Company profile Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is Indias 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 million square feet of retail space, has over 1000 stores across 61 cities in India and employs over 30,000 people. The companys 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 Indianba za a rs 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, Fashion Station, aLL, Top 10, Mbazaar and Star and Sitara, F123, Siddhi jwellery. The company also operates an online portal, futurebazaar.com. A subsidiary company, Home Solutions Retail (India) Limited, operates Home Town, a largeformat home solutions store, Collection i, selling home furniture products and E-Zone focused on catering 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 atthe 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. Pantaloon is not just an organization - it is an institution, a centre of learning & 6 |P a g e development. We believe that knowledge is the only weapon at our disposal and our quest for it is focused, systematic and unwavering. At Pantaloon, we take pride in challenging conventions and thinking out of the box, in travelling on the road less traveled. Our corporate doctrine Rewrite Rules, Retain Values is derived from this spirit. Over the years, the company has accelerated growth through its ability to lead change. A number of its pioneering concepts have now emerged as industry standards. For instance, the company integrated backwards into garment manufacturing even as it expanded its retail presence at the front end, well before any other Indian retail company attempted this. It was the first to introduce the concept of the retail departmental store for the entire family through Pantaloons in 1997. The company was the first to launch a hypermarket in India with Big Bazaar, a large discount store that it commissioned in Kolkata in October 2001. And the company introduced the country to the Food Bazaar, a unique 'bazaar' within a hypermarket, which was launched in July 2002 in Mumbai. Embracing our leadership value, the company launched all in July2005 in Mumbai, making us the first retailer in India to open a fashion store for plus size men and women. Today we are the fastest growing retail company in India. The number of stores is going to increase many folds year on year along with the new formats coming up. The way we work is distinctly "Pantaloon". Our courage to dream and to turn our dreams into reality that change peoples lives, is our biggest advantage. Pantaloon is an invitation to join a place where there are no boundaries to what you can achieve. It means never having to stop asking questions; it means never having to stop raising the bar. It is an opportunity to take risks, and it is this passion

7 |P a g e that makes our dreams a reality. Come enter a world where we promise you good days and bad days, but never a dull moment! Future Group Future Group is one of the countrys leading business groups present in retail, asset management, consumer finance, insurance, retail media, retail spaces and logistics. The groups flagship company, Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited operates over 10 million square feet of retail space, has over 1,000 stores and employs over 30,000 people. Future Group is present in 61 cities and 65 rural locations in India. Some of its leading retail formats include, Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central, Food Bazaar, Home Town, eZone, Depot, Future Money and online retail format, futurebazaar.com.

Future Group companies includes, Future Capital Holdings, Future Generali India Indus League Clothing and Galaxy Entertainment that manages Sports Bar, Brew Bar and Bowling Co. Future Capital Holdings, the groups 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. The groups 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 Talwalkars, Blue Foods and Liberty Shoes. Future Groups vision is to, deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time 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.

Major Milestones 1987- Company incorporated as Manz Wear Private Limited. Launch of Pantaloons trouser, Indias first formal trouser brand. 1991-Launc h of BARE, the Indian jeans brand. 1992 - Initial public offer (IPO) was made in the month of May. 1994- Pantaloon Shoppe exclusive menswear store in franchisee formatlaunched 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 Indias family store launched in Kolkata. 2001- Big Bazaar,Is se sasta a ur accha kahi nahin - Indias first hypermarket chain launched. 2002- Food Bazaar, the supermarket chain is launched. 2004- Central Shop, Eat, Celebrate In The Heart Of Our City Indias first seamless mall is launched in Bangalore. 2005- Fashion Station - the popular fashion chain is launched aLL a little larger - exclusive stores for plus-size individuals is launched 2006 - Future Capital Holdings, the companys financial arm launches real estate funds Kshitij and Horizon and private equity fund Indivision. 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.

14 |P a g e Discovering more value In 2006-2007, more Indians discovered the value of shopping in Big Bazaar. And with the launch of each store, we discovered more value in terms of operational efficiency. Big Bazaar launched 27 new stores in 22 cities, covering over 1.40 million square feet. As of June 2007, there were 56 Big Bazaar stores across 43 cities. While Big Bazaar continued to expand in then large cities, it also tapped consumption potential in smaller cities like Agra, Allahabad, Coimbatore, Surat, Panipat, Palakkad, Kanpur and olhapur. The year under review also witnessed realigning of business teams with shared experience in category management, sourcing, front-end operations and business planning. In addition, separate teams have been formed to look into all aspects of new store launches and to manage mature stores. This provides more flexibility and focus in expansion plans. The increase in SKUs in existing categories and the introduction of new categories encouraged the opening of larger stores or Super Centres, measuring 100,000 square feet or more. There are now 5 Big Bazaar Super Centres. Considering this scale of expansion, technology plays a significant facilitating role. The introduction of SAP in 2005-06 and its roll out during the year, positively impacted the business.

Big Bazaar has initiated the process of Auto Replenishments Systems, thus improving operational efficiencies and productivity. The company has also rationalized nearly 250 vendors through better vendor management in terms of potential to expand, and for inclusion and up gradation to the online B2B platform. The company plans to open over 60 stores across India in FY 2008, and the opening of the 100th Big Bazaar store will mark the fastest ever expansion by a hypermarket format. Discovering the new consumer Based on the companys in-house consumer data and research, and in cognizance with Observations on customer movements and the shopping convenience factor, Food Bazaar has initiated certain refurbishments and layout design across all stores. The intention is to continuously change with the times and demands of the evolving Indian consumer. Food Bazaar also witnessed healthy expansion during the year 2006-07, making its presence felt in nearly 26 cities and adding 40 stores during the year under review. The total count of Food Bazaars as on 30th June 2007 stood at 86 stores. The year under review witnessed the companys private label programmed gaining significant traction. The brands have been very competitive vis--vis the established brands in quality and price terms, and have in fact scored better than national or international players in certain categories.

The shares of private labels as a percentage of total Food Bazaar revenues has increased significantly and comprise nearly 50 merchandise categories. While Fresh & Pure brand entered categories like cheese slices, frozen peas, honey, packaged drinking water and packaged tea, the Tasty Treat brand received a very favorable response in new

categories like namkeens and wafers. In the home care categoryC a rem at elaun ch ed aluminum foil and baby diapers whileC l e a nm ate launched detergent bars and scrubbers. A new format BB Wholesale Club was launched and 4 such stores have been opened so far. To be managed by Food Bazaar from the ensuing financial year, this format sells only multipacks and bulk packs of a select range of fast moving categories and caters to price sensitive customers and smaller retailers. The company has also forged tie-ups with established companies like ITC, Adanis, DCM Group, USAID and other farm groups in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to source directly from them. These alliances are expected to drive efficiencies as well as bring better products to consumers. By the end of FY 07-08, the total number of Food Bazaar stores is expected to be 200. Future ideas Discovering new opportunities Future Ideas is the Innovation, Design & Incubation cell within Pantaloon Retail that stems from the core proposition - Protecting and preserving the soul of a small business or enterprise within a large organization. Future Ideas deals with the whole aspect of idea creation, scenario planning activities, alternate approaches to an issue, providing varied outcomes and solutions to a problem and handholding the activity till its success parameters are satisfied. A unique initiative in corporate India, Future Ideas rests on a tripod that can be classified as Innovation driven, Design Management approach and an Incubation chamber, each with its own uniqueness, yet with common objectives. The Design Management team looks at each observation made by the Innovation team, and brainstorms by using a collaborative and holistic approach. The resultant ideas are then nurtured within the Incubation cell. The Incubation team comprises of business teams, mentored by the Innovation and Design teams. They are people who are released from their original businesses or concepts and made part of the entire ideation process at Future Ideas. They remain at Future Ideas till project completion stage when the success parameters for running the business are met. Future Ideas draws inspiration for most of its activities and projects, keeping in mind the new genre of aspirational Indians. At any point of time Future Ideas would work on about 20 varied projects within the Future Group. Some of the formats that are now being incubated by this team include Top10, Depot, Star & Sitara and Talwalkars Fit & Active. The team is also working on ideas around small format nofrills stores, rural retailing, and fashion for the masses and on projects involving women and selfhelp groups. Discovering new segments Depot, in many cities, is the first modern retailer in books and music and the response has been overwhelming. The core differentiators of Depot are its young, colorful and vibrant stores, strong regional range, affordability and a private label publishing program Depot Exclusives. In its first year of operation, Depot has launched 6 stand-alone stores and 50 cut-ins. Along with its expansion in major cities, Depot debuted in smaller owns like Rajkot, Vadodara, Haldia, Thrissur, Palakkad and Tiruvanantharam. The Depot Exclusives (released solely inDepot) catalogue expanded rapidly with over 100 titles across genres like childrens books, cookery, regional literature etc. Reputed authors/ imprints like Nita Mehta and Sanjeev Kapoor in cookery, Disney in childrens books etc., have been associated with the company. Depot has also tied-up with the UK based publisher of childrens books, Small World, to co-publish a series of toddlers interactive books. In FY 2007- 08, the total Depot footprint should cross over 100 stores. The Health, Beauty & Wellness business opened 35 new outlets in the beauty products, services and holistic health care formats Multiple formats operate in this segment, including Tulsi, the

pharmacy chain and Star & Sitara, the beauty products cut-ins and Star & Sitara Salons. The largest format, Beauty Free offers unique combination of products, services and holistic health offerings.

To capture the increasing consumption spend on wellness and preventive health care, the joint venture between Pantaloon Retail (I) Limited and Talwalkar Better Value Fitness opened its first Talwalkars Fit & Active health centre at Orchid City Centre, Mumbai in April 2007. Spread over 5,200 square feet, it is the countrys first health centre to offer health, fitness and gym services within a modern retail and consumption environment. The venture is also looking at innovative value added offerings in the fitness space as well as developing a Spa model for the Fit & Active brand across the country, by increasing its presence to nearly 50 such centers in the near future. Human Resources Discovering talent diversity The company strongly believes that its sustainable competitive advantage lies in the values that it cherishes, the culture that it imbibes and spirit of enterprise that resides within the organization. Talent management therefore continues to be the core focus for the company. Considering the multiple businesses and rapid expansion expected across the business, the company saw merit in taking a fresh guard to the way in which business would run in order to meet the next leg of expansions. During the year 2006-07, the company conducted an extensive review of in-house talent management, which involved mapping every managerial position in the organization for their skill sets, competence and attitudinal aspects as well as taking an inventory check of the existing talent base and

addressing their development needs. Development Centres were created with in house assessors, which further aided in identifying potential resources and helped chalk out post assessment development plans. Continuing with its policy of strategic alliances, the company is collaborating on joint degree programs with 15 management schools, design institutes and institutes of higher learning in areas like food business, supply chain management, design experience management etc. This Seekho programme for external and internal candidates has ensured a steady stream of mid level, well trained retail professionals every year. The companys Gurukool programme provides the front-end employees an opportunity to imbibe the companys values and a sense of ownership to the company. The company has also created an Employee Growth Trust Fund that was launched during the last financial year for the senior management. Equal Opportunity The company believes that in order to build a sustainable business environment, the composition of its talent base needs to reflect the diversity that exists in our country and among its customers. Therefore the company ensures that the proportional representation of different communities in the Indian population is mirrored in its employee profile. The majority of employees in the company come from socially and economically marginalized sections of the society. Close to 46% of the employees in the organization are women and the average age within the organization is 27 years.

The effectiveness of its talent management initiatives is reflected in the fact that the annual rate of attrition is 8.12%, much below industry levels. The company plans to strengthen its employee platform to about 30,000 people by FY 08, from nearly 18,000 people as on FY 07. Human Resource Initiatives Pantaloon Retail believes that one of its sustainable competitive advantages will continue to be the people who are part of the organization. Being in service industry, the Company places a lot of focus is placed on attracting, training, incentivising and retaining talent. The vision is "To provide an environment that creates happy people who have a meaningful life and add value to business and society." With over 18000 employees at an average age of 27 years, the Company prides itself on being a young and energetic organization, driven through the 'The Pantaloon People Management System'. This is built on 5 pillars of people based growth, namely - Culture Building, Performance Management through Balanced Scorecard, People Processes, Management Processes and Leadership Brilliance.TrainingA competent Learning & Development Team is responsible for training employees at all the levels across the countr y, focusing on primary and secondary research into various aspects of retail and assessment of training needs across Knowledge, Skills & Attitude areas. The emphasis is on creating product and process knowledge through well defined programs like Praarambh and Parikrama. For the critical front line staff, the Company's unique outbound residential training program Gurukool focuses on integrating the mind, body and soul and brings about measurable attitudinal and behavioral changes.

7 p analysis of big bazaar Pla c e Prod u ct Pri c e Promot i on Peop le Proc es s Physical Environment Key element 1) Place (store location) Target market Channel structure Channel management Retailer image Branding Retail logistics Packaging Retail distribution 3) Price Costs Developing Profitability Value for money Competitiveness Incentives Quality Status After-sales services

2) Product (merchandise) Product development Product features and benifits Product management

4)P ro mo ti o n promotional mixes Advertising management Sales promotion Sales management Public relations Direct marketing

5) People element Staff capability Efficiency Availability Effectiveness Customer interaction Internal marketing 6) Process element Order processing Database management Queuing system Standardization Service delivery

Big bazaar, Ranchi Built in an 80,000sqft area, this hypermarket will be the second Big Bazar in the jharkhand state and the first biggest store built in the eastern zone and is set to boost retail marketing in the capital further. The store also provides parking facilities of more than 100 cars in a 13,000sqft-basement area. On offer under one roof would be clothes and accessories for men, women and children, playthings, stationery and toys, footwear, plastics, home utility products, cosmetics, crockery, home textiles, luggage, gifts and also food products and grocery. There are around 10 sections in this retail store including Food Bazaar, M-Bazaar, Depot, Apparel, Kitchen home, Fashion, furniture and Visitors electronic bazaar, Live Kitchen and appliance shops. These would cater to almost everything required by people from different income groups. The best feature about a Big Bazaar store, said salespersons, is that it offers a large number of goods at affordable prices. People of different income groups can buy utility and other products at this retail mart. Hence, Big Bazaar has become almost a household name. The added advantage is round-the-year discounts and promotional offers. Big Bazar is a big name in the retail industry of India. Shopping here will be memorable experience with varied rates of discounts on products as well as discount vouchers, said head of operations, East Pantaloon Retail (I) Ltd, Sandeep Marwaha. We would be giving a lot of offers to customers at reasonable rates and also maximum discounts on January 26 and August 15, Marwaha said, adding that they would also give group cards to customers which would let them avail of discounts at their stores all over India. As far as the products are concerned we have both local as well as branded products. This retail shop would remain open on weekdays and sell a total of 1,60,000 products. We also have very attractive offers, like we would be giving 1kg sugar and 1kg flour free of cost for the purchase of Rs 999 or more, said Marwaha.

The new thing at this retail shop will be that customers would get an opportunity to purchase bread, bun, biscuit, cake, sandwich and burgers prepared or baked in front of them. There are 150 staff members on the company pay- roll, comprising college

students and housewives. These people were appointed two months prior to the opening of this mega store at Kadru More.

PHONE NO.

In India when a customer needs something for home, a typical thought is to seek it from the bazaar. A bazaar is a place where a complete range of product is always available to the consumer. This is true all over India. As the store would offer a large mix of products at a discounted price, the name big bazaar was finalized. That is how the store design was finalized. The store should on one hand provide the customer the look and feel of a bazaar and on the other hand should provide them a shopping experience. The store design and layout tells a customer what the store is all about. It is a very strong tool in the hands of the retailer for communicating and creating the image of the store in mind of the customer. The design and layout of the store are a means of communicating the image of the retail store. The primary consideration that a retailer takes into account while choosing the look of his store is his target audience, their need and their buying behavior, secondly the merchandise that he is going to sell. big bazaar (super center and hypermarket) is a 5floor building comprising of 13 home linen of business, 4 joint venture with (Lee cooper, Loot mart, Navras gold jewelry, sports) and few shop in shop. big bazaar is the Indias biggest big bazaar with a 12000 pernsq. feet sales. It comprises of built up area of 126655 sq. feet and retail area of 65043 sq feet with average footfalls of 7000 customers per day. Big bazaar is coming up of with more shop in shop so that they can cater to the needs of diverse culture of customers coming to the store. Customer coming to big bazaar can shop, eat and entertain themselves under one roof.
There are many promotional activities done in the store to promote the in house brands. These activities are usually performed on big days in the week like Sundays, Saturday and Wednesday. The activities done are fashion show to promote fashion @ big bazaar. Fashion show was conducted in the exterior of the store by models that performed on the ramp wearing big bazaar clothing. Other activities are small games such as quiz contest, fashion show, etc. are been played to entertain customers and on the same front promote their products. Wednesday bazaar is mostly targeted at house wife handling low budgets for the week. Impulse bins are kept in areas where there are heavy footfalls and cash counters to make customers buy the products. Exterior store design: Many a times it is the exterior look of the store that draws the customers to the store. The factors that are considered in designing the exterior of the store are: Site it. Facilities like parking and ease of access. The architecture of the building. The display space.

The health and safety measures i.e. the security guards. Exterior of the store is attractive and inviting. It highlights the seasonal attraction of different sections with the help of huge hoardings. Parking is design according to the convenience of the customer as customers have entries close to the Parking spaces for both Two and Four Wheelers. Customers have proper places to put their luggage while entering the store, proper security feature are provided to give them a feeling of safety and wellbeing. Small eateries and Snacks shop are there for the customers in wait and for those who wants to pass their time. Interior store design: Interior store design is a function of the aesthetic within the store, the merchandise sold within and the space used for the same and the overall layout of the store. The factors that affect the interior store design are: Space planning i.e. location of various departments, location of various products in the department (plan gram), relation of space to profitability. Fixtures that are used for storing and displaying merchandise. Lighting scheme has to be decided on the product that is displayed. Graphics and signage in the store provide information about the product, location, facilities etc. in the store. Overall format of the store, look, feel, colure scheme are decided to give a Bazaar look where the Target Customer can have a feeling of having convenient and valued shopping Experience. For the convenient movement of the customers in the store there are escalators and lifts. The store layout is such that when one reaches at a particular level he /she can get an overall picture of the floor in a single view. Proper spacing is provided for fixtures, walking area and Highlights like Boards and Signages are provided in each section. Every section is arranged in accordance to a preplanned theme for each Season and Shopping Festival. These themes have a same kind of patter or look such that different sections are connected in accordance with the buying behavior of the customer. The floor arrangements are planned to suit the buying need and convenience of the customerslike grocery, food and FMCG products (daily necessities) are kept on the ground floor as no customer will go to the 5th floor to buy vegetables. Thus the store designs are according to this plan.

3.1.3Target Audience: Big Bazaar targets higher and middle class customers . The large and growing young working population is a preferred customer segment. Big Bazaar specifically targets working women and home makers who are the primary decision makers. 3.2 Features In Big Bazaar, ranchi following features are there: Ranchi outlet focuses on all classes. It is a one-stop shop, anything and everything which is in the market is present here.

Gaming section F.123 is there which cannot be found in all outlets Unisex salon Star N Sitara is there.

The food court is there where one can have refreshments and relax. Lifts and ramp are there for convenience.
GroundFloor:

The ground floor comprises of food and non- food items. In short there are products which are included in the daily necessities check list of the customers. When we enter in the store we see vegetables and fruits on the right side and food items, personal care product on the left. This floor mainly is known as food bazaar. It consists of following department such as: food items chill zone chip zone hungry kya non- food items personal care home care fa b ric leen

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s t ap les : basic staples cooking mediums fruits and vegetables mens grooming live kitchens The Contribution of Food Bazaar to the total sales for the year 2008-09 of the store was 31% . The space occupied by the Food Bazaar is 8076 Sq. feet out of 65043 of the total retail space i.e 12% of the total Store retail space. The per sq feet sales of Food Bazaar is Rs 2862.
1stFloor:

This floor comprises of plastic, utensils and crockery this section is located on the 1st floor to push the crowd in upward direction and secondly the products kept here are planned purchase products. It also

comprises of few impulse buying products such as ladies hand bags and foot wears this also helps in pushing the customer upwards in the store. Thus 1st floor comprises of the following categories: foot wea r lu gga ge ladies handbags(jute cottage is a shop in shop PUC (plastic, utensils & crockery) c ook wa re mb a za a r. Home linen Dep ot Music world Cosmetics Je we lr y Watches & sunglasses
2ndf l oo r

The first floor accommodates apparel department (ladies& kids). Ladies & kids mannequins dressed in updated trends on cubes & platforms looks attractive. Secondly the heavy discounts. entice the customer to buy the products. One gets everything he/she needs in apparels. The categories are: Ladies wear Ladies accessories Ladies nightwear Ladies ethnic(dress materials, sari, kurtas etc) Ladies western Ladies western formals Ladies western party wear Ladies seasonal wear Ladies sportswear kids wear girls wear boys wear t od d lers kids accessories Navras gold jewelry(shop in shop) 3rd floor The first floor accommodates apparel department (men). Men mannequins dressed in updated trends on cubes & platforms looks attractive. Secondly the heavy discounts. entice the customer to buy the products. One gets everything he needs in apparels. The categories are: Men wear

men casuals men formals men denims & tees men nightwear men seasonal wear men accessories men sport wear men occasional wear auto assesories f1 23 sports zone kids games & toys soft toys sports equipments
4thf loo r

This floor is known as electronic bazaar. Customers who are gadgets lovers will enjoy moving around this floor. This floor comprises of demo rooms where in the customer can see the demo of different gadgets they would like to purchase. It also consists of part of home bazaar. There is future money which provides installment payment system for customers. Categories on this floor are: Electronic bazaar. white goods small appliances my things AC & geysers LC D Audio Computer & laptops R efri gera t ors future money home lights bed room furniture & accessories
5thf loo r

The floor is all about making your house look good. Yes, this floor is known as home bazaar. Good quality with heavy discounts is what attracts customers to this floor modular kitchens, bed rooms, living room, kids room are designed in different ways to give customers the idea of how the colure schemes changes the look of the product. Co- ordinate presentation is an effective way of display.

There are architect service been provide so that the customers can take the advise of the architect and plan for the purchase. Customers can even customize the product. This floor consists of the following: modular kitchens modular bed rooms modular living rooms kids room grab n go office furniture home improvements floo ri n gs lockers & handles mi rrors bathroom sets Newspaper ads on Wednesday in the local dailies, Sakal and Times of India. Hoardings at ROADS. Sabse SasteTeen Din (Big days) 26 Jan Republic Day a National HolidayBig Bazaar Marketing Department gave a new thought on this day in 2006 they started a new shopping festival, i.e. Sabse Saste Teen Din. None of the retail industry was aware about this surprise shopping festival. Big Bazaar did it in its own way!! They showed this National holiday can be celebrate in festival mode , while doing shopping Big bazaar throwed up to 65% of on each & every products in the store for three days. So the promotion was called Sabse Saste Teen Din.
Promotion

Promotion can be loosely classified as "above the line" and "below the line" promotion. The promotional activities carried out through mass media like television, radio, newspaper etc. is above the line promotion. The terms 'below-the-line' promotion or communications, refers to forms of nonmedia communication, even non-media advertising. Below-the- line promotions are becoming increasingly important within the communications mix of many companies, not only those involved in fmcg products, but also for industrial goods. Some of the ways by which companies do BTL (below the line) promotions are by exhibitions, sponsorship activities, public relations and sales promotions like giving freebies with goods, trade discounts given to dealers and customers, reduced price offers on products, giving coupons which can be redeemed later etc.
BELOWTHE LINE SALES PROMOTION Below the line sales promotions are short-term incentives, largely aimed at consumers. With the increasing pressure on the marketing team to

achieve communication objectives more efficiently in a limited budget, there has been a need to find out more effective and cost efficient ways to communicate with the target markets. This has led to a shift from the regular media based advertising.

A definition of below-the-line sales promotion given by Hugh Davidson: 'An immediate or delayed incentive to purchase, expressed in cash or in kind, and having only a short term or temporary duration'.
Methods of below the line sales promotion 1. Price promotions Price promotions are also commonly known as" price discounting". These can be done in two ways: A discount to the normal selling price of a product, or More of the product at the normal price.

Price promotions however can also have a negative effect by spoiling the brand reputation or just a temporary sales boost (during the discounts) followed by a lull when the discount would be called off.
2. Coupo ns

Coupons are another, very versatile, way of offering a discount. Consider the following examples of the use of coupons: -On a pack to encourage repeat purchase - In coupon books sent out in newspapers allowing customers to redeem the coupon at a retailer - A cut-out coupon as part of an advert - On the back of till receipts The key objective with a coupon promotion is to maximize the redemption rate this is the proportion of customers actually using the coupon.

It must be ensured when a company uses coupons that the retailers must hold sufficient stock to avoid customer disappointment. Use of coupon promotions is often best for new products or perhaps to encourage sales of existing products that are slowing down. 3. Gift with purchase The "gift with purchase" is a very common promotional technique. In this scheme, the customer gets something extra along with the normal good purchased. It works best for - Subscription-based products (e.g. magazines) - Consumer luxuries (e.g. perfumes) 4. Competitions and prizes This is an important tool to increase brand awareness amongst the target consumer. It can be used to boost up sales for temporary period and ensure usage amongst first time users. 5. Money refunds Here, a customer receives a money refund after submitting a proof of purchase to the manufacturer. Customers often view these schemes with some suspicion particularly if the method of obtaining a refund looks unusual or onerous.

6. F requentuser / loyalty incentives

Repeat purchases may be stimulated by frequent user incentives. Perhaps the best examples of this are the many frequent flyer or user schemes used by airlines, train companies, car hire companies etc.

7. P oi nt-of-sale displays

Shopping habits are changing for the people living in metropolitan cities. People prefer big retail outlets like Big Bazaar to local kirana stores. Most of the decisions of buying are taken by the virtue of point-of-sale displays in these retail outlets.
SOMEINTERSTING EXAMPLESOF BTL PROMOTION

Most of the big brands are following the suit of BTL promotion because of rising prices of media based promotion, advertising clutter and increased impulse purchasing.
Some of the interesting examples are:

Most of the educational institutes like career launcher, Time and PT are holding informative workshops and free tests for students which give a direct interaction of these institutes with the target customer and hence a suitable platform to sell themselves. Ring tones and music videos on cell phones are helping the entertainment industry to promote for a music video or a movie for dirt- cheap rate as compared to media promotion. Various companies sponsor sport events to promote their brand, but nowadays media companies like Hindustan Times are holding weekly events through out the country in which companies can put up their stalls, display banners and posters and arrange for some fun activities. These events give the companies a platform at very low price to promote their brand and increase visibility among target consumer. These companies also give discount coupons to winners in the games, which in turn boost the sales of the products and ensure that first time users try these products as well.

Pepsi organized an inter school cricket event for 425 schools across 14 cities which did wonders for the company by promoting the brand amongst the right target customer for almost no cost. Most of the pharmacy companies do BTL promotion by getting shelf space through doctors to display their products or by giving away free calcium tablets again through doctors, knowing that for a patient a personal advise from a doctor would hold more value as compared to a commercial advertisement. Another interesting BTL promotion was by NIKE, an athlete dressed up in Nike sportswear could be seen jogging on an elevated treadmill for the whole day on National Highway 8, Delhi. BTL promotions are gaining popularity among all big companies nowadays considering their effectiveness because of the "individual customer promotion" at a price, which is much lesser than the normal media promotions. Low prices on Wednesday Low prices on Wednesday Concept of Big Day Concept of Big Day Promotional offers

School Jao Khushi Khushi Khushi Ki Barsaat Happy Fathers Day

Big Bazaar's `junk' swap offer

Big Bazaar is launching a promotional offer from Saturday, with the slogan, "Bring anything old and take something new". A press release issued by the company says the customer can bring anything old, such as newspaper, and get coupons issued in exchange of the junk. The customer can redeem the coupons before the due date on the condition that he/she shops four times the value of the coupon. The prices fixed by Big Bazaar are: clothes (Rs 200 per kg), newspaper (Rs 25 per kg), plastics/utensils/leather goods (Rs. 75 per kg), footwear/luggage (Rs. 100 per kg), Pet/beer bottles (Rs 15 per kg), tyres (Rs 50 per kg), furniture (Rs 75 per kg) and others (Rs 20 per kg). "This offer will help the housewife clean out the junk while getting a good value for it," says Mr Sanjeev Agarwal, President (Marketing), Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. News related big bazaar Future Group to hive off Big Bazaar Kishore Biyani-led Future Group is considering hiving-off its hypermarket format Big Bazaar into a separate company. Managing a $1 billion business already is a challenge, Biyani said speaking to the reporters on Friday, referring to the big Bazaar format, which is expected to generate revenue of $1 billion in the fiscal 2007- 08. Big Bazaar is a hypermarket format of the Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. The Group expects to increase its revenues to $7-8 billion by 2011, of which Big Bazaar is expected to contribute a large chunk of around $4 billion. It has emerged as the largest retail format of Future Group's retail division. Biyani said that the proposal is at a very initial stage and has to be taken to the board. Currently we have more than 80 Big Bazaars and we are planning to scale it up to 160 by the year end, he

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