MANAGEMENT THESIS I

(Final Report)
ON

“A study of customer perception on the

marketing strategies followed by PANTALOON

for brand building”

Faculty Guide: Submitted By

Nageshwar Rao MD. RASHID KHAN

8NBHD008

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 A THESIS ON

“A study of customer perception on the

marketing strategies followed by PANTALOON

for brand building”

By
MD. RASHID KHAN
8NBHD008

(MBA 2008-10)

A REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENT OF MBA PROGRAM

(2008-10)

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 DECLARATION

This is to certify that the Management Thesis entitled as, “A study of

customer perception on the marketing strategies followed by

PANTALOON for brand building” Submitted to INC ASIM in

partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Master of
Business Administration is record of original, project work done by
me during the period of study in under the supervision of Mr.
Nageshwar Rao (Faculty Supervisor).

Place: HYDERABAD MD RASHID KHAN

Date: (8NBHD008)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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◙ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

◙ LIST OF TABLES

◙ ABSTRACT/SUMMARY

◙ CHAPTER 1 :INTRODUCTION

o Objectives

o Limitations

o Methodology

◙ CHAPTER 2: INDUSTRY PROFILE

◙ CHAPTER 3: COMPANY HISTORY AND PROFILE

o COMPANY HISTORY

o COMPPANY PROFILE

o MAJOR PLAYER IN RETAIL INDUSTRY

o COMPANY STRATEGIES

◙ CHAPTER 4: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND (ABOUT TOPIC )

◙ CHAPTER 5: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

◙ CHAPTER 6: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

◙ CHAPTER 7 : FINDINGS

◙ CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION

◙ CHAPTER 9 : ANNEXURES

◙ CHAPTER 10 : BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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 At the outset, I thank my faculty supervisor Mr.Nageshwar Rao for

coordinating the project work and giving me necessary directions on doing this

project to the best of my abilities. Heartfelt thanks to all the persons whose

ideas, critical insights and suggestions have been valuable in the preparation of

this report. I also thank Mr. Trinath (Principal of our INC Adam Smith), who

has sincerely supported me with the valuable insights into the completion of this

project.

I am grateful to my friends who have helped me in the successful completion of

this Project.

MD. RASHID KHAN

8NBHD008

SEM-III

LIST OF TABLE AND ILLUSTRATIONS

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1) Indian retail market

2) Retail formats available in India

3) Fastest growing retail formats in India

4) Fastest growing retail segment in India

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 ABSTRACT

This report discuss about a customer perception and strategies used by retail
companies.

My topic is customer perception on strategy followed by pantaloon for brand

building. To make a good brand image a company need to make a good strategy
and all aspects of business that affected by that strategy. As we all know
customer is the king of the market the have the right to go any where.

A customer thinks very differently that called consumer behavior. A customer

wants to get the full value of their money whatever he buys he wants full
satisfaction from that product and if the company succeeds to satisfy their
customer then the company can easily make their brand image.

So the company need to make good strategy and first starts with 4p’s of the
company. Product, price, place, promotion these are the most important things
to remember in mind. And the porters generic strategy cost leadership, product
differentiation and focus these strategies help company to compete with its
competitors.

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CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

Objective

 To find out the different strategies used by the company to increase the
sales.

 To find out how this strategies useful to company as well as customers.

 To find out customers satisfaction level.

 To get a right feedback from the existing customers.

 Pantaloon to hive off Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar

Limitations

 The sales person is busy in our routine work so they refuse to give
information.

 Most of the sales person is not give the information to the customers want
and needs.

 Some store information is confidential.

 For Example: - Future plan, Accounting information.

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  Most of the time customers are saying that they are busy or I have no
time.

Methodology

1. The study involves the primary data which is collected through questionnaire,
interview, and observation.
2. It involves use of secondary sources such as web and other research articles
printed by various financial institutions and other journals and magazine.

3. It involves analysis and tabulation of data which is collected from customers is

done by various means such as line graphs, pie charts and bar graphs.

4. The project involves the study of customer’s perception.

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CHAPTER-2

ABOUT RETAIL INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Retail is India's largest industry. It accounts for over 10 per cent of the India's GDP and
around 8 per cent of the employment. Retail sector is one of India's fastest growing sectors
with a 5 per cent compounded annual growth rate. India's huge middle class base and its
untapped retail industry are key attractions for global retail giants planning to enter newer
markets. Driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth and favorable demographic
patterns, Indian retail is expected to grow 25 per cent annually. It is expected that retail in
India could be worth US$ 175-200 billion by 2016.
The organized retail industry in India had not evolved till the early 1990s. Until then, the
industry was dominated by the un-organized sector. It was a seller’s market, with a limited
number of brands, and little choice available to customers. Lack of trained manpower, tax
laws and government regulations all discouraged the growth of organized retailing in India
during that period. Lack of consumer awareness and restrictions over entry of foreign players
into the sector also contributed to the delay in the growth of organized retailing. Foundation
for organized retail in India was laid by Kishore Biyani of Pantaloon Retails India Limited
(PRIL). Following Pantaloon's successful venture a host of Indian business giants such as
Reliance, Bharti, Birla and others are now entering into retail sector.
A number of factors are driving India's retail market. These include: increase in the young
working population, hefty pay-packets, nuclear families in urban areas, increasing working-
women population, increase in disposable income and customer aspiration, increase in
expenditure for luxury items, and low share of organized retailing. India's retail boom is
manifested in sprawling shopping centers, multiplex- malls and huge complexes that offer
shopping, entertainment and food all under one roof.

But there is a flip side to the boom in the retail sector. It is feared that the entry of global
business giants into organized retail would make redundant the neighborhood Karana stores

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resulting in dislocation in traditional economic structure. Also, the growth path for organized
retail in India is not hurdle free. The taxation system still favors small retail business. With
the intrinsic complexities of retailing such as rapid price changes, constant threat of product
obsolescence and low margins there is always a threat that the venture may turn out to be a
loss making one.

A perfect business model for retail is still in evolutionary stage. Procurement is very vital cog
in the retail wheel. The retailer has to fight issues like fragmented sourcing, unpredictable
availability, unsorted food provisions and daily fluctuating prices as against consumer
expectations of round-the-year steady prices, sorted and cleaned food and fresh stock at all
times.

Trained human resource for retail is another big challenge. The talent base is limited and with
the entry of big giants there is a cat fight among them to retain this talent. This has resulted in
big salary hikes at the level of upper and middle management and thereby eroding the profit
margin of the business. All the companies have laid out ambitious expansion plans for
themselves and they may be hampered due lack of requisite skilled manpower.

But retail offers tremendous for the growth of Indian economy. If all the above challenges are
tackled prudently there is a great potential that retail may offer employment opportunities to
millions living in small town and cities and in the process distributing the benefits of
economic boom and resulting in equitable growth.

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 PRESENT INDIAN RETAIL SCENARIO

The retail industry is divided into organized and unorganized sectors. Over 12 million
outlets operate in the country and only 4% of them being larger than 500 sq ft (46 m²) in size.
Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers, that is, those
who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These include the corporate-backed
hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned large retail businesses.
Unorganized retailing, on the other hand, refers to the traditional formats of low-cost
retailing, for example, the local kirana shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi
shops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors, etc.

* Unorganized market: Rs. 583,000 cores

* Organized market: Rs.5, 000 cores

* 5X growth in organized retailing between 2000-2005

* Over 4,000 new modern Outlets in the last 3 years

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

* the top 3 modern retailers control over 750,000 sq. ft. of retail space

* Over 400,000 shoppers walk through their doors every week

* 47 global fortune companies & 25 of Asia's top 200 companies are retailers

* Biggest player in India is Pantaloon Retail India Limited.

Growth in organized retailing on par with expectations and projections of the last 5 Years: on
course to touch Rs. 35,000 corers (US$ 7 Billion) or more by 2005-06The growth factors of
the retail sector of Indian economy:

• Increase in per capita income which in turn increases the household consumption
• Demographical changes and improvements in the standard of living
• Change in patterns of consumption and availability of low-cost consumer credit

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 • Improvements in infrastructure and enhanced availability of retail space

Entry to various sources of financing

EVOLUTION AND TRENDS IN ORGANIZED

RETAILING

FORMATS AND RETAIL OUTLETS

Historical Indian retail market consisted of weekly markets, village fairs and mela’s
and the 19th century gave birth to the retail outlets which took the form of convenience stores,
Mom and Pop stores/ kirana stores. This helped the consumers on to stick to a particular store
for their day to day requirements and also avail the credit purchasing facility. And in the
1980’s people have seen the new formats like supermarket, departmental stores and discount
stores entering into the Indian retail space. In less than a decade hypermarkets have gained
all the applause of the retail market and stood above all the other formats by bringing in the
concept of “one stop shopping.” This stood as an opening door for the new generation of the
retail industry. And very soon the malls became the trend setters in the new millennium.

This has coined the term of ‘shoppertainment’ (shopping and entertainment) which
can be attributed to the changing life styles of the people.

Hypermarket: It is the largest format in Indian retail so far is a one stop shop for the modern
Indian shopper.

Merchandise: food grocery to clothing to spots goods to books to stationery.

Space occupied: 50000 Square feet. and above.

SKUs: 20000-30000.

Example: Pantaloon retail’s Big Bazaar, RPG’s Spencer’s (Giant), Vishal mega mart.

Supermarket: A subdued version of a hypermarket.

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Merchandise: Almost similar to that of a hypermarket but in relatively smaller proposition.

Space occupied: 5000 Sq. ft. or more.

SKUs: Around 10000.

Example: Nilgiris, Apna Bazaar, Trinethra/more.

Convenience store: A subdued version of a supermarket.

Merchandise: Groceries are predominantly sold.

Space occupied: Around 500 Sq. ft. to 3000 Sq. ft.

Example: stores located at the corners of the streets, Reliance Retail’s fresh

Department store: A retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of

products without a single prominent merchandise line and is usually a part of a retail chain.

Merchandise: Apparel, household accessories, cosmetics, gifts etc.

Space occupied: Around 10000 Sq. ft. – 30000 Sq. ft.

Example: Landmark Group’s LifeStyle, Trent India Ltd.’s Westside.

Discount store: Standard merchandise sold at lower prices with lower margins and higher
volumes.

Merchandise: A variety of perishable/ non perishable goods.

Example: Viswapriya Group’s Subiksha, Piramal’s TruMart.

Specialty store: It consists of a narrow product line with deep assortment.

Merchandise: Depends on the stores

Example: Bata store deals only with footwear, RPG’s Music World, Crossword.

MBO’s: Multi Brand outlets, also known as Category Killers. These usually do well in busy
market places and Metros.

Merchandise: Offers several brads across a single product category.

Kirana stores: The smallest retail formats which are the highest in number (15 million
approx.) in India.

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Merchandise: Mostly food and groceries.

Space occupied: 50 sq ft and even smaller ones exist.

Malls: The largest form of organized retailing today located mainly in metro cities, in
proximity to urban outskirts.

Merchandise: They lend an ideal shopping experience with an amalgamation of product,

service and entertainment, all under a common roof.

Space occupied: Ranges from 60,000 sq ft to 7, 00,000 sq ft.

Example: Pantaloon Retail’s Central, Mumbai’s Iorbit.

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In the above graph it shows that the in India the fastest growing retail segment is food and
grocery because in India people spend more on eating. Then dressing because India is now
turning to modern age and the people of modern age like to dress well and look well.

In the above graph it shows that the there are many formats of retailing in India
but the specialty store and supermarket is fastest growing formats in India.

Key part of the general corporate strategy

A marketing strategy is most effective when it is an integral component of corporate strategy,

defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors
in the market arena. It is partially derived from broader corporate strategies, corporate
missions, and corporate goals. As the customer constitutes the source of a company's

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revenue, marketing strategy is closely linked with sales. A key component of marketing
strategy is often to keep marketing in line with a company's overarching mission statement.

Basic theory: 1) Target Audience

2) Proposition/Key Element

3) Implementation

CHAPTER-2

COMPANY HISTORY

Pantaloon Retail

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is India's leading retailer that operates multiple
retail formats in both the value and lifestyle segment. Pantaloon has ushered a
retail revolution in India and its founder Kishore Biyani is known as India's
"King of Retail". Pantaloon's headquarter is in Mumbai. The company currently
operates over 5 million square feet of retail space and has plans to increase it to
30 million sq. ft by 2011. Pantaloon has plans to open over 3000 new stores by
2010.

Pantaloon's origin can be traced to 1987 when the company was incorporated as
Manz Wear Private Limited. The company launched Pantaloons trouser, India's
first formal trouser brand. In 1992, Pantaloon launched its IPO. In 1994, The
Pantaloon Shoppe - exclusive menswear store in franchisee format was
launched across the country. Pantaloon started distribution of distribution of
branded garments through multi-brand retail outlets across the nation. In 2001,
Big Bazaar, India's first hypermarket chain was launched. In 2002, Food
Bazaar, the supermarket chain was launched. In 2006, Future Capital Holdings,
the company's financial arm launched real estate funds, "Kshitij" and "Horizon"

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and private equity fund "In division". The company is also planning forays into
insurance and consumer

COMPANY PROFILE

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is India’s leading retailer with gross sales of
Rs. 2,019 crores for the financial year ending June 2006. The company operates across
multiple segments including –Food, Books & Music, Fashion, Telecom & IT, Home &
Electronics, General Merchandise, Leisure & Entertainment, Wellness, Health & Beauty and
E-tailing and that helps the company cater to every Indian customer.

Some of the leading formats include, Pantaloons (department store), Central (seamless malls),
Blue Sky (fashion accessories) and all (fashion apparel for plus-size individuals), Big Bazaar
(hypermarket), Food Bazaar (supermarket), Fashion Station (popular fashion), Collection i
(home furnishings), E-Zone (consumer electronics), Depot (books and music) and Shoe
Factory (footwear).

Company Name: Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

Key People: - Kishore Biyani, MD & Group CEO

Listed on: Bombay Stock Exchange

Stock Code: BOM: 523574

Fiscal Year Ending: June

Major Industry: Retailing and Dept. Store Chains

Employees: 35,000 (June, 2008)

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2007 Sales: 34,686,000,000

Corporate Headquarters: Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

Knowledge House, Shyam Nagar
Off Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road
Jogeshwari (East), Mumbai 400 060

Tel: +91 22-6644 2200

Fax: +91 22-6644 2222

Partner companies

Pantaloon Industries Ltd.

Home Solutions Retail (India) Ltd.
Future Capital Holdings
Converge M Retail (India) Ltd.
Indus League Clothing Ltd.
Galaxy Entertainment Corporate Ltd.

Joint Ventures Companies

Planet Retail Holdings Ltd.

Foot mart Retail
GJ Future Fashions
CapitaLand Retail India
ETAM Future Fashions India Pvt. Ltd.

Background: Founded in 1987 as a garment manufacturing company, the

company forayed into modern retail in August 1997 with the launch of its first
department store, Pantaloons in Kolkata.

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Listing: Pantaloon Retail is a listed company on the Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE, Scrip Code: 523574) and National Stock Exchange (NSE,
Symbol: PANTALOONR).

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr. Kishore Biyani, Managing Director

Kishore Biyani is the Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited

and the Group Chief Executive Officer of Future Group.

Mr. Gopikishan Biyani, Wholetime Director

Gopikishan Biyani, is a commerce graduate and has more than twenty years of
experience in the textile business.

Mr. Rakesh Biyani, Wholetime Director

Rakesh Biyani, is a commerce graduate and has been actively involved in

category management; retail stores operations, IT and exports. He has been
instrumental in the implementation of the various new retail formats.

Mr. Ved Prakash Arya, Director

Ved Prakash Arya, is an engineer by training and is a graduate of the Indian

Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Prior to joining Pantaloon Retail, he was
the CEO of Globus.

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Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti, Independent Director

Shri Shailesh Haribhakti, is a Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant, and a

Certified Internal Auditor. He is the Deputy Managing Partner of Haribhakti &
Co., Chartered Accountants and past president of Indian merchant Chambers.
He is on the Board of several Public Limited Companies, including Indian
Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd., Ambuja Cement Eastern Ltd. etc. He is on the
Board of Company since June 1, 1999.

Mr. S Doreswamy, Independent Director

S. Doreswamy, is a former Chairman and Managing Director of Central Bank of

India and serves on the board of DSP Merrill Lynch Trustee Co and Ceat
Limited

Dr. D O Koshy, Independent Director

D. O. Koshy, holds a doctorate from IIT, Delhi and is the Director of National
Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. He has over 24 years of rich experience
in the textiles and garment industry and was instrumental in the setting up of
NIFT centres in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. He is a renowned consultant
specializing in international marketing and apparel retail management.

Ms. Anju Poddar, Independent Director

Anju Poddar, holds a Bachelor of Engineering from University of Oklahoma

and is a Director, NIFT, Hyderabad chapter. She also serves on the board of
Maharishi Commerce Ltd and Samay Books Ltd,

Ms. Bala Deshpande, Independent Director

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Bala Deshpande, is Independent Director, Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. and also
serves on the boards of Deccan Aviation, Nagarjuna Construction, Welspun
India and Indus League Clothing Ltd,

Mr. Anil Harish, Independent Director

Anil Harish, is the partner of DM Harish & Co. Associates & Solicitors and an
LLM from University of Miami. He also serves on the board of Mahindra
Gesco, Unitech, IndusInd Bank and Hinduja TMT,

Major Milestones

 1987 Company incorporated as Manz Wear Private Limited. Launch of

Pantaloons trouser, India’s first formal trouser brand.
 1991 Launch of BARE, the Indian jeans brand.
 1992 Initial public offer (IPO) was made in the month of May.
 1994 The Pantaloon Shoppe – exclusive menswear store in franchisee
format launched across the nation. The company starts the distribution of
branded garments through multi-brand retail outlets across the nation.
 1995 John Miller –Formal shirt brand launched.
 1997 Pantaloons – India’s family store launched in Kolkata.
 2001 Big Bazaar, ‘Is se sasta aur accha kahi nahin’ - India’s first
hypermarket chain launched.
 2002 Food Bazaar, the supermarket chain is launched.
 2004 Central – ‘Shop, Eat, Celebrate in the Heart of Our City’ - India’s
first seamless mall is launched in Bangalore.
 2005 Fashion Station - the popular fashion chain is launched

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  2006 Future Capital Holdings, the company’s financial arm launches real
estate funds Kshitij and Horizon and private equity fund In division.
Plans forays into insurance and consumer credit. Multiple retail formats
including Collection i, Furniture Bazaar, Shoe Factory, EZone, Depot
and futurebazaar.com are launched across the nation. Group enters into
joint venture agreements with ETAM Group and Generali.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is India’s leading retailer that operates

multiple retail formats in both the value and lifestyle segment of the Indian
consumer market. Headquartered in Mumbai (Bombay), the company operates
over 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m2) of retail space, has over 1,000 stores
across 61 cities in India and employs over 30,000 people.

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

Big Bazaar, a uniquely Indian hypermarket chain, Food Bazaar, a supermarket
chain, blends the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern
retail like choice, convenience and quality and Central, a chain of seamless
destination malls. Some of its other formats include, Depot, Shoe Factory,
Brand Factory, Blue Sky, aLL, Top 10 and Star and Sitara. The company also
operates an online portal, futurebazaar.com.

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A subsdiary company, Home Solutions Retail (India) Limited, operates Home
Town, a large-format home solutions store, Collection i, selling home furniture
products and E-Zone focussed on caterng to the consumer electronics segment.

Pantaloon Retail was recently awarded the International Retailer of the Year
2007 by the US-based National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Emerging
Market Retailer of the Year 2007 at the World Retail Congress held in
Barcelona.

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

catering to the entire Indian consumption space.

Future Group

Future Group is one of the country’s leading business groups present in retail,
asset management, consumer finance, insurance, retail media, retail spaces and
logistics. Future Group is present in 61 cities and 65 rural locations. The
group’s flagship company, Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited operates over
10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m2) of retail space, has over 1,000 stores and
employs over 30,000 people. Some of its leading retail formats include
Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central, Food Bazaar, Home Town, eZone, Depot,
Future Money and online retail format www.futurebazaar.com.

Future Group companies includes, Future Capital Holdings, Future Generali

India, Indus League Clothing and Galaxy Entertainment which manages Sports
Bar, Brew Bar and Bowling Co. Future Capital Holdings, the group’s financial
arm, focuses on asset management and consumer credit. It manages assets
worth over $1 billion that are being invested in developing retail real estate and
consumer-related brands and hotels.

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The group’s joint venture partners include Italian insurance major Generali,
French retailer ETAM group, US-based stationary products retailer Staples Inc
and UK-based Lee Cooper and India-based Talwalkar’s, Blue Foods and
Liberty Shoes.

Future Group’s vision is to, “Deliver Everything, Everywhere, Everytime to

Every Indian Consumer in the most profitable manner.” The group considers
‘Indian-ness’ as a core value and its corporate credo is - Rewrite rules, Retain
values.

Lines of Business

The company is present across several lines of business which have various
formats (stores) operational under it. These include:

• Food - Food Bazaar, Chamosa, Spoon, Brew Bar, Sports Bar & Sports
Bar Express, Cafe Bollywood,
• Fashion - Pantaloons, Central, aLL, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, Top 10,
Fashion Station, Big Bazaar, Lee Cooper (JV),
• General Merchandise - Big Bazaar, Shoe Factory, Navras, Electronics
Bazaar, Furniture Bazaar, KB'S FAIR PRICE
• Electronics - eZone,
• Home Improvement - Home Town
• Furniture - Collection i, Furniture Bazaar, Home Bazaar
• E-tailing (Online Shopping) - www.futurebazaar.com
• Books & Music - Depot
• Leisure & Entertainment - Bowling Co., F123

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 • Wellness - Star & Sitara, Tulsi
• Telecom & IT - Gen M, M Bazaar, M-Port, ConvergeM

Pantaloon Retail is the flagship company of Future Group.

The lines of business of Future Group are:

E-commerce

Pantaloon's website Futurebazaar.com has revolutionized the e-commerce

business in India. It offers a wide range of products at affordable prices. It has
been named as Best Indian Website 2007 in the Shopping category by PC
World.

Food

In food business, the group offers a host of options. Food Bazaar - a chain of
large supermarkets; Brew Bar - a beer bar; café Bollywood - a national chain of
eateries; Chamosa - a pan-Indian chain of snack counters, and Sports Bar - a
bistro focused on the world of sports.

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Fashion

The group offers a variety of options in fashion. Its brands include aLL, Blue
Sky, Central, Etam, Fashion Station, Gini & Jony, Navaras, Pantaloons, and
Top 10.

Home & Electronics

Options include: Collection is - a lifestyle furniture store; Electronics Bazaar -

offers branded electronic goods and appliances; e-zone - trendiest electronics
items; Furniture Bazaar - entire range of Home Furniture; Home Town - one
stop destination for all the home needs.

Leisure & Entertainment

Options are: Bowling Co. - state-of-the-art premium family entertainment

centre, offering multiple, novel and unique leisure and entertainment options; F
123 - offers a wide range of gaming options ranging from bowling and pool to
redemption and interactive video games to bumper cars.

Wellness & Beauty

Options are: Health Village - a state-of-the art spa and yoga centre; Star &
Sitara: Beauty salon for men and women; Tulsi - provides access to the best
allopathic, ayurvedic and homeopathic medicinal products; Turmeric - offers
beauty products like color cosmetics, fragrances, herbal and specialty skin
items, hair products and bath accessories.

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Books & Music

Future Group's brand - "Depot" offers Books, CDs, and stationery items.

MAJOR INDIAN RETAILERS

The low-intensity entry of the diversified Mahindra Group into retail is unique
because it plans to focus on lifestyle products. The Mahindra group is the fourth large Indian
business group to enter the business of retail after Reliance Industries Ltd, the Aditya Birla
Group, and Bharti Enterprises Ltd. The other three groups are focusing either on perishables
and groceries, or a range of products, or both.

RPG Retail-Formats: Music World, Books & Beyond, Spencer’s Hyper, Spencer’s Super,
Daily & Fresh

Pantaloon Retail-Formats: Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Pantaloons, Central, Fashion Station,
Brand Factory, Depot, aLL, E-Zone etc.

The Tata Group-Formats: Westside, Star India Bazaar, Steel junction, Landmark, and Titan
Industries with World of Titans showrooms, Tanishq outlets, Chroma.

K Raheja Corp Group-Formats: Shoppers’ Stop, Crossword, Hyper City, In orbit

Lifestyle International-Lifestyle, Home Centre, Max, Fun City and International Franchise
brand stores.

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Pyramid Retail-Formats: Pyramid Megastore, TruMart

Nilgiri’s-Formats: Nilgiri's’ supermarket chain

Subhiksha-Formats: Subhiksha supermarket pharmacy and telecom discount chain.

Trinethra- Formats: Fabmall supermarket chain and Fabcity hypermarket chain

Vishal Retail Group-Formats: Vishal Mega Mart

BPCL-Formats: In & Out

Reliance Retail-Formats: Reliance Fresh

Reliance ADAG Retail-Format: Reliance World

German Metro Cash & Carry

Shoprite Holdings-Formats: Shoprite Hyper

MARKET STRATEGY

Market strategy is defined as an action plan for influencing customer choices and obtaining a
market share. Market strategy should entice customers to buy the product or service. Market
strategy encompasses customer perception of the relationship between price and quality. Is
the quality of the product or service worth the price? Is the price too low for the quality the
customer desires? Is the price higher than the customer's perception of quality? Market
research identifies the price and quality relationship customers perceive to be important.
Remember, customer perception is the bottom line.

Market strategy also includes the distribution channels for the product, pricing and terms of
sale, promotion and advertising plan, marketing budgets, inventory selection and
management, visual merchandising, customer relations and an evaluation of the marketing
strategy.

The marketing plan provides information on what the market will be (retail, wholesale) and
what specific customer groups will be targeted, what will be sold, where it will be sold, and
how wide the area of distribution will be.

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Ideally, market segments with a potential for high sales, profits, growth and a minimum of
competition are the most attractive.

A marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited
resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive
advantage. A marketing strategy should be centre around the key concept that customer
satisfaction is the main goal.

Following strategies adopted by the organization.

1. A strong quality of the product and customer satisfaction:
Customers always believe in good quality product. In my survey I found that in
percentage term more people is quality conscious and not price conscious. Customer
satisfaction is very important part of the organization that at any cost they have to
fulfill.
2. A growing relationship with customer and customer retention:
Nowadays a good relation with customer is very important for organization. Sale is
totally depending on the relation with the customers. Customer's retention is also a
major aspect for growing business. It means keep the old customer and try to make
new customer.
3. Focus on competitor’s activity:
Every organization should must be careful about it's competitors step, because they
can disturb the growing sales process of the organization.
4. A growing emphasis on global thinking and local marketing planning:
Companies are increasing by pursuing market beyond their borders. When they enter
other countries they must follow the tradition of that country and also they make plan
for local market that which type of product has more demand and how can it run in
the market.
5. Promotional Strategy:
Under the market strategy promotional idea is very important. Organization provides
some schemes or rebates to retailers or consumers. They make advertisement
according to convenient of the people and the feature of the product. So on the basis
of marketing strategy a organization runs in the market. It is several types of which
makes helpful to increase sales and turnover of the organization.

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 6. Growth through private labels: A striking characteristic of Pantaloons has been the
strength of its private label programme. In Pantaloons 70% of apparel sales come
from own labels. John Miller, Ajile. Scottsville, Lombard, Annabelle, Honey, Bare
are some of the successful brands created by the company.

MARKETING MIX STRATEGY

PRODUCT PRICE PROMOTION PLACE
Variety List price Advertising Channel
Quality Discount Public relation Coverage
Design Allowances Sales forces Location
Features Payment period Direct Assortment
marketing
Brand name Credit term Inventory
Services Transport
Warranty

CHAPTER-4

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Unique Customer Perception (UCP)

Marketing is a domain which is dynamic i.e. involves change, an important phenomenon not
to be overlooked. We have come across a term “Unique Selling Proposition”(USP) which
companies feel as a constant factor . Every organization is an open system of management
which means change is inevitable and is associated with environmental factors. Companies
need to focus not only on USP of their products but also on the “Unique Customer
Perception” (UCP) of the final end users.

The prop of marketing is based on the need identification and the USP's are prepared based
on the identified needs. If the needs are wrongly identified then even the USP's which are

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unique to the product would not serve the purpose. USP identifies a product/service from its
competitors while UCP is the perception or picture a customer develops from all types of
promotional inputs from the company about their product or service. It is often seen that
some brands do extremely well compared to other brands having the same resources. The
reason for the brands not to do well is probably the communications which does not reflect
the customer’s perception. So it is not the USP but UCP that plays an important role .This has
lead to the concept - “Customer Perception is the Rule and not Customer Satisfaction”.

Remember that a customer always buys a product or service with a lot of expectations which
he has derived from the promotional inputs of the company or other sources including word-
of- mouth. So a customer would be satisfied when Performance is equal to

Expectation while would not be satisfied when Performance does not match with
Expectations. Now this expectation is what has been derived from perception.

Perception is not good or bad, right or wrong, it is just the way someone judges an experience
based on their value system of what they believe should happen. Since people are unique,
each of their perceptions are unique .On the other hand each situation is a "point of contact"
with an employee that will tell the customer a "truth" about the company's idea of customer
service. Each situation will create expectations’ of what the next experience will probably be
like.

Companies spend considerable amount on advertisement and in this world of competitive

advantage advertisement has to be repetitive in nature. Brand hammering results in brand
recall which is a costly affair. So companies need to understand the Unique Customer
Perception to facilitate advertising and Sales Promotional (ASP) efforts towards a better
bargain. The cost incurred on advertisement is huge i.e. if we refer to the 5 M's of advertising,

Money is a budgetary constrain for an ideal advertising campaign. Thus UCP has to be
rightly analyzed for better results by the company to match performance and expectation.

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CHAPTER-5

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

PJ GERMAIN

The customer's perception: Customer perception is an important component of our

relationship with our customers. Given that 90% plus of our orders at some point involve the
phone, how we handle the telephone is essential to creating a perception for our customer that
aligns with the company mission of service. Smiling stretches your vocal cords, and gives a
more upbeat presentation to the customer. Slowing down ensures that the customers
perception is of an organized systematic company that can handle their project. Getting it
done right and on time consistently.

Article source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com

BY SOUMEN CHATTERJEE

Unique customer perception (UCP): According to soumen, Unique Customer Perception is

what is required by companies instead of Unique Selling Proposition. It is ultimately that
customer look for satisfaction based on the picture of perception derived from various
sources. If these perceptions of customer can be analyzed then promotion would be easier for
customer centric marketing. This has lead to the concept - “Customer Perception is the Rule
and not Customer Satisfaction”.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Soumen_Chatterjee

BY JEN B

Brand recognition will change customer perception: According to JenB, for a bigger
stronger business you have to get some serious brand recognition happening. People need to
know your name before any thing else. You want people to thing of you a certain way too.
This is the ticket to getting the image that you want. If you get a lot of blank looks from
people that are not current customers then you probably have no recognition at all. That
means it is time for an advertising switch. Even if people don’t buy the product they will
recognized the name. Remembering a business is one step closer to trusting a business. Brand
recognition is accomplished only by people seeing your logo and business name over and
over again. This will create the repetition that your customers and future customers need to
pick your product out of a crowd time and time again.

Article Source: http://www.a1articles.com/article_1035917_15.html

HUAWEI

Satisfy customers perception is the biggest challenge: In meeting customers' requirements

and measuring customers' satisfaction indexes, customer perception should be definitely a
key consideration. Qualified services in the operation execution layer, technical management
layer and business development layer are necessary. It is more important to understand
customer expectations and make efforts to exceed their expectations. In customer satisfaction
management, the biggest challenge is customer perception management, or customer
perception satisfaction. The major characteristics of service is intangible, hence the core
value of services is not like a physical product but the spiritual experience and perception of
customers. The final aim and ideal effect of service provisioning is to have customers
perceive and enjoy the service. Such perception is both at psychological and behavior levels,
and it is the contents of high quality life in the modern society. Customers are seeking for
material deliverables as well as perceptive enjoyment when purchasing a service product.
Since perceptive enjoyment is a vital service objective, one of the key service management
objectives shall be meeting customers' perceptive enjoyment.

Article source: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd

MORGAN STANLEY

Quick Comment – Impact on our views: We met Rakesh Biyani, Director Future Group,
who heads the retail business. Our investment thesis regarding improving business outlook
and availability of capital to fund growth plans continues to hold good. Management has
consciously shifted focus to growth quality rather than just growth. We reiterate our
Overweight rating and believe that any volatility in the stock price should be viewed as an

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entry opportunity. Here are the key takeaways from the meeting:

Aggressive growth and margin targets: PRIL has set an aggressive 16-17% same store growth
(SSG) target for F2010. This compares with F2009 SSG of 7.0%. The company plans to
achieve this target by adopting active merchandise management. First, the company is
likely to ensure that its fastest-selling products don’t go out of stock. It has increased its order
per SKU range from 900-1,400 to 600-6,000 to ensure reduced stockouts for fast-selling
products. Second, it has put in place a system to continuously monitor underperforming
categories/segments/SKUs so that they can be immediately replaced. Third, it has improved
product quality and pricing across its merchandise (particularly private label) to ensure
market share gains. Fourth, it has now set store-wise, product-wise and SKU-wise,
daily/weekly sales targets so that the monitoring and feedback system improves significantly.

Focus on efficiency to improve margins: The management is targeting 200-250 bps

improvement in gross profit margin, a 30% reduction in logistic costs, and a reduction in non-
store inventory during F2010. Gross margin improvement is likely to be driven by
improvement in sell-through ratio (% of products sold through the primary store), from 79%
in F2009 to 89% in F2010. The company achieved 79% in F2009, which was an
improvement from 64% in F2008. Significant improvement in private label contribution,
particularly in the apparel segment, may also help the overall mix improvement.

TRENT LEYSHAN

Creating the right ‘Value Perception’ for your Customers: According to Trent Leyshan
Value Perception (VP) is the opinion your potential and current customers have of your
product or service. This perception determines the value it adds to them in line with the
problems it needs to solve or aspirations they want it to fulfill. Irrespective of your
customer’s opinion being right of wrong in your mind, their opinion matters none the less, in
fact, critically so. Some may suggest; “But the customer my have it wrong” In this instance
we respond: whose fault is that: the customer, sales person, sales manager, marketing dept or
Company Directors? One this is for sure, it certainly isn’t the customers fault. Value cascades
down the value deliver system into the customer. A breakdown on any level can be
detrimental to a company’s success. The customer’s positive perception, along with an
effective sales process will help the customer make the appropriate buying decision.

Article source: www.trentleyshan.com |

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CHAPTER-6
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Pantaloon Retail is investing in new business lines, which would catalyze consumption
within the company's retail stores. In line with this strategy, the company has invested in
different new businesses such as capital, consumer finance, brands, and media, through joint
ventures with various companies across the world.

Pantaloon is planning to strengthen its business in India through openings new stores in all
retail formats, technology up gradation to maintain a cost effective inventory management
and better customer service.

Pantaloon operates in three segments of the retail value chain: wholesale (procurement of
stocks), operations and distribution (warehousing and transportation) and sales (physical store
operations, online sales and other channels). The company does not have a presence in two
other sections of the retail value chain: raw materials and manufacturing.

Pantaloon has entered several joint ventures to add new and branded products in its portfolio.
The company offers office products through a joint venture with Staples, and telecom

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equipments through an alliance with Axiom Telecom. Such alliances would help it attain
international appeal and enhance the customer shopping experience

The company is planning to launch more several brands across categories in the near future
including kid's wear, innerwear, sportswear and possibly home textiles. Pantaloon's
production facilities are concentrated on trousers, shirts and jeans.

The company has stores in nearly 30 cities across the country, constituting over 2.7 million
square feet of retail space. The company has also signed close to 10 million sq. ft. of retail
space to be operational by end 2008, which represents 20-30 % of all modern retail space
coming up in the next three years. Over 200 million footfalls are expected in our stores by
2006-07.

1) The graph given below shows that the most of the people like to buy
their product at the beginning of the month and they like to buy their
products once in a month.

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2) From the survey I found that the more people like to buy their
product from pantaloon retail because they know the brand very
well.

3) In the present scenario the customers likes to spend money because it

shows the living status in the society.

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4) From the graph given below it shows that the 62% of the people
think that the location of the store is perfect because it’s in the main
market area and any one can come easily.

5) Assortment of the product is very important so that customer can get their
product easily.

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 Yes No
30 10

6) People think that the quality of the product is good.

Price Quality Service After sale service

30% 35% 22.5% 12.5%

7) This is one of the best strategy adopted by the pantaloon that they provide free
home delivery if a customer purchase over Rs 500.

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 Yes No
30 10

8) CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION TABLE

Very
No. customers Very Satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied
Dissatisfied

40 10 25 0 5

Analysis: - In my research I analyze the more no. of customers are satisfied and
PANTALOONCUSTOMERSSATISFACTION
some customers are very satisfied and less no. of customers are dissatisfied.

0% 13%
25%
VERY SATISFIED
SATISFIED
VERY DISSATISFIED
DISSATISFIED

62% 41 | P a g e
 9) In customer perception Pantaloon Company used by the marketing strategy is
Good for the customers or Not

No. of
Yes No
Customers
40 34 6

Analysis:- During the period of research I analyze the maximum customers are
think Pantaloon Company used by the marketing strategy is good for the customers and
very less customers are think it is not good.

CustomersPerception

NO

YES

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 10) Promotional strategy used by the pantaloon this is also a strategy
used by the company to make a brand they use all the tools of
advertising like news papers, radio, internet, television and banners.
That’s why people know them very well and they have a positive
perception about the pantaloon retail India limited.

News paper Radio Television

30% 20% 50%

CHAPTER-7
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 FINDINGS

I am find out the which strategies used by the company. As well as customer
satisfaction level. I was met forty customers of Pantaloon Company. And ask the
some questions and find out the customer perception as well as satisfaction
level.

In my serve I am find out the more than 50% customers satisfied to the
pantaloon services. In customers perception companies marketing strategy is
very good and helpful to the company and the customers.

The company’s goods & services, quality product, price, after sale services,
assortment of the product, etc. all part is suitable for the customers that’s why
customers are buying the goods.

Location of the store is convenient of the customers. They are thinking for the
customers it means what are the needs of the customers, what they want, etc. As
per customers wants they are providing goods and services to the customers.

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CHAPTER-8

CONCLUSION

I conclude that the Pantaloon Company is the big company. And its marketing
strategy is very effective. They know very well how to attract the customers. As
per they are using the strategy many customers give preference to the Pantaloon
Company. And they also have a good brand name their promotion strategy is
good they know how to retain a customer and how to make a loyal customer
and they believe to make a loyal customer because they know one loyal
customer can make many customer.

They also maintain a clean floors and nice staff who always ready to help you
because a good behavior is also a reason for increase in sales. If they not behave
properly with the customer so that can be a big loss for the company.

They also maintain a good relationship with their customer they don’t want to
disappoint any customer that is why they provide a good service to customer.

The Pantaloon Company is providing to the good services, after sales service,
quality product, reasonable price, etc. that’s why pantaloon customers satisfied
level is high.

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CHAPTER-9

APPENDICES
QUESTIONNAIRS
1. How often do you buy your product?
a. Once a week
b. Once a month
c. Once in a three month
d. Once in a six month
e. Once in a year

2. From where do you buy your product?

a. Pantaloon
b. Vishal mega mart
c. Reliance
d. Spencer’s
e. More

3. How much do you normally spent in a single shopping?

a. Less than 500
b. Between 500 to 1000
c. Between 1000 to 2000
d. Between 2000 to 5000
e. More than 5000

4. What do you think this is the perfect location of the store?

a. Yes b. No

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 5. Assortment of the product in store is suitable for you?
a. Yes b. No

6. On which basis you have purchase the goods?

a. Price
b. Quality
c. Services
d. After sales services

7. According to you free home delivery providing to the shop is one

of the reason of increase the sales?

a. Yes b. No

8. Are you satisfied with the services of the store?

a. Very satisfied
b. Satisfied
c. Very dissatisfied
d. Dissatisfied

9. What do you feel he marketing strategy adopted by the company is

good for customer or bad?

a. Yes good b. No bad

10. How do you come to know about this location of store?

a. News paper
b. Radio
c. Television

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NAME OF THE PANTALOON CUSTOMERS

1. K. Ram Kishan
2. K.Suresh
3. M. pand Rangachary
4. Dr sermista
5. chandraShekar Waghmare
6. P. Anuradha
7. Vishwanathan
8. V. S. Sharma
9. Uma Maheswar Rao
10. Bhavani
11. Y. Sai Shrikant
12. Shiv Parvati
13. Madhusudan
14. Narsing Rao
15. Pravin Kumar
16. Kishan
17. Srikrishna
18. Srinivas
19. G. Yadatah
20. D.R. Sarloe
21. R. Uarilal
22. Ravindarnath
23. Pravin Kumar
24. Shekhar
25. Kiran
26. K Srinivas Rao
27. K Sevarth
28. Papa Rao
29. Rasamal Rao
30. Nageswar Rao

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 31. M.S.Devikar

32. Alim

33. Ranga swami

34. B.S.Yousuf sharief

35. D.Nagabhushan

36. K.Ehcari

37. Ranga Reddy

38. Jaganmohan Rao

39. Venkat Narsaya

40. Madhukar Raj

CHAPTER-10
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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Www.pantaloon.com
www.datamonitar.com
www.fibre2fashion.com
www.rediff.com
www.scribd.com

www.corporateinformation.com

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