Westside-Retail Giant

Established in 1998 as part of the Tata Group, Trent Ltd.

operates Westside, one of India's largest and fastest growing
chains of retail stores.
The company has already established 36 Westside
departmental stores(measuring 15,000-30,000 square feet
each) all over across various cities in India.
Trent ventured into the hypermarket business in 2004 with
Star Bazaar.
Westside is exclusively designed and the merchandise
ranges from stylized clothes, footwear and accessories for
men, women and children.

Mission Statement :

To be regarded by our customers as the most relevant retailer in the

country.

Achieving the Goal :

Develop a comprehensive understanding of customers needs, strive to
win their confidence, and offer them best-in-class products and services at
affordable prices.

Policy :
Satisfy our customers with the range, quality and value of the products
we offer and attain new heights of excellence through teamwork, in an
atmosphere that encourages creativity and innovativeness.

Factors Shaping Westside Success

Style
Affordable
Price
Quality

Arrangements
Ground Floor
Cosmetics
Jewellery
Watches
Bags
Ist Floor
Women Section
Children Section
Household items
IInd Floor (Men Section)
Casual Clothing
Formal Wear
Ethnic Wear

Private Brands in
Westside
2F4U
SRC
Gia
Urban angel
Intima
David Jones
Ascot
Blackberry
Lee
Spykar
Provogue

Services and Store

Atmosphere
Pre-purchase services include accepting telephone & mail
orders, advertising, window & interior display, fitting rooms,
fashion shows.
It provides post purchase service including shipping &
delivery, gift wrapping, adjustments & returns, alteration &
tailoring.
It also provides ancillary services including general
information , check cashing, parking, restaurants, repairs,
interior decorating, credit etc.

Levels of service
Self service- Self service is the corner stone of all discount
operations. Many customers are willing to carry out their own
locate compare select process to save money.
Self selection- Customer find own goods, although they can
ask for assistance.

Limited Service- Westside also offers services like credit,

merchandizing etc.

Full Service- Sales people are ready to assist to any phase

of the locate compare select process. Customers who like to
be waited own prefer these types of stores.

The Three Cs

Comfort- Aims to create harmony between the person and the

clothes they wear.

Crispness- Employees get training, wish list acting as tool to

know customers preferences.

Coordination- Finding star employees and designating them as

trainer and coach to train the staff.

3 Kind of coaches :
Customer service coach
IT skills Coach
Product knowledge Coach

Westside Model
MARKET RESEARCH
RETAIL LAYOUT
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
PRODUCT POSITIONING
ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONS

Market Research

Appreciated importance of MR conducted before entering new city

5 member in house team

Collected information on buying patterns, demand potential ,

lifestyles etc.

Support from Tata companies like Taj Group , Titan, Voltas, Tata AIG ,
Tata Engineering.

Before entering retail segment conducted research

FINDINGS
1.

Store owned brands and other brands ratio 30:70

2.

Many international retailers stocked only own brands due to more

loyalty , flexibility , high returns.

3.

Heavy investment for brand building and poor economies of scale.

MR conducted to understand customer behavior to enhance
customer loyalty .

Retail Layout
PHILOSOPHY & PROBLEMS FACED

Sold in house brand only higher margins, more control over

manufacturers( quality, cost), no intermediary costs.

Expensive real estate leased shop space.

Required spacious showrooms in metros : 10000 20000 sq ft.

THE MODEL
.

Free Form Layout/Boutique Layout fixtures and aisles arranged

asymmetrically.

Merchandise displayed at 2 levels on same floor.

Merchandise in separate clusters e.g.. Women's wear and accessories

clubbed together for convenience.

2 main divisions :
wear

Apparel men's wear, womens wear, lingerie, kids

Product household, gifts, other accessories

Sourcing and Stocks

Each store on average stored 30,000 SKUs of

different products.

Merchandise sourced from 250 exporters from

Delhi , Mumbai and Bangalore.

Centralized buying for all products except cosmetics

and perfumes to avoid sales tax.

Carried 63 days of stock days.

Product positioning
Positioned as value for money products - good quality,
low prices , contemporary and exclusive designs and
wide variety.
Good store ambience shelves not overloaded.
Focus on I-got-a quality-product-at-a-reasonableprice feelings.

Promotion and Advertising

Focus on 2 parameters style and affordability
Total advertising spend 8% of sales
INHOUSE PROMOTIONS
Peaked during summer, Diwali and Christmas Festival of
Delights
program.
Promotions based on themes matching decorations , liver bands
and
Other.
attractions Clubwest Classic and Clubwest Gold.
EXTERNAL PROMOTIONS
Advertising on media - Model Fleur Xavier for advertising contract.

Retail Mix- Promotion

Retail Mix- Promotion

Retail Mix- Advertisement

Pricing
Pricing decisions consistent with
firms marketing strategy and target
market.
They believe in democratizing their
service and charging fair price.
Offers Value for Money proposition
for consumers, especially by offering
their own brands.
Helps to augment their sales margin.

Pricing ( Cont.)
Types of Pricing:
Promotional
discounts
Seasonal Pricing
Image Pricing.
Product form Pricing
Psychological
Pricing
Product bundling
Pricing

Customer Feedback
Conducted research to
better serve customers.
Focus on customer
feedback.
Trust in customers
reflected confidence in
products.

Problems faced by
Westside
Target customer base changed
over time.
Not much shelf-space is given
to the International brands.
Customer
preferences
are
changing from in-house labels
to international brands.
Lesser media promotions.

Why They Should

Accolades
Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame.
India Brand Summit Brand Leadership Retail.
IFA Visionary of the Year Award, 2002 Mrs. Simone N.
Tata.
Most Admired Large Format Retail Chain of the Year Lycra Images Fashion Awards 2005.
NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2006 - Retail
Category.

THANK YOU