gross Margin. Red Tab has good growth though the Average MRP has not grown much. Sykes has potential but something is going wrong with the final outcome of the merchandise. Greater publicity may help. Workers has extremely low sales. Levis is a male-dominated brand. Despite being a bottoms centric brand, the Tops market shows some potential

Name: Saima Khan Organization: ARVIND BRANDS (MEGAMART) Project Title: Retail Planning for Private label business of Megamart.

OBJECTIVE
To streamline the process of store level assortment planning and replenishment for private label brands. To suggest practices to improve inventory turns, reduce out of stocks and better customer service for a value retail format.
-Plano-gram -Model store-stock mix -Point of sale analysis

To map the performing and non-performing private brands in Bangalore Peenya store and study the effects of Planogram implementation.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The regions exhibit a sales pattern with Bangalore the highest, contributes 40 % to sales. The category wise sales analysis reveals that menswear is the highest selling category. Frequent replenishments lead to less cycle inventory. An increase in forecast error accuracy decreases both overstocked and under stocked quantity and increases firm profit. There are a number of cases of bar code mistakes due to wrong printing or tagging. Ruggers is the performing brand of the store and Bay Island is a non performing brand for the store. The store is facing problem of stock out in certain brands and excess stock in other which needs to be balanced.

Name: Shilpi Choudhury Organization: LEVI STRAUSS SIGNATURE Project Title: To Study Front-End Retail Operations at Levi Strauss Signature

OBJECTIVE
At LSS Brigade Road: Objective: To find what is lacking in the store and to suggest ways to improve conversion Sub-Objective 1: To understand customer requirements and customer satisfaction level at the store Sub-Objective 2: To understand sales staff performance At LSS Kempfort To understand and study the store and to suggest ways of improvement. Sub-Objective 1: To understand the kind of customer walking into the store and into the mall. Sub-Objective 2 : To analyse the sales data of the store Sub-Objective 3: To understand the various ongoing promotions and to suggest some innovative promotional tools to drive sales.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

LSS Brigade Rd.- Flagship store (Old Format) LSS KempfortLatest store in Bangalore (New Format) LSS Brigade Rd.- Situated in a high street LSS KempfortSituated in a mall LSS Brigade Rd.- Has a regular customer base LSS KempfortMostly first time visitors to the store LSS Brigade Rd.- Customer- upwardly mobile, cosmopolitan LSS KempfortCustomer- traditional,family- oriented, middle class LSS Brigade Rd.- Brand- conscious customer LSS KempfortPrice-conscious customer LSS Brigade Rd.- High walk-ins, Low conversions LSS Kempfort - Low walk-ins, High conversions LSS Brigade Rd.- Strategy should be to keep on re-inventing and bringing newness to the brand LSS Kempfort Strategy should be to create more awareness about the brand

Name: Tanya Kalra Organization: Texmode Project Title: To conduct gap analysis between buyers expecations and the actual working of texmode

OBJECTIVE
To study the working of texmode Identify the parameters that are vital in the order execution. Analyze data to find the parameters for which the gap is quite wide.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The top four parameters with major gaps are :
Lead time Product development Newness Showroom Arrangement.

Negative gaps can also be seen in the chart which imply expectations of the buyers have been exceeded for the following parameters:
Responsiveness Courtesy

Name: Vineeta Khanna Organization: United Colors of Benetton Project Title: In depth analysis of Menswear at UCB vis- a- vis its competitors and customer profiling for the brand

OBJECTIVE

Product style analysis of various brands. Price and option analysis of various Brands. Customer Profile- demographics and psychographics of UCB customers Finding gaps and developing strategies to increase the sales.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Popular brand in the 18 -22 age group.- increased focus will deliver incremental value 93% spend less than Rs 5000 on a single purchase at UCB T shirts cut across all age groups Availability of sizes is an issue Perceived as a casual brand Focus on MRPs between Rs 1000- Rs 3000 Average bill amount peaks in age group 22-26 and then declines Ranked highest in terms of fit, style and quality Sales staff and the store front team are a comparative advantage 3 million young earners in the age group 20-24 annually in India UCB is a brand for youth they have very few styles especially targeted at them Knits and denim have below average sell thr Merchandise targeted at the youth has the potential to improve company sales

Name: Swati Kochhar Organization: Benetton India Pvt Limited Project Title:Strengthening the performance of the Ladies Wear Department for Benetton

OBJECTIVE
Market Mapping and Competitor analysis "for UCB Ladies Wear in terms of merchandise offering, options and pricing. Customer profiling and Analysis of shopping behavior. Analysis of Sales data and Category wise performance

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Occasion Wear for the 26-35 yrs age bracket : Suggested categorizing the range into Casual, Work wear/Semi formal& Evening wear as was done by many other International competitor brands like Mango and Esprit. Introducing skirts & dresses as a separate category. Stand alone Youth Stations for the 18-22 years age bracket : Category Mix Suggested :
Knit Tops : T shirts Denim : Jeans, Shorts and Capri Casual Woven tops Funky Accessories Focus on Denim as a separate category Introduction of clearly demarcated fits Embellishments and detailing

Name: Paridhi Joshi Organization: ColorPlus fashions Ltd Project Title: Data Analytics to Enhance Retail Operations

OBJECTIVE
To devise decision making tools with a focus on retail buying analytics for improving the front end and back end retail operational processes in ColorPlus Sub-objectives:
To study, analyse and suggest improvements in the current buying process at ColorPlus. To suggest a strategic plan for merchandise allocation To track planned vis--vis actual sales data store wise and category wise. To increment retail efficiency by monitoring Key Performance Indicators. To develop a comprehensive rating methodology for front end sales staff.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Implementation of a Retail Intelligence software to address the lacunas identified in the current buying process at ColorPlus Proposed and implemented Retail Performas to increase operational efficiency in the Retail Environment Monitoring of Key performance Indicators Tracking Planned vis--vis Actual store wise sales data Comprehensive Rating methodology for front end sales staff

Name: Latika Mundhra Organization: Pantaloons Retail India Limited Project Title: SAP & Business Process Reengineering

OBJECTIVE
Sap implementation to streamline sales and distribution processes in central pan India.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Integration among different functional areas to ensure proper communication, productivity and efficiency . Order tracking, from acceptance through fulfilment The revenue cycle, from invoice through cash receipt ERP Systems centralize the data in one place. This eliminates the problem of synchronizing changes and can reduce the risk of loss of sensitive data by consolidating multiple permissions and security models into a single structure.

Name: Mannat Atwal Organization: Benetton Project Title: Option Planning

OBJECTIVE
The primary objective is to identify the limitations and lead to profit improvement. To study the trends of the previous season and identify the limitations and opportunities and prepare an option plan for the upcoming season. To have a better insight on potential profitability. To provide the opportunity to the dept. to fine-tune their plans, allowing investments to be redistributed among categories in order to achieve dept goals and objectives.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Each category behaves differently in each season on changing the options. The analysis of the previous season is the main source of data in making the merchandising plan. Benetton is moving from a Knit top brand to a wardrobe brand.

Name: Neha Kesarwani Organization: Wills Lifestyle, ITC Limited. Project Title: Studying the potential of indian casual mens wear in the premium segment

OBJECTIVE
To study the consumer perception in general. Demographics of the target customer. Consumer perception of Wills Sport What are the most/least accepted product categories of Wills Sport, Amount the customer is ready to shell out of their pockets. Based on first survey the second survey was conducted to get into the details of styles, designs, fits, fabrics, Colors and patterns for Wills Sport T-Shirts, Shirts, Denims and Trousers preferred by the customers walking in to the Wills Lifestyle store at various locations in NCR. Studied 14 competitive brands in terms of Fits, Fabrics, No. of options, No. of Styles, Colors, Patterns, Most/Least selling styles and Theme of the stores in the season Spring/Summer 09.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The most popular categories for Wills Sport Men are Shirts and Trousers. T-shirts at Wills Sport are considered expensive. Subtle detailing in the casuals are preferred Fit ,Style and Quality are the most important attributes according to a target customer There is no external branding in Wills Lifestyle. Customers wearing a Premium brand wants to flaunt the brand and logo he endorses.
Category Highest Rated Brand Allen Solly, Color Plus and Wills Sport Levis Wills Sport, Color Plus Unitd Color Of Benetton, Tommy, Lacoste

Maximum people purchased once a month. They were ready to spend : Rs. 1399- Rs. 1699 on Trousers. Rs. 1599- Rs. 2099 on Denims. Rs. 899- Rs. 1699 on Shirts. Rs. 799- Rs. 1099 on T- shirts.

TROUSERS DENIMS SHIRTS T-SHIRTS

Most popular categories for Wills Sport are Shirts and Trousers. T-Shirts at Wills Sport are considered expensive.

Name: Prashant Pandey Organization: Shoppers Stop Project Title: Analysis of Receiving Bay In charge office to increase the efficiency of Resource utilization

OBJECTIVE
To identify the problems faced by Shoppers Stop in the present Retail scenario. To suggest measures to improve the working of Shoppers Stop. To study the RBI process. To identify the problems faced by the RBI process. To suggest measures to improve the efficiency of RBI office.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Sending of the stock should be done in sync with the system feeded indent. Consolidation of stock transfer should be done to achieve the optimum usage of resources. Packing slip should be pasted on the carton with the following details:Style code Product hierarchy Size wise and color wise breakup Weight of the carton No. of pieces per carton. Inwarding should happen directly at the floor. Different color coded stickers can be used. The goods can be outwarded in the same truck. The stock issue note should be acknowledged by the floor manager. Stock transfer note should contain reasons for transfer. ROM should decide the goods to be outwarded and same should be inform to the floor DM.

Name: Kumari Pooja Organization: Arvind Brands - Arrow Project Title: Primary Sales Analysis for Mens Formal Shirts & Trousers for MBO channel (SS07 to SS09)

OBJECTIVE
To analyze the primary sales data of last 5 seasons for MBO channel on the following parameters- location, season, category, Sub-brands, Fit, weave & MRP To study how the lifestyle aspirations of men influence their preferences for apparel products To explore how these preferences are affected by relationships with choices of products in other categories that together are used to express a desired lifestyle

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Sub-brands Classic & Premium performed well in all the seasons and across all the four zones Flat front trousers are gaining popularity season after season Striped shirts are more popular than solids & checks Shirts in the price range Rs. 1195-1595 & trousers in Rs. 1495-1795 range sells more Top of mind recall is less for Arrow Men generally shops every 3 months at MBO in malls either with family or friends Brand name, Fit, style/design influence the buying decisions Friends, colleagues etc are the source of inspiration for formal dressing Relaxing at home is the favorite pastime activity Business & Automobile magazines are more popular among men Laptop & Mobile phones are favorite gadgets

Name: Thangchinmuan Hangzo Organization: Central ,Bangalore (Pantaloons India Private Ltd.) Project Title: Category Analysis of Youth Wear in Central, Bangalore.

OBJECTIVE
Category Analysis of Youth Wear in Central, Bangalore.
An in-depth analysis of the youth wear category at Bangalore central and give suggestions on ways of improving the performance of various brands. Profiling the city of Indore to find out its feasibility in terms of opening up a Central Mall.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

A number of options, but non-availability of variety within them. Bad display because space is the key as far as a retailer is concerned. Brands do not have their own sales staff, which leads to lack of knowledge about the product and no assistance to the customers. Lack of availability of core merchandise. Brands like Levis and Lee which are known as the best Denim brands across the nation are also not justifying their capacities. Indore will be a promising market for opening up a Central Central in Indore should most definitely come up with a Multiplex Cinema which would increase the footfalls of the Mall. Food Court in Indore would also be a major attraction as there are a huge number of eating joints in the city, which indicate that the people of Indore are fond of eating out.

Name: Tamanna Chaudhary Organization: United Colors of Benetton Project Title: Suggesting Product Extension

OBJECTIVE
Competitor analysis for Benetton, identifying gaps and suggesting product extension.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Nightwear Maternity wear Sportswear

Name: Amrita Sharma Organization: PUMA sports india Pvt Ltd Project Title: Assessment of stores based on their past performance and their evaluation in case the contribution is less than the targets set.

OBJECTIVE
Assessment of stores based on their past performance and their evaluation in case the contribution is less than the targets set.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The concept PUMA Womens was not selling well in both the stores because it was not displayed properly. Amongst all the product types in the concept, womens dresses and shorts made in viscose and polycotton were not selling at all. Post the End of Season sale, articles in the Motorsport concept saw a sharp drop in their sales. Crews with large logo graphic prints were not selling well. As per the store manager, it did not appeal to the customers coming to the stores.

OBJECTIVE

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

In order to remain in the minds of the consumers, a catalogue was made and periodically it will be updated and customers will have access to the brand even when the store is in the process of re opening A special pre launch party should be held for existing customers. Focus of re-launch should be on we are now located better Templates to ensure smooth functioning of the store at all times are made. These templates have been effectively implemented and used in other operating stores Store Operation Audit Template Loss of Sales Record Template Store Operation Checklist Customer Needs and Preferences Record Data Create a detailed needs and preferences chart of top 50 clients such that when the new store opens, they feel equally cherished and welcome and are not alienated by the new sales staff.

Name: Raj Kamal Singh Organization: Home centre Project Title: To study the feasibility of opening a new Home Centre (Lifestyle) store in Malleswaram

OBJECTIVE
To study the competitors in Malleswaram and its surrounding areas . To study the customer base i.e. the kind of customers that would come to the store.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Unorganized market in Malleswaram usually small players. Very few players in the surrounding areas usually mom and pop stores operating on a small scale. Most customers come from the nearby areas and most of them prefer not very expensive range of furniture or home furnishing. Most of the stores have only mid range to low range of furniture and home furnishing, only a few have high end products. According to the sources in the income tax departments the income range of people in the service class in the region of Malleswaram is from 3-5 lakhs and the income range of businessmen in that region is more than 5 lakhs. The new apartments and projects like Brigade Gateway and Mantri Greens promise to be a big customer base for organized retail players like lifestyle. As there is unorganized market in Malleswaram area Home centre (Lifestyle) would be the first of its kind big multi brand outlet and thus it should take advantage of this fact to capture the market initially. The competition for Home Centre in Malleswaram and the surrounding areas consist of small mom and pop stores which do not pose any sort of major threat to lifestyle which comes to its advantage, yet it has to do the proper promotion of the store to attract customers.

Name: Shwetha S. Organization: LEVIS STRAUSS INDIA (PVT.) LTD. Project Title: Product gap analysis and re structuring the line plan for levis red tab and levis sykes

OBJECTIVE
To identify the gaps in various product variables through market studies and sales data and suggest logical restructuring of the line plan for S/S 09, for Levis Red Tab and Levis Sykes To study the consumer preferences and determine their specific needs with respect to the product line and sub-brands under study. To analyze and compare the S/S 09 Line plans of the key identified competitor brands, with the existing S/S 09 Line plan of the sub-brands under study. To observe trends in past sales data and draw inferences to aid in re-structuring the existing line plan of the subbrands under study. To suggest a re-structured line plan for S/S 09 for the sub-brands under study. To develop training modules for Phase 1 of Levis Strauss Signature training programme. To study the brand architecture, its product portfolio and customer service practices. To develop training modules for brand knowledge, product knowledge (fabric, fit, finish), customer service basics, ensemble selling and Key Performance Indicators. To conduct a pilot training in select stores to fathom the level of ease in training and understanding and administer questionnaires for confirmation of understanding and recall. To analyze pre and post training Key performance indicators, as a measure of training effectiveness.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

GAP ANALYSIS Gaps were identified in the existing line plan of Levis Red Tab and Levis Sykes for S/S 09, based on - Consumer preferences - Competitor brands product offering - Past sales data of Levis Red Tab and Sykes - Existing line plan of Levis Red Tab and Sykes TRAINING Training has a limited impact on the quantitative performance of the stores and not a consistent one. Hypothesis testing indicates that training has a positive impact on KPIs. But, more reliable methods to analyze the effectiveness of training should be formulated. Mystery shopping scores, Training Test scores, Comparing KPIs against KPIs of the same period of the past year and individual staff KPIs are some means to better record and evaluate training. Staff must be provided with individual training material to study in their spare time and refresh what they know. PROBLEMS IN COMMUNICATION The common portal must be accessible to the stores to make it considerably easier to share information. A newsletter can be developed to keep all employees abreast of company information.

Name: Sanjana Narendran Organization: Arvind Brands Arrow Project Title: Sell Through Analysis of Arrow formal menswear for Key Accounts (Spring Summer 07 Spring Summer 09) & Mens Lifestyle Trend Analysis

OBJECTIVE
To measure the merchandise performance and velocity of Arrow Formal menswear (Shirts & Trousers) for Key Accounts (Lifestyle & Shoppers Stop) for five seasons (SS07 SS09) by means of sell through analysis. To study the lifestyle trends and buying behavior of men and how they influence their preferences for apparel products

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Shoppers Stop a better performer than Lifestyle The south zone has the highest sell thru followed by west, north and east Core merchandise in Premium and President collections and fashion merchandise in Classic and Urban collections in the 1295-1695 price range have highest sell thru. Core merchandise in dobby and fil-a-fil, and fashion merchandise in checks and stripes have the highest sell thru Arrow has poor brand recall Men shop mostly in EBOs and MBOs in malls, once every 3 months Fit, style, and fabric quality are factors that affect buying Men draw inspiration from people in making apparel choices. They also prefer shopping with friends or family They prefer gadgets like mobile phones and spend about 10-20% of their income on the same Only few men are influenced by advertising and loyalty programs while buying formal wear Men prefer relaxing at home in their leisure time

Name: Amrita Mishra Organization: Shoppers Stop Project Title: Customer Profile & Catchment's Study

OBJECTIVE
To understand the customer profile. To find major catchments areas ,Catchments Characteristics, Tertiary areas Customer Profile ,Major happening joints and competition . To study effective communication medium in catchments and city, Tools to reach customer in catchments & Competition in catchments.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Tie ups with event management companies. This will provide great deal of flexibility in terms of events which members can attend. Discotheques Complimentary entry for a couple once every half yearly. Multiplex chains (PVR ,INOX ,Fun Republic etc.) Complimentary movie tickets or discount on gold class in PVR can be provided to members. Information about coming up new movies in advance Half yearly newsletter from shoppers stop on fashion, lifestyle and youth to FC members. Information on places to visit (Tourism / adventurous Places)

Name: Swati Ravi Organization: Raymonds Project Title: Competitor Analysis and Consumer Buying Behaviour Analysis for Raymonds Apparels Limited

OBJECTIVE
To identify the competitors of Raymonds so as to keep an eye on the other market players as this would help in maintaining an edge over the competitors. To analyse the consumer buying behaviour pattern so that the brand can cater to the needs of the market effectively and profitably.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The area they need improvement is their alertness towards maintaining browsers so that they are able to convert more prospects. The store should maintain its assortment since the customers coming in give more emphasis on fashion, design and fit rather than price. Accessories like eye wear and footwear could be added to the already existing collection. To up sell and cross sell and thus increase the footfall and also the average bill size of the store as a whole. Customer loyalty programme should focus more on discounts rather than gift vouchers The accessory counter could be merged along with the cash counter to increase browsing.

Name: Ashwini S Raju Organization: Pantaloons Project Title: Category management study, analyze and design a standard operating procedure

OBJECTIVE
o

The objective of the project is to design a Standard Operating Procedure for Category Management which can serve as a guideline to follow an effective and efficient process in order to bring about positive changes in customer conversion ratios and profitability. To study the theoretical aspects of category management and analyze the present category management process at Pantaloons To study and understand the Supply Chain Management at Pantaloons To conduct a Marketing Research to determine the city profiling, customer demographics and customer preferences with respect to accessories category at Bangalore Central mall

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

o

The location of the store is excellent in terms of accessibility; there is a good trade area atmosphere around the store with the presence of Garuda Mall, Lifestyle and other large retail formats Bangalore Central was the second most preferred shopping destination after The Forum mall, although it did not have movie theatres The brand basket of Bangalore Central was its major strength Nike, Fastrack and VIP were the most preferred brands in the sportswear, watches and innerwear category A majority of the respondents preferred to shop for sportswear more frequently than other categories of accessories PRIL should focus more on youth wear as youngsters aged between 18 to 25 years of age acounted for 42% of the respondents

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Name: T.Tawnkhum Kopsiam Organization: HOME CENTRE Project Title: Warehousing and standardizing price review of home centre products

OBJECTIVE
o

To ensure consistency and standardized format for price revisions for better internal control & system.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

o

Perpetual Inventory : o Perpetual inventory will be done only for top 15 suppliers/brands having high variance/high value in the previous stock take. As per experience, it is noticed that top 15 suppliers contribute 75% of variance. ( i.e. Category- A). o It will be done by Inventory with the help of concept based on the schedule prepared by Inventory. o Perpetual for these brands will be done every alternative month. o One day before perpetual, Global count will be done by inventory in coordination with concept. This will help in doing a successful perpetual stock take in the first instance. o Perpetual inventory will be done with the full ownership of Concept-in-charge.

Global Count :
It will be done as per the schedule by Inventory Team with the help of Concept staffs. Schedule will be prepared based on Category A B C & D. Category will be defined based on the value of variance starting higher to lower value. A will be assigned to brand/supplier having higher variance/high value and D will be assigned to brand having lower value variance. o Global count variance will be generated by inventory based on the system qty. o Concept staffs to continue the global count which they do as of now but only for Category A and B as per the same periodicity mentioned above but in such a way that it does not overlap with the schedule Inventory Team.
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Name: Supreet Gandhi Organization: Pantaloon Retail India ltd. Project Title: To Study Front-End Retail Operations at Levi Strauss Signature

OBJECTIVE
To find out the performing key brands in the womens western wear category in Central thereby finding out the fast and slow moving merchandising categories. A marketing research for customer profiling of the womens wear category.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The top most brands in the category are AND, Jealous and Provogue while Anjanne is the least performing brand. Most of the brands have declined in their sales across the period of four months .Only some brands like Anjanne, Color Plus,Provogue and Remanika have shown growth. While Jealous has been the consistent performing brand across all the months. Casual tops and casual bottoms are the fastest moving category Formal bottoms are the slowest moving among all the brands. Brand wise findings109 F-Casual tops is the top most selling category. Findings for market research Jealous -Jeans is the fastest moving & performed best in November. Winter wear and formal bottoms perform the least in the brand. Most people prefer both Indian and western wear. Maximum respondents wardrobe consists of more than 75% of western wear. Most people have 0-25% of formals in their wardrobe. 75-100% of the wardrobe consists of casual wear for most of the respondents. 25-49% of the wardrobe consists of the party wear for most of the people. Maximum people prefer Central as the store for shopping followed by Shoppers Stop and lifestyle. Fit is the most important criteria while purchasing while price has been ranked lowest by most of the people. Central is the most preferred store on the basis of western wear department.

Name: Nitin Dobre Organization: : OMA Project Title: To analyze develop Standard Operating Procedures

OBJECTIVE
Developing SOP Manual Defining Roles and Responsibilities of individuals

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

SOP Manual consisting of

Opening SOP Store Opening checklist Closing SOP Store Closing checklist Customer Interaction SOP Grooming SOP Inventory Control SOP Price Revision Price revision SOP Price revision flow chart Damage Process Store delivery Process Buying Buying Process SOP Buying Process flow Selection of merchandise Goods receipt Goods Receiving Process Warehouse Process Stock movement process from warehouse SOP for warehouse control Stock movement process in store Accounting procedure and authority

Defined roles and responsibilities of various position in organization

Name: Jitesh Kumar Nenwani Organization: : Shoppers Stop Project Title:To improve the sales of in-house brands

OBJECTIVE
To improve the sales of in-house brands To work on display and v.m of inhouse brands to attract the customers To organize the events in store. To help customer care associate in v.m and display. Sale tracking of merchandise which is on display.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

Customer care associate doesnt take care of display of particular brand section. In some of in house brands there are cut sizes so merchandise which is looking good for display on focal points doest have enough pieces. Sale tracking of many in-house brands is not done to know which merchandise is moving fast which is slow Display of many section is conjusted gondolas are not kept properly. Color blocking is not done properly of many sections.

Name: Vikrant Sharma Organization: : ColorPlus Project Title: Development and implementation of Customer Loyalty programme for ColorPlus.

OBJECTIVE
To develop and implement Customer Loyalty programme for ColorPlus that would ensure zero drift from the brand and also ensure increase in repeat customers thus Generate incremental business for the EBOs.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

The number of tiers can be increased . Milestone reward values can be increased . The occasions and possibilities to earn points can be increased . Spouse cards can be awarded on reaching certain milestone values . Monthly statement of points earned/balance. Mailers