Retail Operations and

Store Management-II UNIT 13 APPLICATION OF BUYING AND

MERCHANDISING – PANTALOON
RETAIL STORE
Structure
13.0 Objectives
13.1 Introduction
13.2 About Pantaloon Retail
13.3 Functioning of Pantaloon Retail
13.4 Pantaloon Retail’s Leadership
13.5 Important Milestones of Pantaloons Retail
13.6 Let Us Sum Up
13.7 Keywords
13.8 Answers to Check Your Progress
13.9 Terminal Questions
13.10 Further Readings

13.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
● understand the application of buying and merchandising in a Pantaloon Retail Store;
● explain functioning of pantaloon retail;
● describe Pantaloons retail’s leadership; and
● identify important milestones of Pantaloons retail.

13.1 INTRODUCTION
Successful retailers are those who know that the battle for customers is only won at the
frontline, which in the case of a retail chain is at its stores. The case which is discussed
here highlights the emergence and evolution of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. (PRIL) from
a small garment manufacturer to the #1 retailer in India by the early 21st century. It
examines the evolution and growth of PRIL until the mid 1990s, and then traces the
rationale behind the launch of its first retail format Pantaloons, a family departmental
store. The case then examines the reasons for PRIL’s entry into discount store and food
store businesses through Big Bazaars and Food Bazaars and discusses in detail the
strategies and marketing efforts put in place by PRIL to promote these formats.
Pantaloon was regularly opening stores in the metros and there was an urgent need for
a reliable enterprise wide application to help run its business effectively. “The basic
need was to have a robust transaction management system and an enterprise wide
platform to run the operations,” says Rakesh Biyani, Director, Pantaloon. The company
was looking for a solution that would bring all of its businesses and processes together.

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13.2 ABOUT PANTALOON RETAIL and Merchandising –
Pantaloon Retail Store
Pantaloon Retail is the flagship Company of Future Group. India’s leading retailer,
Pantaloon Retail tries to inspire trust through innovative offerings, quality products and
affordable prices that help customers achieve a better quality of life every day. Presently
it serves customers in 85 cities and 60 rural locations across the country through over 15
million square feet of retail space.

Source: http://www.pantaloonretail.in/
Figure 13.1: Snapshot of Pantaloon Online Retail store
Pantaloon Retail operates multiple retail formats in both the value and lifestyle segments
of the Indian consumer market including. Let us learn about different retail formats of
Pantaloon Retail in detail.
13.2.1 Pantaloons - A Chain of Fashion Outlets

Pantaloons connects a diverse and passionate community of Indian buyers, sellers and
businesses. The collective impact on business is staggering. Around 220 million customers
walk into Pantaloons stores each year and choose products and services supplied by
over 30,000 small, medium and large entrepreneurs and manufacturers from across
India. This number is set to grow.

Figure 13.2: Pantaloon Retail Store 305

Retail Operations and Big Bazaar - A uniquely Indian hypermarket chain
Store Management-II

Big Bazaar is a series of hypermarket in India. Currently, there are 214 stores across 90
cities and towns in India. Big Bazaar is planned as an agglomeration of bazaars or
Indian markets with clusters offering a wide range of merchandise including fashion
and apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast
food and leisure and entertainment sections.

Source: Big bazaar

Figure 13.3: Pantaloon Retail Store

13.2.3 HomeTown - One-stop destination for every need of the

aspirational Indian home owner.

Source: Home Town

306 Figure 13.4: Snapshot of Hometown
HomeTown is a unique, first of its kind home improvement retail format in India, from Application of Buying
and Merchandising –
Pantaloon Retail (I) Pvt. Ltd., a part of the Future Group. HomeTown provides consumers
Pantaloon Retail Store
the largest choice and variety for all that they may need for their homes, under one roof.
The Store has live displays of various rooms like living room, dining room, bedroom. It
also has a vivid display of products like sofa sets, dining tables, beds, kids furniture,
kitchen fittings, bathroom fittings, furnishings, mattresses, paints, tiles, electrical fittings,
decor lighting, plywood, consumer durables and electronics (through eZone). HomeTown
also offers Design & Build service, a unique end-to-end solution that offers home designing
and interior works. The services are flexible, transparent and easy on the pocket.
13.2.4 Food Bazaar - A supermarket chain that blends the look and feel
of Indian bazaars with modern retail aspects.

Source: Food Bazaar

Figure 13.5: Snapshot of Food Bazaar
Food Bazaar, was incorporated within Big Bazaar in 2002 and is now present within
every Big Bazaar as well as in independent locations. A typical Big Bazaar is spread
across around 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of retail space. While the larger metropolises
have Big Bazaar Family centres measuring between 75,000 square feet (7,000 m2) and
160,000 square feet (15,000 m2), Big Bazaar Express stores in smaller towns measure
around 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2).
13.2.5 Central - A chain of seamless destination malls

Source: http://www.dealshut.com/deal/central-shopping-fest-offers-shop-for-rs2500-an/664/
Figure 13.6: Snapshot of Central 307
Retail Operations and 13.2.6 Ezone - It brings to you the latest in electronics at the lowest prices
Store Management-II

Source: http://www.ilaaka.com/files/images/eZone
Figure 13.7: Snapshot of E-Zone
There are three special zones in E Zone. The Liberation Zone offers personal products
like computers, laptops, handy cams, MP 3 players and mobile phones. While entertainment
products such as Plasma / LCD, Flat TV’s, Home Theatre systems, DVD players, and
Stereo systems are displayed in the Experience Zone. And in the Home Zone segment,
one gets to pick electronic goods of his or her choice including Refrigerators, Air
Conditioners, washing machines and Microwave ovens among other kitchen related
appliances.
13.2.7 Planet Sports

Source: http://www.imagesfashion.com
Figure 13.8: Snapshot of Planet Sports

Its other formats include Brand Factory, Ethnicity, Planet Sports, all and more.
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13.3 FUNCTIONING OF PANTALOON RETAIL and Merchandising –
Pantaloon Retail Store
As modern retail drives fresh demand and consumption in new categories, its strategy is
based on a deep understanding of Indian consumers - the products they want, and
making these products available in every city in every store format. They are in line with
its broad objective of being a catalyst in India’s consumption-led growth and being a
positive agent of change in the communities it serves.
Pantaloon Retail’s mission:
● It shares the vision and belief that its customers and stakeholders shall be served
only by creating and executing future scenarios in the consumption space leading
to economic development.
● It will be the trendsetters in evolving delivery formats, creating retail realty, making
consumption affordable for all customer segments – for classes and for masses.
● It shall infuse Indian brands with confidence and renewed ambition.
● It shall be efficient, cost- conscious and committed to quality in whatever we do.
● It shall ensure that our positive attitude, sincerity, humility and united determination
shall be the driving force to make us successful.
Pantaloon Retail’s core values:
● Indianness: Confidence in ourselves.
● Leadership: To be a leader, both in thought and business.
● Respect & Humility: To respect every individual and be humble in our conduct.
● Introspection: Leading to purposeful thinking.
● Openness: To be open and receptive to new ideas, knowledge and information.
● Valuing and Nurturing Relationships: To build long term relationships.
● Simplicity & Positivity: Simplicity and positivity in our thought, business and
action.
● Adaptability: To be flexible and adaptable, to meet challenges.
● Flow: To respect and understand the universal laws of nature.

13.4 PANTALOON RETAIL’S LEADERSHIP

Kishore Biyani is the Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and the Group
Chief Executive Officer of Future Group. He is considered as a pioneer of modern
retail in India. His leadership has led Pantaloon Retail’s emergence as India’s leading
retailer operating multiple retail formats that cater to the entire basket of Indian
consumers.

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Store Management-II

Source: http://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/achievers-had-i-done-mba-i-would-never-be-
an-entrepreneur/20110224.htm
Figure 13.9: Kishore Biyani – Future Group
Kishore Biyani led the company’s foray into organised retail with the opening of the
Pantaloons family store in 1997. This was followed in 2001 with the launch of Big
Bazaar, a uniquely Indian hypermarket format that democratized shopping in India. It
blends the look and feel of the Indian bazaar with aspects of modern retail like choice,
convenience and quality. This was followed by a number of other formats including
Food Bazaar, Central and Home Town.
2006 marked the evolution of Future Group that brought together the multiple initiatives
taken by group companies in the areas of Retail, Brands, Space, Capital, Logistics and
Media.
Kishore Biyani advocates ‘Indianness’ as the core value driving the group and the
corporate credo ‘Rewrite Rules, Retain Values.’
Regularly ranked among India’s most admired CEOs, he is the author of the book It
Happened in India. He has won numerous awards from government bodies and the
private sector in India and abroad and is on the board of a number of bodies, including
the National Innovation Foundation in India and the New York Fashion Board.
1. Long-term Sustainability Effort: Future Group – the overall holding group of
Pantaloon Retail - believes in broad-based growth, the fruits of which are not concentrated
in the hands of few but shared by the community as a whole. This is the way towards
achieving the dual goal of profitable and socially responsible growth. Its initiatives in
inclusive development include livelihood issues, diversity management, skill development
and protecting the environment, to name a few.
Modern Indian retail can help improve incomes and provide opportunities for growth to
individuals with lower education levels or from the unorganised sector. With fair wages
and benefits, opportunities for further development and growth and a better working
environment, modern retail offers much more than most alternatives available to such
individuals.
Future Group focuses on three key enablers for inclusive growth: employability, innovation
and entrepreneurship. While employability helps create a qualified and skilled workforce,
innovation and entrepreneurship help drive growth and generate employment.

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As part of its sustainable-development initiatives, it has made a commitment to care for Application of Buying
and Merchandising –
the environment. Through its commitment, it looks to make a significant positive impact
Pantaloon Retail Store
on the ecology and surroundings in which it operates.
Through investment and innovation it is leading the way in providing a greener way to do
business. It fulfills its responsibility for delivering high quality services in a sustainable
and environmentally responsible manner by:
● Reducing the environmental impact of store construction and operations
● Improving energy efficiency for important environmental benefits and reducing
operating costs
● Strengthening environmental considerations in the design of green products and
packaging; developing green product lines that respect environmental concerns
● Reinforcing environmental considerations in logistics
The grassroots nature of community-driven development promotes people participation
in development decisions that are usually decided in a top-down manner. Economically
disadvantaged women and ethnic minorities are among those who stand to gain the
most through future group’s community-driven development initiatives. Future group’s
approach is to help and collaborate with different communities in the rural pockets of
the country to achieve harmonious growth.
Recognizing the potential to address economic inequality/disparity and accomplish other
objectives contributing to inclusive growth, Future Group has spread its reach deep into
rural India. Its people engage to undertake community mobilization and capacity building,
and help develop measures to reach isolated, ethnically diverse, or remote communities.

2. Category Management at Pantaloon

Pantaloon – a leading apparel retailer in India – has employed the concept of category
Definition, especially in the apparel segments, in its day to day function. It is based on
the assumption that customers are more products driven than brand driven. They found
that out of every 100 customers that enter a retail store to buy a specific product, 98 are
not very particular about the brand. This is primarily because there are various factors,
such as price, quality, texture, and color, which influence a customer’s choice of
merchandise. The customer’s preference for a particular brand gets overshadowed by
these other aspects, which lead to the ultimate decision. Thus, managing merchandise
by category is more effective than managing individual brands. The idea of category
management as implemented by Pantaloons is to create products across the length and
breadth of a category at different price points on the basis of fabrics, designs, types,
seasons, colors, and sizes, without giving special importance to a particular brand. Fig.
13-1 depicts Pantaloons’ use of the concept of category management. The aim is to
create products that are traffic builders and margin managers within the store, rather
than brands that compete with each other. Pantaloons stresses on promoting a product
category, thus making brand management a secondary function. For example, John
miller is a range of formal and semi-formal shirts, Bare is a range of denim and casual
wear, and Annabelle is a range of western wear for women over 25. Clearly, the
significance of brands is limited, and even at the stage of brand management, the company
deals with product category.

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Retail Operations and
Store Management-II

Figure 13.10: Category Definition at Pantaloons

13.5 IMPORTANT MILESTONES OF PANTALOON

RETAIL
Pantaloon retail of India is leading retailer that operates multiple retail formats in both
value and lifestyle segment of Indian consumer market.
As India’s leading retailer, Pantaloon Retail inspires trust through innovative offerings,
quality products and affordable prices that help customers achieve a better quality of
life every day. It serves customers in 85 cities and 60 rural locations across the country
through over 15 million square feet of retail space. From a humble beginning in 1987,
Pantaloons Retail has travelled a long way to make its multifarious achievements. Table
13.1 explains about its achievements in detail.

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 Table 13.1 Application of Buying
and Merchandising –
Year Achievements Pantaloon Retail Store

2013 Zero-Debt company

2012 Group plans to raise 25 billion to 30 billion rupees by selling a minority
stake in Future Value Retail, which owns Big Bazaar hypermarkets and
Food Bazaar supermarkets, to a strategic investor
2011 Future Retail launches Futurebazaar.com
2009 Pantaloon Retail celebrates its first Shopping Festival across all retail
formats in key Indian cities.
2008 Big Bazaar crosses the 100-store mark, marking one of the fastest expansions
of the hypermarket format anywhere in the world
2007 Pantaloon Retail wins the International Retailer of the Year award at US-
based National Retail Federation convention in New York, and Emerging
Retailer of the Year award at the World Retail Congress held in Barcelona.
2006 Home Town, the home building and improvement products retail chain, is
launched along with consumer durables format Ezone and furniture chain
Furniture Bazaar
2004 Pantaloon Retail launches India’s first seamless mall, Central, in Bangalore
2002 Food Bazaar, the supermarket chain is launched
2001 Pantaloon Retail launches three Big Bazaar stores within a span of 22 days
in Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad
1997 Pantaloon Retail enters modern retail with the launch of the first 8000-sq.
ft. store Pantaloons in Kolkata
1994 The Pantaloon Shoppe, our exclusive menswear store in a franchisee format
is launched across the nation. The company starts distribution of branded
garments through multi-brand retail outlets across the nation.
1992 Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. makes an Initial public offer (IPO).
1991 BARE, an Indian denim brand is launched.
1987 The company is incorporated under the name of Manz Wear Private Ltd.
Pantaloons, one of India’s first formal trouser brands, are launched.

13.6 LET US SUM UP

The unit has attempted to showcase in detail one of the most successful retail formats in
India. Pantaloon Retail could rewrite the very definition of retailing in Indian context. It
could manage to break traditional concept of retailing and bring its own unique selling
proposition (USP) in retail industry. This is how the Pantaloon Retail becomes best case
in point to discuss and learn from its different activities. The unit discusses in detail
about multiple retail formats introduced by Pantaloon Retail into the industry, i.e. Big
Bazar, Home Town, Food Bazar, E-zone, etc. The unit also describes about core values
of the firm and its successful leadership. The unit ends by shortly illustrating its
achievements throughout the years since its inception in 1989.

Check Your Progress-A

1. Briefly comment on the following statements.
a) Retail - believes in broad-based growth.
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
........................................................................................................... 313
Retail Operations and
Store Management-II b) Pantaloon connects a diverse and passionate community of Indian buyers/
sellers business.
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
2. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate word given in the brackets
a) Future Group focuses on _______ key enablers for inclusive growth.
(Two / Three)
b) Pantallon Retail operates __________ retail format (Multiple/Single)
3. State whether the following statements are True or False
a) Pantaloon Retail is the flagship company of Future Group.
b) Future Group has spread its unreach deep into rural India.

13.7 KEYWORDS
Pantaloon Retail : It is the flagship company of Future Group, India’s retail
pioneer catering to the entire Indian consumption space.
Big Bazaar : It is a series of hypermarket in India.
HomeTown : It is unique, first of its kind home improvement retail
format in India, from Pantaloon Retail (I) Pvt. Ltd., a
part of the Future Group.
Food Bazaar : A supermarket format was incorporated within Big
Bazaar in 2002 and is now present within every Big
Bazaar as well as in independent locations.
E-Zone : Three special zones in E Zone the Liberation Zone offers
personal products like computers, laptops, handy cams,
MP 3 players and mobile phones.
Kishore Biyani : He led the company’s foray into organized retail with the
opening of the Pantaloons family store in 1997.

13.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress
FIB
a) Three b) Multiple
T&F
a) True b) False

13.9 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. Explain core values on which Pantaloon Retail carry out its operations.
2. How leadership of Pantaloon Retail influenced to scale up its activities?
3. What are the strategies followed by Pantaloon with respect to category
management?
314 4. Describe briefly on the major achievements of Pantaloon Retail.
 Application of Buying
13.10 FURTHER READINGS and Merchandising –
Pantaloon Retail Store
Website and Online Resource
● www.futurebazaar.com
● www.pantaloonretail.in
● pantaloon.futurebazaar.com

Activity

Visit any of the retail stores and find out the environmental impact of store construction
and operations which can, improve energy efficiency, environmental benefits and
reducing operating costs.
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...........……………………………………………………………………………….
...........……………………………………………………………………………….
...........……………………………………………………………………………….

Note : These Terminal Questions/Check Your Progress/Activity will help you to

understand the unit better. Try to write answers for them. But do not submit
your answers to the University for Assessment. These are for your practice
only.

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