More bang for the shopping

buck
Trent, the company that scripted
the Westside success story, has
gone hyper with the launch of its
Star India Bazaar model
Also see

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Trent: Westside walks the retail talk

Spurring super-shopping

Consumers never had it so good. The market has opened up like

never before and on offer are a wide range of options,
reasonable prices and pleasant shopping environs. These factors
have combined to set up an exhilarating shopping experience for
India’s consumers — but the situation has just got better.

The recent Ahmedabad launch of Star India Bazaar by Trent, the

company behind the Westside chain of stores, promises to
change the face of the retail marketplace further still. Star India
Bazaar is a hypermarket, the big brother of supermarkets and an
idea whose time, according to Trent general manager
(marketing) Himanshu Chakrawarti, has come.

The highlight of the Star India Bazaar concept is the size and
spread of its merchandising basket. Just as importantly, the
economies of scale available to it translate into low prices for
customers, who can pick from a wide selection of staples, fresh
goods, consumer durables, household products, apparel,
luggage and much more. "We aim to be the cheapest in the
market," says Mr Chakrawarti.

Each product category has several choices on offer. For

example, rice is available in 10-12 varieties. Consumers will also
enjoy the benefit of generous reductions on the market rate.
Taken together, the options and the discounts create the mass-
market appeal.

Launched two months back, the Bazaar has received a positive

response from customers, but Mr Chakrawarti sees these initial
days as a time for learning and adapting. "We need to make
corrections and improvements," he says. "There’s always
something to learn when you launch something for the first time,
and we intend to use this learning in our next hypermarket
venture and as we keep growing."
The hypermarket format spells good news for consumers. It
enables the company to entice the middle and the upper-middle
classes with the carrot of low prices. The appeal does not end
here. Star India Bazaar seeks to make popular a format that is
very different from the one existing in the market today. Besides
offering a 5-7 per cent discount over the ‘maximum retail price’
(MRP) for most of the brands that it stocks, the store will also
make available its own private line of products, where prices will
be way below the discounted prices of its branded products. The
private line, offered in virtually all the categories, will also include
consumer durables, a first for the industry.

Explains Mr Chakrawarti: "In tea we offer discounts on brands

such as Lipton, Brooke Bond and Vagh Bakri, which is the
market leader in Ahmedabad. We offer a Rs-80 pack of Vagh
Bakri at Rs 77, making it the lowest price for this brand in the
market. But we can offer our own private label at Rs 58. The
quality is the same, but the value that we offer is greater."

That value,
however, has to be
communicated to
the customer. Star
India Bazaar is
doing this in three
ways. First, the
packaging has to
be attractive. Says
Chakrawarti: "The
product is critical
but that will be evident only after you take it home." At the point
of purchase it is the packaging that will tilt the scales in favour of
the product.

Second, the product must be displayed well in the relevant

section. Third, you have to highlight the price differential. "When
a consumer who wants to buy a bottle of ketchup finds that that
our ketchup is priced lower than the discounted price of a
branded ketchup, it gets him or her thinking." The price card is
working its magic, with the Bazaar tea brand outselling Vagh
Bakri, and its coffee outpacing Nescafe. This is a trend seen
across product categories.

Mr Chakrawarti says that the best way to encourage the

customer to try a Star India Bazaar product is through a good
display. After all, customers have entered the store knowing that
there are savings to be made in all the store categories. Then
their eye is caught by the merits of the product: good display,
good packaging and prices significantly lower than the others.

Star India Bazaar fuels this interest with plenty of offers in the
launch phase of every product. Once people get to know of the
products, prices will rise to the MRP, which is still cheaper than
other brands. The quality of the product will encourage people to
make repeat buys. "Our product has to be as good, if not better,
than the lead brands in the market."

While the savings of a few rupees may work in the case of fast-
moving consumer goods and commodities, selling consumer
durables is a different ballgame. Here consumers do not mind
paying extra if it spells quality. Mr Chakrawarti is prepared to
counter the mind space that the big brands have built over the
years. "One must offer significant value for the products offered.
A 1.5-ton air conditioner is available in the market for Rs 17,000
to Rs 18,000, depending on the model. We have been selling our
air conditioners in the launch phase for Rs 9,900, under the
exchange scheme, and for 13,000-odd otherwise." Besides
savings of almost Rs 4,000, the customer can bank on fact that
Star India Bazaar is a Tata enterprise.

Creating a brand for the products is another step to adding value

to them. "We have followed a three-pronged approach," says Mr
Chakrawarti. "Where the input is limited to packaging — with rice,
sugar, etc — products sell under the Star India Bazaar name.
Within this, the better quality is called ‘select’. The starting price-
quality product is called ‘popular’."

In categories where there is active competition (dishwashing

bars, mosquito coils, etc) products carry the Star India Bazaar
name and a product descriptor. All consumer durables are called
Millennia. The private label in luggage is called Companion. This
creation of brands, coupled with an aggressive mention in all
communication about the store, will ensure that Star India Bazaar
retains the popularity it has gained with customers.

Having succeeded in Ahmedabad, Star India Bazaar is looking

forward to expanding into Mumbai and Bangalore. Trent expects
the Star India Bazaar model to be the template for the shopping
experience that Indians are searching for.