Anthropology Assignment

BATA
Vegas Mall, Dwarka Sector 14

A. Before Entrance (Influence of External Environment):

● Catchment Area - Store is situated in one of the biggest malls of India i.e. Vegas Mall
which has been built recently and has all the in-trend brands. The store is located on
the second floor of the mall and is surrounded by various other footwear brands like
Nike, Adidas, PUMA, and some of the apparel brands like Levi’s.
Noticeable point- Levi’s store has been newly opened and hence it helps the store to
enhance catchment.

● Types of Customers - The customers of the store are mostly the shoppers, hovering
around the mall and shopping from various brands. Since this store is situated in a
prime location, the customers are the ones who have a large bill size and hence this
store has all the large bill size products. The average price of the items present in the
store is around Rs. 3,000. The store gets participation from customers of all age
groups since it has products for all age groups.

● Proximity to metro and other transport facilities - The store is situated in a mall which
is not even 50 m away from the metro station and the mall is located in an isolated
location which has not been commercialized yet. Mall has its own parking facilities
which are free for the customers and hence consumers can come to the store very
conveniently. BATA has the nearest store in Dwarka Sector 5, which is a high-street
market store and hence there are a lot of inconveniences like parking issues, high-
street, etc. and hence in comparison with that store, this store is more convenient for
the customers.

● Proximity to other shopping locations and trading areas - The store is situated in a
mall that has almost all the brands, brands coming under Aditya Birla Group (Peter
England, Van Huesen, Allen Solly, etc.) and all the other footwear brands like Nike,
Adidas, PUMA, Skechers, Crocs, etc. In terms of other shopping locations and trading
areas, the mall is free from any kind of competition because it is situated in an isolated
location. The nearest shopping locations are high-street markets like Dwarka Sector 5,
Sector 10, Uttam Nagar, Janakpuri, etc.
B. Inside the Store Operations:
● Store Layout & Human Movement - The store layout has been planned very
strategically. BATA flashes its Bata-red color and the store layout is in such a way
that eases the movement of customers in the store and refrains from getting cluttered.
Since most of the movement of the customers is from the side where the escalator is
situated, Sneaker Studio which is the main attraction of the store and which has been
newly launched by the store is placed on the left side wall of the store so that it
catches the eyes of the customer while they have entered the store from the
escalator’s side. The stockroom is situated behind the back wall of the store. There
are 2 gondolas kept at the entrance of the store to merchandise the newly launched
products of the brand.
●
● Merchandise Placement & Customer Behavior - Merchandise placement is another
strategic move of the brand. Bata has 17 brands under it out of which 14 brands are
its in-house brands like Bubble-gummers, Ambassador, etc, and 4 Licensed brands
like Hush Puppies. They have shelf space for each and every range. Hush Puppies is
the premium range of the brand and hence it has been placed where they have the
maximum lights. Bubble-gummers, which is the range produced for kids under 10, is
placed on a wall with maximum color attractions. This wall is placed according to the
eye-catchment of the customers. Sneaker Studio is the new segment of the company
that catches the attraction of the youth. When we have a look at the NFW i.e. Non
Footwear segment of the brand, Bata is selling various NFWs such as socks, bags,
polish, etc. They have placed duffle bags on a separate shelf, yet they have displayed
some bags with particular shoes to offer them in a combination or to showcase the
complementary aspect of the laptop or duffle bag along with the shoe. Socks and
other accessories are placed near the counter to increase the UPT i.e. Unit Per
Transaction of the customer.
Overall the Company follows the policy of Color blocking, which is that they display
their items in such a way that it goes from Dark colors to light colors to attract
customers and give him a clear idea of the range of colors the brand has.

● Ease of merchandise location and retail anthropology in terms of eye level, signage,
clarity of direction etc. - BATA focuses a lot on flashing its Bata-red color in the eyes
of the customer. They make sure that each and every gondola and every counter has
the same color. Bubble-Gummers, which is the range of shoes produced for kids, is
placed according to the height level of the kids and prestige brands like Hush Puppies
have been displayed so that it leaves an impact on the customer hovering in the store.

● Waiting time - Waiting time is minimum in the store. Since the customers do not need
a trial room for trying their stuff, a salesperson is allocated to every customer who at
times, assists by putting in the show with their hands and there is another person who
brings in the stuff from the stockroom in case they need any replacements.
C. Shopping Time:

Accompaniment & time spent

● Both of these factors depend on the type of customer that is visiting the store. It can
either be an individual customer or someone visiting the store with family, friends or
anyone else. Firstly, talking about the individual customer, the sales representatives give
customers the time they need to explore the store and notice their segment of interest.
After sometime they start assisting the customer in the segment where the customer has
spent the most of his/her time. The sales representative also tries to give suggestions
regarding the footwear and non-footwear that they are interested in.

● Secondly, the ones who visit the store with family or friends are asked immediately and
assisted by the sales people regarding the segment they have been looking for and
upon being asked are also given with suggestions in the categories they can explore for
themselves or for their family and friends.

Browsing time

● Browsing behavior is discussed as a significant form of consumer behavior which can

occur independently of specific purchase occasions.
● While the intent to purchase is not explicit in browsing, such activity may of course lead
to a purchase. The mere presence of a salesperson at the entrance of a store may
discourage visits from browsers. The browser who does not intend to make a purchase
may not want to interact with salespeople.
● Visiting stores and gaining product-related information from other sources results in
heightened knowledge about the product class in question. Being familiar with the
product class and aware of recent product trends should also lead to relatively high
levels of word-of-mouth activity. Thus, the browser might be considered as a "socially
integrated" , an individual high in both information search and opinion leadership.
● Indoor positioning can reduce the number of customers that enter the mall and don’t
purchase anything through the showcasing of deals and discounts, integrated benefits
programs, profile-based offers, and mobile couponing within an indoor navigation
system.
Interaction Time With Shop Personnel :-

The consumers value the immersive experience of traditional stores, where they can browse
and touch merchandise, very highly,this is the main reason they opt to go to a brick-and-mortar
environment rather than shop online.

Shoppers do enjoy using in-store technology but they are not looking for technology to replace
human interaction. Consumers are looking for a shopping environment in which digital
technology adds value to how they interact with the sales staff on the floor.

Enhanced customer service is what differentiates shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores from

online shopping, and consumers will spend more in a high-service shopping environment,
something at which smaller retailers often excel.

The ability for a customer to connect on a human level is possibly the greatest strength of bricks
and mortar retail. The online channel cannot do this, and ironically the digital age we now live in
has created huge demand for face-to-face interactions. 71% of customers say that staff have a
significant impact on their shopping experience and they are 2.6 times more likely to
recommend the brand having interacted with a highly engaged retail employee. Customers want
‘real human’ interactions.

The interaction time generally varies from three- five minutes on an average when the
customers are screening through the products they might be interested in at the Bata store,
while making a purchase the interaction extends by a few more minutes pertaining to the
product details and the current discount offers that the store is offering.

Time spent on admiring/looking at Visual Displays.

Customers generally did not spend much time looking at the visual displays because they knew
what they wanted and would straight up enter the store and seek the customer service.
The second category of people, that is showroomers, spent around 2 minutes to decide whether
the store display attracted them or not and whether the collection was of any importance to
them.
The last category of people are ones that spend not more than a minute and move away from
the store after nothing appeals to them.
Impact of time spent on conversion - There are usually two kinds of customers who come.
The ones who know what to buy and the ones who explore and then make a decision.

For the first category of the customers the conversion time is usually less like approximately 7-
10 mins. They know what to pick up, the salesperson helps them with the size and once that is
comfortable to the size of the customer the purchase is made.

The second category of customers usually explore all the sections, choose the target footwear
they like and then try each of them which takes a little more time. Then finally after a couple of
trials and getting satisfaction from the product the purchase is made. The whole process usually
takes upto 20-25 mins.